Even though Iowa State came within inches of shocking No. 3 Florida State Saturday, don’t expect the Cyclones to be satisfied.

“We won’t accept losing,” ISU head coach Dan McCarney said, “And if one of those guys in the room does, then this program is in trouble.”

Nevertheless, a lot of questions were answered in the 38-31 loss to the Seminoles.

“Everybody in that room feels better about our football team than we did at any time during the spring or any time during two-a-days,” McCarney said. “There’s no doubt after spotting Florida State 24 points, you can go one of two directions and our kids really hung in there.”

The Cyclones got a strong performances from Dwayne Johnson, Casey Shelton and Cale Stubbe – all offensive lineman who were making their first starts in an ISU uniform. The three played a big part in quarterback Seneca Wallace’s 313-yard passing performance and the 93 yards that tailback Hiawatha Rutland racked up. Rutland has been named the starter for this week’s conference opener against Kansas.

“When you put up the kind of numbers we did against an outstanding Florida State defense . . . that ain’t bad,” McCarney said Monday. “It sure gives us hope for the rest of the season.”

JaMaine Billups, who was converted from tailback to strong safety three weeks ago, contributed even more than expected.

The junior was forced to play the whole game after starter Anthony Forrest left the game with a hip pointer in the first quarter.

“JaMaine is a great player,” ISU cornerback Atif Austin said. “He made some big plays for us back there. He’s learning the defense fast and you’re going to see big things out of him in the future.”

Other than a blocked 50-yard field goal attempt from Tony Yelk in the first quarter, the special teams also helped the ISU cause. Lance Young’s 51-yard kickoff return early in the second quarter ignited the first Cyclone touchdown drive, and Adam Benike converted his only field goal attempt from 33 yards in his first start. The redshirt junior was also perfect on PAT’s.

Yelk showed off his strong leg, as well, averaging 46.7 yards on three attempts.

Three plays on punt coverage set the tone for an ISU comeback.

On separate plays in the second quarter, Iowa State’s Lane Danielsen and Eric Schmitz raced downfield to stop FSU punt returns for less than five yards. Danielsen made another stop in the third quarter when he cut down Florida State P.K. Sam’s return of four yards.

“What we can take away from it is that we’re a good team,” Danielsen said. “We can play with about anybody in the nation . . . but our goal is not just to play with them, but to win them. We can’t be satisfied with this.”

With 11:04 remaining in the second quarter, Seminole quarterback Chris Rix’s third down pass intended for Sam found the middle referee’s head and fell incomplete. Florida State was forced to punt.

After watching replays of the second-to-last play of the game in which Wallace scrambled 20 yards to the goal line, McCarney said he had a different opinion than the officials.

“The tape that we’ve seen, there wasn’t any question that he scored,” McCarney said. “Appeals don’t do you any good, so I’m not going to waste any time with it.”

After throwing for 313 yards on 22-for-33 passing and two touchdowns, Wallace was chosen as this week’s Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week on Monday.