Iowa State pulled out all the stops against 12th ranked Texas Saturday, but it wasn’t enough to overcome a high powered Longhorn offense as the Cyclones dropped a 44-41 thriller at Jack Trice Stadium.

“Losing this game was a heart breaker,” ISU defensive back Ryan Sloth said. “We couldn’t get over the hump.”

ISU hung with the heavily favored Longhorns thanks to a change in offensive strategy and a stellar performance from Cyclone quarterback Sage Rosenfels.

With Texas’ huge defensive front keying in on ISU running back Darren Davis and limiting him to a season low 67 yards, Rosenfels was able to open up the offense by passing for a career-high 291 yards and two touchdowns.

“I did the best I can,” Rosenfels said. “The team was counting on me to come through, I just did my best to make plays and let my receivers make plays because that’s what they’ve been wanting to do all season.”

After the Longhorns grabbed an early 7-0 lead late in the first quarter from a 1-yard Chris Robertson touchdown plunge, Rosenfels ignited the Cyclones by engineering three straight scoring drives.

The first drive covered 63 yards and was capped off by a 2-yard touchdown run by ISU tailback Ennis Haywood two minutes into the second quarter to knot the score at 7-7.

Haywood came through with the key play of the drive, making a juggling 34-yard reception along the Cyclone sideline on third down from the ISU 44 yard line.

An excellent defensive stand set the Cyclones up at the Texas 42-yard line for their next offensive set, and they wasted no time in taking advantage of it.

On the very first play Rosenfels faked a handoff to Davis, took a quick look over the middle, then swung the ball back to Davis who was running wide open in the flats.

Davis snared the ball and raced into the end zone untouched, and Mike McKnight added the extra point to put ISU on top 14-7.

“We worked on that play all week,” ISU head coach Dan McCarney said. “It was a good play and well executed.”

McCarney went to his bag of tricks again on the ensuing kickoff by attempting to catch Texas off guard with an onside kick.

The Longhorns recovered, however, and Kris Stockton eventually booted a 27-yard field goal to put the score at 14-10.

ISU struck right back, though, as Rosenfels hit Cyclone wide receiver Michael Brantley with a 59-yard scoring strike to complete an 87 yard drive to give ISU a 20-10 advantage.

However, the Cyclones were hit with a excessive celebration penalty after the touchdown, and McKnight missed the 35-yard extra point attempt which proved to be costly.

Texas quarterback Major Applewhite zipped the Longhorns down the field on their next possession and completed the scoring for the half with a 41-yard touchdown strike to Montrell Flowers.

The second half saw a continued see-saw offensive affair as Texas regained the lead on its opening drive on another Robertson touchdown run. ISU responded with a 5-yard Davis touchdown run five minutes later to give ISU a 27-24 lead.

Texas hit Flowers for a 4-yard scoring strike shortly after to put the score at 31-27 when the Longhorns managed to get some breathing room.

Cyclone receiver and kick returner J.J. Moses took the ensuing kickoff at the ISU 5-yard line when he was drilled by Reed Boyd and the ball popped loose.

Beau Trahan recovered it for Texas and waltzed into the end zone for a 38-27 Longhorn advantage.

Stockton added a field goal with 9:33 remaining in the game, and the Longhorns looked as if they had put the Cyclones away.

Moses had other ideas as he prepared to receive the Stockton kickoff.

With the memory of his disastrous fumble fresh in his mind, Moses broke through the Longhorn defense and sprinted 80 yards to the Texas 20 yard line.

This set up another Davis touchdown run and put ISU right back in the game.

“Coach Mac had faith and trust in me,” Moses said. “When you make a mistake, you have to keep your head up and bounce back.”

The Cyclone defense then stuffed the Longhorns, keyed by a huge 12-yard sack of Applewhite by freshman linebacker Chris Whitaker on third- and-eight play from the Texas 37.

A 16-yard Moses punt return set ISU up at its own 41 yard line with 5:50 remaining.

After three tough runs by Davis and an illegal participation penalty by Texas, ISU faced a second-and-seven at the Longhorn 35.

Rosenfels then fired a 34-yard strike to Brantley, who made a tremendous, fully-extended 34-yard catch to the Texas 1-yard line.

Haywood punched the ball in two plays later, and the game was even once again at 41-41.

Unfortunately for the Cyclones, Applewhite still had three minutes and 20 seconds to put Texas in position for the win.

He directed the Longhorns on a beautifully executed 71-yard drive in which Texas tailback Hodges Mitchell ran seven times for 71 yards.

A 10-yard Hodges burst put the ball at the ISU 1-yard line with four seconds left.

Stockton then came in and calmly drilled an 18-yard field goal as time ran out.

“That last kick was so short,” Stockton said. “The offense did a nice job of getting the ball down to the one yard line, so I’m thinking ‘Nice and easy-this is a chip shot.'”

Applewhite connected on 30 of 40 passes for 345 yards and two touchdowns while Mitchell ran for 158 yards in keeping the Longhorns atop the Big 12 South standings. McCarney said the game was well played by both clubs, but that his team continues to struggle putting top teams away.

“It was just a great Big 12 game,” McCarney said. “We’ve gone to the wire with three of the nation’s best teams this year, we just need to build this program and never accept losing.”