It was an ugly day in Ames, and an ugly game on the Jack Trice Stadium grass.

That didn’t bother Iowa kicker Nate Kaeding, who became the Hawkeyes’ all-time leading scorer when he attached an extra point to Marcus Schnoor’s 33-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter of No. 23 Iowa’s 40-21 win over Iowa State.

“It was a fun day for us, obviously,” he said.

Temperatures hovered in the low 60s during the annual intrastate battle, which Iowa State had won five years straight.

Drizzle fell throughout the second half while Iowa safety Sean Considine and the rest of the Hawkeyes polished off an easy victory.

Considine blocked two Troy Blankenship punts in the third quarter, helping turn a tenuous 20-7 halftime lead for Iowa into a 33-7 laugher.

“We hate losing, especially the way we lost today,” ISU head coach Dan McCarney said. “Nobody feels very well right now. We’re not very happy.”

Although redshirt freshman quarterback Austin Flynn had 296 yards of total offense and scored the Cyclones’ first touchdown, his first-quarter fumble set up Iowa’s first touchdown.

“There were a lot of ups and downs for me,” Flynn said. “More downs than ups.”

After the fumble gave Iowa the ball at the ISU 40-yard line, a perfect 17-yard pass from Iowa quarterback Nathan Chandler to standout wide receiver Maurice Brown put the Hawkeyes up 10-0 with 6:16 left in the first period.

Brown injured his ankle on the play and missed the rest of the game.

After Flynn marched the Cyclones 87 yards in 12 plays — their best drive of the game — capped by Flynn’s 25-yard touchdown scramble, it appeared Iowa State might be able to take advantage of Brown’s absence and keep it close.

It was the closest Iowa State would get in the rout.

But on Iowa’s next drive, Chandler fooled the entire ISU defense with a faked handoff to Russell before rolling out and traipsing down the sideline to the ISU 4-yard line for a 42-yard gain — nearly doubling his career rushing total.

Russell scored a play later to make it 17-7.

Chris Smith scored a Hawkeye touchdown in the third quarter by recovering the first blocked punt in the end zone, after the Cyclones went three plays and out on their first second-half possession.

Iowa’s other scoring drives: 37 yards for a field goal, 40 yards for a touchdown, 66 yards for a touchdown, 28 yards for a field goal, two yards for a field goal, three yards for a field goal and 33 yards for a touchdown.

Had Iowa State’s defense not stiffened inside the 20-yard line and held the Hawkeyes to two touchdowns and three field goals on five trips inside the 20, the final score might have been worse.

“We did well against the run,” cornerback Ellis Hobbs said.

“We were put in a spot where they had great field position, and we kept them out of the end zone,” he said.

The ISU defense, despite holding first-team all-Big 10 running back Fred Russell to 75 rushing yards and the Hawkeyes to 243 net yards, didn’t do enough to help the Cyclones win, Hobbs said.

“We have to do a better job in forcing turnovers and getting the ball when we need to,” he said. “We just have to improve all aspects of our game.”

Flynn and ISU tailbacks Michael Wagner and Hiawatha Rutland spent most of the afternoon trying to spin away from Iowa’s vaunted defensive line. Hawkeye defenders made 13 stops in the ISU backfield, and Wagner and Rutland combined for just 18 yards on 10 carries.

“I couldn’t be more pleased with our defense,” Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said.

Iowa’s linebackers made most of the big plays. Sophomores Abdul Hodge and Chad Greenway combined for 32 tackles, while senior Grant Steen found some redemption.

Steen recovered Flynn’s fumble and intercepted a pass to set up a field goal in his final Iowa State-Iowa matchup.

Two years ago, Steen fumbled after picking off a Seneca Wallace pass in the fourth quarter of Iowa State’s 17-14 win. Had he held on, Iowa would have had excellent field position to tie or take the lead.

“That thought entered my mind,” Ferentz said. “He’s got to feel pretty good about what he did today.”

Twice, Iowa State had first-and-goal situations inside Iowa’s 2-yard line.

The Cyclones scored just once — and that came on a 9-yard fourth-down pass from Flynn to wide receiver Lane Danielsen, once the game was already out of reach.

“We didn’t execute that well when we took the field, and that’s disappointing,” McCarney said.

A 69-yard touchdown pass from ISU third-string quarterback Cris Love to wide receiver Jack Whitver closed the game’s scoring as Iowa sealed its 17th win in its last 20 games.

How did the Hawkeyes break a five-year drought against Iowa State?

“We came into this ballgame like any other ballgame,” Ferentz said.

“We played a very physical, hard-nosed football game.”

In a sloppy game by the Cyclones, that was all they needed.

Iowa State has an off week next Saturday. Iowa hosts Arizona State.

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