It wasn’t exactly home sweet home for the Cyclone football team on Saturday.

After a 54-33 defeat at the hands of the Texas Longhorns last weekend, the Cyclones came home to a crowd of 38,756 to face the Missouri Tigers.

Missouri senior running back Devin West ripped off 252 yards on 40 carries and scored three touchdowns en route to a 35-19 victory for the Tigers.

“We made some mistakes and there were some opportunities,” head coach Dan McCarney said. “The only difference in the first half was the muffed punt, as far as points on the board, otherwise we’re playing them real even.

“In the second half, we had some good drives going, but they made some real good defensive plays to prevent us from making a run,” he said.

The game began well for the Cyclones, as junior running back Darren Davis scored on a two yard touchdown run on the opening possession of the game.

Senior quarterback Todd Bandhauer’s 14-yard completion to sophomore receiver Chris Anthony and a 15-yard facemask penalty on the Tigers keyed the scoring drive for the Cyclones.

The 13-play, 72-yard drive consumed 6:04 off the clock and, after senior kicker Jamie Kohl’s extra point, gave the Cyclones a 7-0 lead.

Nevertheless, Missouri responded on its first possession, as senior quarterback Corby Jones hit sophomore receiver John Dausman for a 64-yard touchdown pass to tie the game up at 7-7.

After junior defensive back Jeff Waters recovered a Missouri fumble, Bandhauer threw an interception on the ensuing play to end the first quarter in a 7-7 tie.

A personal foul penalty against the Cyclones helped set up a 15-yard touchdown run on a bootleg from Jones to give Missouri a 14-7 lead.

Following Missouri’s second touchdown, the Cyclones put together an 11-play, 42-yard scoring drive which resulted in a Jamie Kohl 30-yard field goal to make the score 14-10 in favor of the Tigers.

Missouri was forced to punt on the ensuing possession, and the punt was muffed by freshman defensive back Adam Runk of the Cyclones and recovered by the Tigers.

“That (returning punts) is one of the toughest jobs in any level of football,” McCarney said. “If I had to do it over a hundred times, I would still put Adam Runk back out there. I have all the faith and trust in the world in him.”

West would then score his first touchdown of the game, a one-yard run, on that possession to increase the Tigers’ lead to 21-10.

Kohl would hit a 48-yard field goal on the Cyclones’ next possession, their last possession of the first half, to make the score 21-13 at halftime.

Two long drives by both teams resulted in no scoring to begin the second half. With 5:07 left in the third quarter, West scored his second touchdown of the day for the Tigers on a ten yard run. The Tigers’ lead was now increased to 28-13.

Another Cyclone drive was stopped after a Bandhauer interception with 1:58 left in the quarter. The third quarter ended with the Tigers driving and leading the Cyclones, 28-13.

At 14:31 in the fourth quarter, sophomore defensive tackle James Reed sacked Jones and recovered his subsequent fumble to give the Cyclones the ball back.

After two separate 11-yard completions to junior receiver Kenyatta Burris and Anthony, the ISU drive was ended by Bandhauer’s third interception of the game.

Missouri would then take the ball on a 15-play, 87-yard possession lasting 8:55, capped off by a 15-yard touchdown pass from Jones to West to increase the score to 35-13.

“That was a long drive,” Waters said. “They just kept pounding it and pounding it and they knew our backs were against the wall, so in these types of games, we just need to step up as a defense.”

Displaying resiliency, the Cyclones drove down the field for a touchdown of their own. A seven-play, 61-yard drive ended with a 26-yard touchdown pass from Bandhauer to junior receiver Michael Brantley.

With the score now 35-19 in favor of Missouri and 1:35 left in the game, the Cyclones failed on a two- point conversion try and attempted to recover an on-side kick.

The kick would be recovered by Missouri, which ran the clock out to preserve a 35-19 victory.

For the third straight week, the Cyclones faced off with a team featuring a nationally-ranked running back. West came into the game ranked third in the nation in running, with 176.5 yards a game.

McCarney praised the entire Missouri offense for their efforts on Saturday.

“This is not a mediocre rush offense; they’re ranked third in the nation in rush offense,” McCarney said. “This is a team with some real talent and an extremely experienced offense. They are dangerous and can hurt you in a lot of ways.”

Reed said he didn’t care which running back or offense the Cyclones play against. The key is just stopping the run.

“I don’t care who we play against,” Reed said. “I look at them all the same. We just need to stop the run.”

Players agreed that the defeat was costly, but also that the team cannot give up on the season.

“We are not playing with the attitude we need to to win football games, and that’s what we need to do, not point fingers at other people,” Bandhauer said. “We need to move on and play with the toughness that I know this team can play with.”

“We have to win some more ballgames; other than that, I don’t know if it gets any simpler,” sophomore offensive lineman Josh Rank said. “You have to give credit to Missouri. They were a great team today and they made big plays when they needed to and had to. We didn’t come up with those big plays that they did.”

Next week is a week off for the Cyclones, who don’t play again until October 24 at Kansas State.

McCarney said he will use that free time to get his team back on track.

“We’re not going to bring our kids in and punish them because we lost,” McCarney said. “We’ll work on fundamentals, make corrections and move forward because I am not going to let this team divide amidst the frustration of losing this game.”