It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. But mostly, it was the worst of times.

The Iowa State football team blew a 28-7 half-time lead and succumbed to 15th-rated Kansas State by a score of 35-28. In the last eighteen minutes of the game, ISU was outscored 28-0.

“I don’t know what happened. I knew coming out that our kids were ready, they thought they could win, and we got off to a good start. But we just didn’t do the same things for whatever reasons,” head coach Dan McCarney said.

The Cyclones came out like a team with something to prove in the first half, rushing for 217 yards against one of the premier defenses against the run in the country.

They were led by running back Darren Davis, who is beginning to make his name known in Heisman circles after running around and through the Wildcat defense to the tune of 131 yards on 17 carries and two touchdowns. His totals equaled a sparkling 7.7 yards per carry.

Quarterback Sage Rosenfels was also very effective, as he was 8-of-14 for 115 yards. Although he was picked off in the end zone for the second time this year, the junior signal-caller, playing in his most important game in his short career, held up well.

Rosenfelds completed passes to six different Cyclone receivers and helped the offense control the ball for over 20 minutes of the first half.

The defense, on the other hand, was nothing short of superb. With the exception of a five play, 69-yard drive for a touchdown in the second quarter, they completely stopped K-State.

“We came out and played great at the start; we were fired up and held them pretty good, but we just couldn’t keep it up. You can’t just play two quarters and expect to win,” Cyclone safety Jeff Waters said.

The Wildcats were held to just 102 yards overall, compared to an unbelievable 332 for Iowa State. The Wildcats had only three plays that went for over ten yards in the half, all of them coming on the touchdown drive.

Meanwhile, ISU racked up 13 such plays.

Just when it seemed the Cyclones were ready to slam the door, the team that K-State was supposed to be showed up. And with a vengeance.

After stalling in its first drive of the second half, K-State dominated the rest of the game. Disregarding the final drive in which they downed the ball, the Wildcats scored all four times they touched the ball, including a 94-yard touchdown by David Allen on a punt return.

During that time, ISU accumulated 90 yards. K-State, meanwhile, racked up 217 yards, and that doesn’t include the 94 yards for the return touchdown.

Davis rushed for only 17 yards after intermission. Rosenfels passed for only 41.

Overall, ISU was outgained 192-74, again not including the return yardage.

McCarney said he didn’t think that the Wildcats made big adjustments at the break.

“I didn’t see a lot of different things from them. What I saw was they wanted to win more than we did. They out-toughed us,” McCarney said.

How did the Wildcats do it? Well, for starters, they brought in quarterback Adam Helm, who replaced the ineffective Jonathon Beasley. With Helm, the Wildcat offense took off. Although his numbers, 7-for-11 for 67 yards and a touchdown, along with 13 rushes for 48 yards, weren’t staggering, Helm took the Wildcats to a new level.

“They just took it to us with tough, physical football. They didn’t change their game plan a lot. They just came out and beat us,” Cyclone linebacker Eric Weiford said.

Cyclone safety Dustin Avey agreed that it was more of the same in the second half for K-State.

“They came out really intense and just played physical football to beat us. They executed their plays, they blocked well, and they did what it took to win,” Avey said.

The defense, meanwhile, didn’t create any turnovers but clearly played with an attitude.

“They came out with a lot of intensity, and I guess we just didn’t adjust to that enough. I think they caught on to what we were doing, and they made some big plays,” Davis said.

Most of the Cyclones simply didn’t have an answer to what happened on either side of the ball the second half.

“I guess when we figure that out, we’ll win games. We came out and ran the ball great, but I don’t know if we were complacent, or they made adjustments, but either way we didn’t get it done,” offensive lineman Bill Marsau said.

The Cyclones, who dropped to 3-1 on the year, will have the bye week to recover before heading on the road for games at Nebraska and Missouri.