The smiles on their faces said it all.

Just like the rest of the country, the Kansas State football team never took Iowa State seriously.

The result was a 42-3 trouncing of the Cyclones that left ISU coaches and players scratching their heads wondering what went wrong.

The Wildcats dominated both sides of the ball Saturday and used a brand of smash-mouth football that left Iowa State bruised and battered and on their backs much of the day.

KSU’s Josh Scobey rushed for 172 yards on 32 carries while quarterback Ell Roberson got another 132 on 22 carries for an impressive six yards-per carry average.

The dynamic duo outshined the Cyclones one-two punch of Ennis Haywood and Seneca Wallace by dominating the time of possession and also was helped out by a superb Wildcat defense.

Kansas State held the ball for almost 40 minutes, but even when the Cyclones did get it back they were able to accomplish nothing.

“Physically, the game was dominated by K-State on both sides of the ball,” head coach Dan McCarney said. “They didn’t have to throw, because we couldn’t stop the run.”

Haywood was limited to six yards on 10 carries while the best Wallace could muster was 124 yards through the air.

The Wildcat defense used a variety of blitzes and schemes that had the Cyclones shifty signal-caller scrambling around all game.

“They dominated us on the defensive side of the ball all game,” Wallace said.

Kansas State used an offensive line that averages 6 feet, 4 inches and nearly 300 pounds to push around Cyclone defenders and pave rushing lanes for Scobey and Roberson.

The defensive line also was able to move Cyclone blockers wherever they wanted while linebackers punished Haywood and his backfield mates again and again.

Even one of Iowa State’s biggest Cyclones, Marcel Howard, was unable to move the stalwarts that made up KSU’s line.

“Whenever you get mismatched the whole game, it’s very frustrating,” Howard said. “They outmatched us physically all day.”

Howard said it’s hard to earn respect when blowouts like the Kansas State game happen.

“We talk about getting respect, but until we beat one of these [good teams] we won’t get respect,” he said.

Respect that will be hard to earn, considering the way Kansas State finished off the game.

The Wildcats’ final touchdown came off an ill-advised pass from Cris Love that Milton Proctor returned 13 yards to paydirt.

Love slipped while backpedaling from the one-yard line, then lofted a desperation pass before falling into the end zone with 2:30 to play.

On the return, linebacker Terry Pierce laid a bone crushing block on Kyle Knock that had linebacker Ben Leber laughing and yelling, “Man, what a joke.”

No respect there.