Entering the game on Saturday, it was expected that a trio of running backs would have a solid game. In fact, many thought that the trio could even be the deciding factor.

It happened that a trio of backs did play well and did decide the game for the eventual victor. However, that successful trio wasn’t of the Ball State Cardinals but of the Iowa State Cyclones.

The three running backs for Ball State, James Terrell, Kevin Cartwright, and LeAndre Moore had combined for 1,860 yards a year ago and were to face an Iowa State team that has been traditionally weak against the run.

The three backs were no doubt licking their chops in anticipation of this one.

Iowa State, meanwhile, had one very good back in Darren Davis.

However, his cohorts in the backfield had combined to rush for only 20 yards on eight carries in the first two games.

Since this figured to be a day in which the running backs would decide the game’s outcome, at three to one, the odds may not have been in favor of the Cyclones.

Then the game began.

It became quickly clear that it didn’t matter how many marquee running backs the Cardinals threw out there, the Cyclone defense was not going to let the opposition run the ball.

The Cyclones, however, were another story altogether.

Darren Davis had 42 yards and a touchdown on the first drive alone. By the end of the first quarter, he had accumulated 81 yards rushing and had a 65-yard touchdown catch to go along with it.

At half-time, the numbers were overwhelmingly in favor of the Cyclones.

The Ball State troika had 52 yards on 15 carries.

Meanwhile, Darren Davis had 142 yards, by himself. It looked like the same old story on offense for the Cyclones, with Darren carrying the entire running load on his own two sturdy shoulders.

The only other Cyclone back to carry the ball was J.J. Moses, who rushed two times for four yards.

Through three quarters, the story had not changed.

Davis had 199 yards on the ground and the other Cyclone backs had combined for eight yards on three carries.

The Ball State offense was starting to look to the air and, as a result, their talented threesome was being completely shut down, rushing for 88 yards on 22 carries.

Then came the fourth quarter and Cyclone reinforcements.

First there was Ennis Haywood.

The true freshman from Dallas, Texas had been impressing the coaching staff with his talent, and he couldn’t wait to show the Cyclone faithful that he could do the job.

He didn’t take long to prove his point.

On his third rush of the day and fourth of his Cyclone career, he burst up the middle for 56 yards to the one yard line.

However, Ennis was not satisfied with that particular run.

“As I was running, I didn’t hear [my pursuer],” Haywood said. “If I would have heard him, I would have tried to dive or something, but I thought it was smooth sailing.”

However, he was not too discouraged, as his next run went nine yards for pay dirt.

The first person to greet him was none other than Darren Davis.

“It’s like father, like son,” Davis said. “When your son does something good, you have to congratulate him on it, and that’s what I did.”

Haywood was glad to see Darren as well.

“It made me feel real good to see him out there because he knows now that I can step it up and spell him if he needs it.”

The Cyclones closed out the game by giving the ball to Moses, who responded admirably.

J.J. finished the game with 36 yards on six carries, a healthy six-yard average.

In all, the Cyclone trio finished with 316 yards on 39 carries, an average of over eight yards per carry.

The Cardinal troika, meanwhile, finished with 86 yards on 29 carries, failing to even average three yards.

One trio of backs did star in the game on Saturday.

It just wasn’t the one everyone expected.

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Josh Flickinger is a junior in journalism and mass communication from Rockford, Ill.