Jack Trice Stadium, filled with a Homecoming crowd of nearly 50,000, was a welcome sight for the ISU football team Saturday.

After a sluggish two-week road trip, the Cyclones came home and put together a complete effort in a 28-14 victory over Oklahoma State.

The victory puts the Cyclones at 5-1 and on the brink of a second straight winning season. A sixth win next weekend at Texas A&M will also make the Cyclones eligible for another trip to a bowl game.

“This is a huge win; we’ve won eight out of last nine, and that hasn’t been done since the 1930s,” ISU head coach Dan McCarney said. “We definitely improved as a football team, but we still haven’t played our best game yet.”

The difference in the game was an incredible advantage in time of possession for the Cyclones. Iowa State held the ball over 40 minutes, keeping the high-powered Cowboy offense on the sidelines.

The four Cyclone scoring drives all reached double digits in plays and totaled over 28 minutes.

“We had some tremendous drives when you look at the yardage, number of plays, time of possession,” McCarney said.

The Cyclones started the game with an 18-play, 80-yard scoring march that took over 10 minutes and was capped off by a short scoring run by Ennis Haywood. Due to penalties, the Cyclones actually tallied 110 yards of offense on the first drive.

In the second quarter, it took 17 plays and eight minutes for the Cyclones to drive 98 yards for a touchdown.

Quarterback Seneca Wallace keyed the two scoring drives with third-down scrambles to reach a first down.

“Seneca [Wallace] made play after play for them on third down,” Cowboy coach Les Miles said. “He would make a throw or a scramble for a first down. He was instrumental in their victory.”

Wallace finished with 67 rushing yards and was 16-of-19 for 150 yards through the air. It was a brilliant day for the Cyclone signal caller, who had struggled in the last two games.

“He [Wallace] was really, really good today,” McCarney said. “He was very consistent, and I think he’s one of the best running backs in the Big 12 when he does pull the ball down and run with it.”

The Cyclones built the lead to 28-7 early in the fourth quarter and looked to Haywood to help run out the clock. He delivered.

Haywood racked up 196 yards on 39 carries and scored three touchdowns on short runs. He got stronger as the game went on, running for 71 yards in the fourth quarter.

“Ennis was hot today,” Wallace said. “We wanted to keep giving him the ball and let him do his thing.”

“Ennis is a special back,” McCarney said. “He’s as good as there is in college football in the fourth quarter.”

Defensively, the Cyclones kept up their dominating play at home. Iowa State held the Cowboys to just 46 rushing yards and the 14 points were the first the defense has given up at home this season.

The success against the run was satisfying for a Cyclone defense ranked 102nd in the nation in that category.

“We knew that we had a good defense, but the stats just weren’t showing it,” ISU linebacker Matt Word said. “We really came out here and accepted the challenge and pretty much shut down the run.”

Cowboy quarterback Aso Pogi had a busy day, putting up 39 passes. Pogi finished with 24 completions for 234 yards.

One glaring statistic was nine penalties by the Cyclones for 74 yards.

Iowa State committed five penalties on the first drive, including three consecutive false start infractions.