For 30 minutes Saturday, Iowa State made 15th-ranked Kansas State revisit its days as a perennial doormat in college football. However, a David Allen punt return and a gutsy second half performance by backup K-State quarterback Adam Helm enabled the Wildcats to erase a 28-7 halftime deficit to upend the Cyclones 35-28 at Jack Trice Stadium.

“They did a great job of showing resiliency and played like a team that’s won 41 games over the last four years,” ISU head coach Dan McCarney said of the K-State comeback. “In the second half, they were more determined and played with more intensity and emotion than this team did.”

The first half of Saturday’s contest gave no indication that the Wildcats were about to pull off their sixth consecutive victory over the Cyclones. ISU used a wide open offensive attack and stifling defensive performance as they out-gained K-State 332 to 102 in total yards. ISU more than doubled the Wildcats’ time of possession offensively.

Cyclone standout running back Darren Davis started off the scoring for ISU midway through the first quarter when he juked through the K-State defense for an electrifying 26-yard touchdown run.

On the Wildcats’ ensuing possession, Cyclone linebacker Eric Weiford recovered a fumble by tailback Frank Murphy at the KSU 13 yard line. Two plays later, Davis scampered into the end zone untouched from 10 yards out to put the Cyclones on top, 14-0.

K-State pulled to within seven at 14-7 on its next possession, but ISU immediately responded with a 12-play, 81-yard drive capped off by J.J Moses’ five-yard score off a reverse.

The Cyclones increased their lead to 28-7 a short while later on a 10-yard touchdown scamper by quarterback Sage Rosenfels.

ISU was looking to increase its advantage even further, when Rosenfels hit Cyclone tight end Mike Banks for a 20-yard completion to the K-State 12 yard line with 2:40 remaining in the half.

However, ISU was stuffed on its next three plays and place kicker Mike McKnight had his 26-yard field goal attempt blocked by Wildcat defensive end Cliff Holloman.

Though it didn’t seem so at the time, that failed scoring opportunity proved costly for the Cyclones.

“If we’d been able to go up 35-7, then they would’ve went down,” Davis said. “We didn’t, and at halftime they made adjustments and came out rolling.”

The Wildcats cut the deficit to 28-14 on its second possession of the half, when Helm scored from two yards out, completing an 80-yard scoring drive. During the drive, K-State totaled more first downs (six) than it had the entire first half (five).

The K-State defense forced ISU to punt on its next possession, and unfortunately for the Cyclones, Wildcat All-American punt returner David Allen was waiting for the ball inside the ISU 10 yard line.

Allen received the punt at the 6-yard line and sprinted straight through the Cyclones’ punt coverage 94 yards for a touchdown.

“The punt return was huge,” Cyclone free safety Dustin Avey said. “Any time you can make a big play on special teams, it’s going to be a deciding factor. It was a huge momentum turn.”

From that point on, ISU appeared completely helpless against the Wildcats. ISU managed only 74 yards in the second half after looking so smooth in the opening two quarters. Davis wound up with 152 yards for the day, but only 21 came after the intermission.

Helm, who replaced starting Wildcat quarterback Jonathan Beasley early in the second half, directed K-State on two more scoring drives and finished off the comeback with 2:34 remaining when he plunged into the end zone from one yard out to put the Wildcats on top, 35-28.

The ISU offense sputtered down the stretch, and K-State held on for the remarkable comeback victory.

“In the first half, we knew we could go out there and play with these guys and went out there and showed it,” Davis said. “In the second half I think we got relaxed, and it just shows what happens when you don’t play a second half of football.”