As Iowa State went into halftime trailing the Hawkeyes 20-7, one couldn’t help but think the stage was set for another huge turnaround in the second half.

In last year’s game between the intrastate rivals, Iowa jumped ahead early, and it appeared the Hawkeyes would cruise to an easy victory. Then in the second half, the Cyclones took over.

Iowa State scored the first 29 points of the second half in 2002, scoring 17 points off three Iowa fumbles.

The strong passing and quick running of Seneca Wallace also kept the Cy-Hawk Trophy in Ames until Saturday.

With time winding down in the first half of Saturday’s game, the ISU offense started to find a rhythm.

The Cyclones marched down the field with only 2:04 on the game clock and looked as though they would go into halftime with at least three more points — and momentum.

However, with Iowa State out of timeouts and only 14 seconds left in the half, wide receiver Lance Young couldn’t get out of bounds after he caught a pass from quarterback Austin Flynn at the Iowa 8-yard line. As the field goal team sprinted onto the field, time ran out.

“When we didn’t get points, it was just poor execution by me,” Flynn said. “I should have thrown the ball away, but I didn’t.”

But the Cyclones could come back, right? They did last year when they were down by 17 points. And then, they were guests at the mercy of a Kinnick Stadium crowd.

Iowa State received the ball to start the second half Saturday. In the same situation last September, Wallace finished a smartly executed four-minute drive with a four-yard touchdown run.

Flynn and the Cyclones could manage only two incompletions and a two-yard loss on their first possession Saturday, and the rest of the third quarter saw three ISU turnovers — one interception and two blocked punts — all deep in their own territory. This forced the Cyclone defense into difficult positions.

Iowa recovered the ball in the end zone after the first blocked punt, on the Cyclones’ 6-yard line after the second blocked punt and on the Cyclones’ 2-yard line after the interception. Those three turnovers led to 13 unanswered points for the Hawkeyes.

Iowa State did have its chances, however. On first-and-goal late in the third quarter, the Cyclones found it difficult to get in the end zone. Going for it on fourth down, Flynn’s pass fell incomplete, turning the ball over to Iowa.

By then, the Cyclones were in a deep 33-7 hole.

There would be no comeback this year.