The way Iowa State dropped a 19-14 decision to Colorado on Saturday was strangely reminiscent of the way it seems the entire Cyclone football program has fallen short in recent years — seemingly so close, but really still a long way from winning football.

Five times Saturday, the ISU offense increased the level of anticipation by driving inside the Colorado 20-yard line. Even the most cynical of Cyclone fans felt each time, “Yes, this is the drive on which we’ll score and take control of the game.”

Those five drives ended in two missed field goals, two failed fourth downs and a fumbled snap. It was an enormous level of offensive futility. It’s been true for years that nobody gets fewer points out of more yards (14 on 400 Saturday) than Iowa State, but this was ridiculous.

We’d be remiss to leave out, of course, that Saturday’s game was a relief in that Iowa State was in it the entire time. The most oft-cited statistic before the game was that, in 12 consecutive Big 12 losses, the Cyclones had fallen by an average of 33 points per game.

A 5-point margin, however, lowers that average to only 31 points a game over a baker’s dozen of conference games.

Back to the way the game was lost, though — it was so emblematic of how rooting for the ISU program has felt in recent years. So close. So many times. Each time finding a new way to not quite reach the end zone.

Administrators were rewarded for their patience with ISU head coach Dan McCarney when the 2000 Cyclones went 9-3 and got the first bowl win in school history.

But everything that has happened since has been another trip into the red zone with nothing to show for it — a decent 7-5 season in 2001 capped by missed opportunity to top a national program in Alabama; a 6-1 start and a No. 9 national ranking in 2002 that fizzled into a bowl ride to Boise, Idaho; the 2003 season. It’s starting to get very hard to put much faith into McCarney’s enthusiasm any more.

It’s true that Mac needs players, coaches and donors behind him more than a bunch of newspaper writers. Let’s hope for McCarney’s sake they do still believe the Cyclones can find success; with each week, it’s looking less and less likely from this corner that McCarney will get Iowa State back to respectability.