The Iowa State/Baylor game had virtually no meaning on the national scene, especially in the polls or the Big 12 standings, but for two teams desperately searching for a victory, the game was enormous.

The Cyclones ended a 13-game losing streak with a 24-17 victory over Baylor with the aid of a rejuvenated and aggressive defensive line.

The ISU defense had been nationally ranked near the bottom in the nation for the past two games in several defensive categories.

However, the Cyclones only allowed the Bears to round up 345 yards — nearly 100 yards less than ISU’s season defensive average. In addition, the 17 points ISU allowed fell below its usual 43 points per game sacrifice.

“This was the best defensive game we’ve had since I’ve been here,” Coach Dan McCarney said. “We challenged them to step up and make plays and they did that by getting some sacks and making tackles.”

Defensive coordinator John Skladany inserted a few new wrinkles in his defensive attack, most notably a nickel package blitz spearheaded by junior defensive back Kevin Wilson.

Wilson, a kick return specialist who hadn’t played defense since his freshman year, came up with two huge sacks in the fourth quarter to preserve the lead.

“Kevin Wilson did a great job,” McCarney said. “He may not be the best cover man, but he is really aggressive and does a great job on the blitzes.”

Wilson said, “I’m usually unaccounted for and if I don’t get there, I feel like I let the team down. When I saw that big hole and the quarterback, my eyes just got real big.”

The defense set the tone early on when Cory Kluver raced down the field after a Carl Gomez punt and forced Baylor’s Mark Cogdill to muff the punt.

ISU’s Jerome Heavens pounced on the fumble giving the Cyclones the ball on the Baylor 31-yard line.

The turnover helped put the Cyclones on the board courtesy of a 1-yard Darren Davis run.

After Baylor gained possession after the kick off, the ISU defense came out fired up against an offensive line that averaged over 300 pounds.

Bear running back, Darrell Bush, was tackled for losses on his first two attempts by Dustin Avey and James Elmore. Next, Greg Schoon sacked QB Jeff Watson, his first of three sacks, and forced a punt.

Schoon said, “We really came out focused, and backing them up three straight times got us pumped. They were huge, but we knew that coming into the game. We thought we could have success against them if we just were able to move around. I think we did a good job of that.”

The defensive line of Schoon, Elmore, James Reed, Kip King, Andre Lee and Nigel Tharpe consistently wreaked havoc in the Bear backfield.

“The front four did a great job and made some big plays,” said linebacker Michael Cooper, who led the team with 13 tackles and had a fumble recovery. “We felt that we could slant and use our quickness.”

The turning points in the game came after turnovers and offensive miscues. And the ISU defense was able to hold Baylor to field goal attempts on four separate occasions.

With the score tied at seven in the first quarter, Baylor recovered a ISU fumble deep in Cyclone territory.

The Bears had first and goal at the seven, but McCarney’s defense forced a field goal attempt that was no good.

“We caught some breaks,” Cooper said. “Overall we played well, holding them to only 10 points for most of the game. We felt confident that we could stop them after the turnovers. We could have been down, but we just came out played tough defense.”

ISU was leading 14-7 just before the half after Tyrone Watley and Todd Bandhauer hooked up for a 38-yard touchdown strike.

The Cyclones took that lead into the locker room after the defense made another key stop in the closing seconds. The Bears had the ball at the 15-yard line, but ISU again forced them to attempt a field goal that was no good.

The second half started much the same way the first half did with the Cyclones in control. Chin Achebe sacked Watson for a 10-yard loss that led to a Jamie Kohl field goal. ISU had seven sacks on the day, the most since a 64-9 victory against Indiana State on Sept. 20, 1986.

Then the Baylor offense started to roll; a 13-play drive landed the Bears on the ISU 2-yard line. On the next play, they scored but were flagged for not having enough players on the line of scrimmage.

After the set back, the Bears regained composure and returned to the 2.

On fourth down they ran an option to the far side of the field, but Dustin Avey and Kevin Hudson downed Elijah Burkins giving Baylor a 2-yard loss.

In the final stanza of the game, Baylor added a field goal to push the score to 17-10. But Davis struck again, galloping 39 yards to put the Cyclones in a winning position. But not quite. Baylor marched down the field in just 38 seconds and narrowed the gap to 24-17.

After the score, Baylor attempted an on-side kick, but it was recovered by reserve wide-out Chris Anthony, securing the ISU victory.

Following the game, students, ISU supporters and alumni stormed the field to celebrate the win.