The 15th-ranked ISU Cyclones are living life in the fast lane following their 36-14 thrashing of the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Saturday at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames.

Lane Danielsen caught a career-high nine passes for 111 yards and one touchdown, helping lead the Cyclones to their first win over a ranked team since 1993.

“It was working out right for me today. Seneca [Wallace] did a great job of getting me the ball,” Danielsen said. “As receivers, we are going out and trying to make big plays.”

Danielsen said the receivers were able to take advantage of Nebraska’s secondary. He said the team had prepared all week for the type of defense they saw Saturday.

“They were running a lot of soft [man-to-man coverage] from what I could tell,” Danielsen said. “It just came down to our receivers beating their [deep backs] one-on-one and Seneca getting us the ball.”

Iowa State has had a 100-yard receiver in three straight games for the first time since 1997. Jack Whitver had 132 receiving yards against Iowa and had 101 last week against Troy State.

Danielsen, a former walk-on who has blossomed the last two seasons, was on the receiving end of over half of Wallace’s passing yards against Nebraska and showed everyone just how deep the ISU receiving corps is.

“Going into the game, we didn’t know who would catch the most passes,” Danielsen said. “Jack had the most against Iowa. Whomever is open is going to get the ball.”

That’s a theory head coach Dan McCarney sincerely believes in, but he also doesn’t mind getting one of his fastest receivers a lot of touches. McCarney said he hasn’t seen a receiver this season who can make plays on a regular basis better than Danielsen.

“I have not seen a more consistent player than him in our league,” McCarney said. “Every week you see the same Lane that you saw the week before, and his performance tonight speaks for itself on how great he really is.”

McCarney said Danielsen relies on the fundamentals and his play the last two seasons has been a testament to his hard work.

“He runs great routes, he’s consistent, he’s tough, he’s physical and he’s got good speed,” McCarney said. “He’ll beat you short or beat you long, but he’s always working to get extra plays and extra yardage.”

Signs of Danielsen’s greatness were seen last season as the junior from Dike put together a fine season for the 7-5 Cyclones. He had 694 yards on 49 catches and four touchdowns in 2001.

This year, however, the speedy split end sees bigger and better things for the Cyclones.

“I’m sure some people will say this isn’t the Nebraska team of old, but this isn’t the Iowa State team of old,” Danielsen said. “I think we’ve proven we’re a top 25 team.”

While Danielsen has helped lead his team to a long overdue win over the Cornhuskers, he moved up in several categories in the ISU record books as well.

He moved into ninth on the ISU all-time receptions list with 82 and added to his career yardage mark of 1,378 yards, good for sixth in the recordbooks.

His three-yard touchdown reception in the second quarter also gave him nine career touchdowns, tying him for eighth on the all-time list.

The individual accomplishments are important to Danielsen – he wants to be as good a player as he can – but he said nothing matters to him more than how his team does; winning is all that counts to him.

“There’s a lot of excitement about Iowa State football right now,” Danielsen said. “Our ultimate team goal is to win the Big 12 North. We are going to try and win every Saturday to get to that goal.”

– Jeff Raasch contributed to this article