Iowa State put together just enough offense to beat Northern Iowa 17-10 Saturday in the season-opening game for both teams.

ISU redshirt freshman quarterback Austin Flynn threw for a touchdown and ran for another in his debut as the Cyclone starter, but a determined Panthers squad kept the outcome in doubt until the final minute.

Trailing 17-10, with no timeouts, and facing fourth-and-four on the Iowa State 48-yard line with 1:12 to play, UNI quarterback Tom Petrie dropped back and threw to leading receiver Marlus Mays, who had broken free on an underneath route and had room to run.

But Mays, who finished with seven catches for 38 yards, saw the ball bounce off his hands. Iowa State took over on downs and ran out the clock.

“We went to our go-to receiver,” UNI head coach Mark Farley said. “We all saw the same thing.”

The Panthers came close to making a big fourth down play earlier in the quarter. After a drive stalled at the Iowa State 45, Northern Iowa went into a punt formation. But punter Cory Henke threw the ball down the right sideline where it was swatted away by ISU punt returner Todd Miller, who ran halfway across the field to deflect the ball from Benny Sapp.

“[Northern Iowa] just looks like a much, much better football team than the team we played two years ago,” said ISU head coach Dan McCarney. Iowa State beat the Panthers 45-0 in the 2001 season opener.

Iowa State struggled all night to establish a consistent running game. Flynn was consistently able to scramble out of trouble, picking up 67 yards on 13 carries.

“He did make some very important plays with his feet tonight,” McCarney said.

Michael Wagner, listed second on the tailback depth chart before the game, led the Cyclones with 87 yards on 17 carries, while starter Stevie Hicks struggled, finishing with only 19 yards on 12 attempts.

After picking up 131 yards on the ground in the first half, Iowa State collected just 38 rushing yards in the second.

“We were very inconsistent overall on offense, but at times, we were close,” McCarney said.

Iowa State’s first consistent drive began on its own 26-yard line late in the first quarter. Wagner picked up 33 yards on the drive, and Flynn converted twice on third down, including the scoring play when he found senior wide receiver Jack Whitver on a five-yard hitch. Whitver turned inside to elude a defender and dove into the end zone for a 13-yard touchdown to put Iowa State up 10-3.

Misfortune struck the Cyclones late in the second quarter, when UNI defensive end Ryan Arnold tipped a Flynn pass up in the air, where safety Justin Sandy picked it off and ran back to the Iowa State 1.

Terrance Freeney, who led Northern Iowa in rushing with 60 yards, scored two plays later to tie the game at 10.

Iowa State took the lead for good with 2:22 left in the third quarter. Flynn was 3-for-3 passing on an 81-yard drive, including a 48-yard strike down the middle to senior wide receiver Lane Danielsen to the Northern Iowa 5.

“It was a beautiful play. It was a play-action pass, and that’s about as good as it gets,” McCarney said.

Flynn ran right on the option and cut into the end zone from three yards out two plays later to score his first touchdown in an ISU uniform.

“You saw some accuracy with [Flynn’s] throws tonight,” McCarney said. “I think you saw some good leadership skills.”

Iowa State’s defense held the Panthers to 261 net yards, but suffered a big loss in the fourth quarter when senior defensive end Tyson Smith went down with an injury to his right leg. After writhing in pain on the field for several minutes, a cart took Smith to the ISU locker room. McCarney said the extent of Smith’s injury still isn’t clear.

Linebackers Brandon Brown and Nik Moser led Iowa State with 13 and 10 tackles, respectively. Brown also had three tackles for loss.

“We did some good things defensively,” McCarney said.

Jimmie Brown and Jonathan Harrell each had double-digit tackle totals for Northern Iowa.

Farley said he was proud of his team’s effort, despite coming up a touchdown short.

“We didn’t come down here to play well, we came here to win,” he said. “And we played toe-to-toe with a Big 12 three-time bowl team for four quarters.”

Junior cornerback Anthony Forrest didn’t play for Iowa State, and McCarney said after the game Forrest was probably academically ineligible for the 2003 season. He had been in a battle with senior Harold Clewis for the starting left cornerback position.

“We just found out the last couple of days he may come up short,” McCarney said.

Senior Adam Benike kicked a 27-yard field goal and two extra points for the Cyclones after earning the starting nod over junior Tony Yelk. Yelk averaged 49.1 yards on nine punts.

A crowd of 48,088 filled most of Jack Trice Stadium. It was the largest crowd for an ISU home season opener since a crowd of 54,101 saw the 1987 Iowa State-Iowa contest.