LINCOLN, Neb — Rebuilding? Retooling? Maybe at least reloading?

Against the Cyclones on Saturday night, the Nebraska Cornhuskers were none of these things.

Try resilient. Relentless. Even remarkable.

The Huskers are for real in ’99, as Iowa State discovered in its 49-14 debacle in Lincoln, Neb.

After the thrashing, it was hard to pull positives from the wreckage, but Cyclone head coach Dan McCarney found plenty of reasons for the lopsided loss.

“Penalties killed us,” he said. “The blocked punts hurt. We dug ourselves a deep hole and couldn’t get out.”

The Cyclones realized they needed to start strong, playing in front of nearly 80,000 Husker fans and facing one of the best first-quarter teams in football. What’s particularly scary is that they did, indeed, start strong.

After receiving the opening kick, ISU marched down the field without much trouble on the strength of several solid Darren Davis carries and a 26-yard Sage Rosenfels quarterback keeper. Just when it looked like they may silence the Nebraska throng, disaster struck.

A holding penalty negated a Davis rush to the Nebraska 10-yard line and a false start pushed the ‘Clones back to the 33 before Joe Walker of Nebraska forced and recovered a Rosenfels fumble.

The Huskers wasted little time in building their momentum, driving down the field in just 2:29 to score their first touchdown of the game.

And that was it for ISU.

“I don’t think we recovered from that,” ISU center Zach Butler said. “It started snowballing after that with penalties.”

The Cyclone offense was stuffed on its next possession and was forced to punt from its own 8-yard line. Then, for the third time this season, the Husker special teams blocked the punt and Ralph Brown recovered in the endzone for the Nebraska touchdown.

The Huskers continued to shut down the ISU offense during the first half and seemingly scored at will, taking a 28-0 lead into the locker room at halftime.

The carnage continued in the third quarter as the Huskers added a pair of quick touchdowns to their tally, one on the strength of a second blocked punt.

After yet another three-and-out, the Cyclones appeared to score their first touchdown of the game when Nebraska’s punt return tandem collided and ISU scampered in for an uncontested score.

Unfortunately, on a night when nothing went the Cyclones’ way, interference with the returner’s ability to catch the ball was called and the touchdown was negated, despite replays that showed no white jerseys in the vicinity.

With 5:25 remaining in the third quarter, Husker coach Frank Solich made the unprecedented decision to use the Nebraska reserves, which gave the Cyclone offense a little breathing room.

After one final Husker score, the Cyclones strung together a pair of touchdown drives against the “Light Grayshirts” to make the score less embarrassing.

Davis finished the affair with both Cyclone touchdowns and 113 yards, 76 of which came against the Nebraska reserves.

“They knew I was the nation’s top rusher, and they were out to prove I wasn’t,” Davis said. “They did some outstanding work. It wasn’t the prettiest 100 yards I ever got, but at least I got them.”

“I give that young man all the credit in the world,” Solich said. “He’s a great running back and a tough, tough kid.”

The Nebraska rushing tandem of Dan Alexander and Correll Buckhalter each eclipsed Davis by gaining 135 and 127 yards on the night, respectively.

On top of fighting the Huskers during the evening, ISU also fought themselves most of the game, committing 99 yards in penalties, including several crucial holding calls.

“I don’t know if we held that much,” Butler said. “The calls didn’t go our way tonight. We can’t blame ourselves for that. We have to show that we’re the type of team that can rebound.”

In addition, Nebraska added injury to insult during the contest by knocking out several key Cyclone players, including tackle Marcel Howard (concussion), linebacker Matt Word (bruised shoulder), receiver Damien Groce (bruised shoulder) and corner Breon Ansley (twisted knee).

“It’s a real concern,” McCarney said. “Obviously, we came into this game with some starters out and some backups out and then we lost a few more of them tonight.

“This is not a finesse league,” he said. “This is the Big 12.”

When the dust had cleared, ISU’s 49-14 loss moved the Cyclones’ record down to 3-2 on the year and makes next week’s matchup with Missouri nothing short of crucial. It also established the Huskers as a force to be reckoned with again this season.

“I think maybe this shows the country that we’re for real,” Husker tackle Adam Julch said.