It has been nearly a quarter of a century since the ISU defense performed as well as it did Saturday.

In Iowa State’s 23-0 victory over Northern Iowa, the ISU defense held Northern Iowa to 99 total offensive yards, which is the fewest allowed since Oct. 4, 1980, when the Cyclones limited Colorado State to 96 yards in a 69-0 victory.

ISU head coach Dan McCarney said he was pleased with the performance of his defense.

“Regardless of who it is, when you limit someone to 99 yards and no points, there’s some real good things defensively,” McCarney said.

In last season’s matchup against the Panthers, UNI quarterback Tom Petrie racked up 142 yards, completing 21 of 32 passes. This year Petrie threw for 63 yards and was sacked by the ISU defense four times.

“I thought our coverage overall was real good,” McCarney said. “Rarely did I, or if at all, did I see someone behind our defensive backs, which means they were playing really sound coverage.”

The UNI ground attack could only muster 36 yards as the Cyclone defense held UNI’s 1,000-yard rusher, Terrance Freeney, to 24 yards on 13 carries.

Leading the ISU defensive charge was senior linebacker Brandon Brown who had eight tackles, including six solo tackles.

Tyson Smith pulled down seven tackles in his first game back from last year’s season-ending broken leg.

Smith said the team’s cohesiveness was one of the main factors in the defense’s success.

“It was an all-around group effort,” Smith said. “The offense kept moving the ball so [the UNI] defense was pretty tired, and we had fresh legs so we were able to pretty much shut them out.”

Senior defensive back Ellis Hobbs said anytime the ISU offense controls the ball the defense is helped immensely. “It makes a heck of a difference — we get to save our legs a lot more,” Hobbs said.

“As defense goes, we’re out there a lot of the time already because a lot of us are on special teams also, so it’s a blessing on your legs. “

Looming in the wings for the Cyclones are the Iowa Hawkeyes, who beat Kent State 39-7 Saturday. Hobbs said in order for the Cyclones to be successful against the Hawks, mistakes made in Saturday’s victory will have to be corrected.

“It was a great effort by everybody, not just the starters. The people we rolled in the twos, some threes, I gotta give it up to them,” Hobbs said. “But at the same time we have a long ways to go; mistakes were made. Even I made mistakes today — me being a three-year veteran and a starter.

“We have to go back into the film room and self-evaluate and make corrections and get ready for game number two.”