Dustin Avey proved he is still an offensive player at heart last Saturday.

But even his 94-yard interception return for a touchdown in the second quarter was not enough for the Iowa State football team to beat Colorado at home last weekend.

The Cyclones lost 43-38 in the Big 12 Conference North Division game.

With only nine seconds remaining, Buffalo Herchell Troutman provided Colorado (5-4) with its winning points on a 1-yard touchdown run to win the game.

ISU’s Avey, a strong safety, stepped in front of a John Hessler pass and returned it for the second-longest interception return in ISU history.

His score gave the Cyclones (1-7) their biggest lead, at 28-10, with 1 minute, 24 seconds left in the second quarter.

Avey, a redshirt freshman, was an all-state receiver at Ames High School who scored 10 touchdowns during his senior season. Saturday’s touchdown was his first in collegiate play.

“I was kind of surprised at first,” Avey said of the interception. “I was kind of like, ‘what the hell is this?'”

Hessler blamed the interception on miscommunication and lack of judgment.

It almost appeared Hessler was throwing the ball at Avey, who was not in close vicinity of a Colorado receiver.

“The play came in wrong and we shouldn’t run slants near the goal line,” Hessler said. “I guess I just made a bonehead play.”

Cyclone Jim Morse, another redshirt freshman, also came up with a big defensive play for ISU. Morse recovered a Hessler fumble at the Colorado 11-yard line in the third quarter. ISU forced two turnovers and gave up none.

“The big breaks we got helped us emotionally,” Morse said. “We need more of them, though.”

Tyrone Watley and Daman Green had touchdown receptions for ISU in the first half.

Watley finished with 72 receiving yards to lead the Cyclones, including another touchdown haul in the second half.

Green finished with 56 yards on three receptions.

Green set up a Darren Davis touchdown run in the first quarter by diving for a reception by completely extending his body over the turf at the Colorado 5-yard line.

“I think this is the best we have played in the first half this year,” Green said.

ISU Coach Dan McCarney agreed.

He said, “I don’t think we could have played better in the first half.”

In the second half, Colorado scored a touchdown on every possession except for the one that ended with Hessler’s fumble.

The Buffaloes finished the contest with a season-high 479 offensive yards, after racking up only 13 offensive yards in the first quarter.

“We played too tentatively in the second half. That’s not the way we played in the first half. For some reason, we came out and played lackadaisical in the second half,” Avey said.

Special teams played a part in the Cyclone loss for the second week in a row.

After ISU took a 38-37 lead with 2:54 left in the game on Jamie Kohl’s 24-yard field goal, Colorado’s Ben Kelly returned the kickoff 33 yards to the Colorado 48-yard line.

The Buffaloes then marched the 52-yards for the go-ahead touchdown in the next 2 minutes, 45 seconds.

“We’ve struggled with special teams all year,” McCarney said. “We just don’t have a fast team. Not having a fast team really shows up on special teams.”

In the previous ISU defeat, Kansas returned two Cyclone blocked punts for touchdowns in the 34-24 Kansas victory.

Colorado’s Hessler recovered from his two disastrous mistakes to complete 24 of 40 pass attempts for 299 yards.

Hessler’s 30-yard touchdown pass to Javon Green gave Colorado its first lead, at 37-35, with 9:04 left in the game.

ISU quarterback Todd Bandhauer completed 16 of 30 pass attempts for 209 yards and was sacked only once.