The Iowa State football team did not hold back its emotions on Saturday after beating Baylor, 24-17, in a Big 12 Conference game at Jack Trice Stadium. Nor did any of its fans.

The ISU players rushed to the northeast corner of the stadium after the game to celebrate their first victory in 14 games with the student section.

While aggressive security officials prevented most of the crowd in the northeast stands from storming the field to celebrate with the players, a crowd of about 50 fans jumped the north fence and brought down the goal post.

The reasons for the fan’s antics were Darren Davis’s 247 rushing yards and the defense’s seven forced sacks in the Cyclones first victory since Sept. 28, 1996, when they beat Missouri 45-31 at Jack Trice Stadium. The win broke a string of 13 losses, which was the second-longest streak in NCAA Division I-A.

As the mayhem was in the making on the field, the Cyclone players were seen running up the northeast hill high-fiving and whooping it up with fans as they headed to the locker room.

The celebration did not end there. ISU quarterback Todd Bandhauer described the scene in the locker room after the game as “extreme jubilation.”

“It’s been awhile since we’ve won a game around here and we were excited,” he said. “It’s the happiest I’ve ever been.”

Bandhauer then paused and repeated, “It’s been awhile since we’ve won a game around here.”

The midwestern weather was not only a shock to the Baylor Bears, but for ISU running back Davis.

Davis, a native Floridian, said he was not used to playing in Saturday’s conditions. The game was played under a constant drizzle and temperatures in the lower 40s.

“It took me awhile to get warmed up out there,” said Davis, who rushed for the sixth-best rushing total in school history on Saturday. “But once I got my stride in the second quarter or so, I felt really good out there.”

Davis, who rushed for two touchdowns, said the team needed to establish a strong running game going into Saturday’s game.

“We came out this week and we said ‘we need to pound the ball with the run,'” he said. “To be successful we knew we needed to run the ball to help out the passing game.”

Senior offensive tackle Kurt Levetzow, a two-year starter, said the establishment of a running game helped out ISU’s passing attack. Levetzow anchored an offensive line which included Matt Rahfaldt, Oliver Ross, Charley Bogwill, Ben Beaudet and Marc Cortez. The line allowed only one sack in the Saturday game.

“When we are able to run the ball, defenses can’t just come flying through like they do on the pass,” Levetzow said. “We did a good job of mixing up our offense between run and pass, to where they didn’t know what was coming at them.”

The Cyclone offensive line opened up a seam up the middle and opened up the game with 1:35 left in the fourth quarter which allowed Davis to slip through untouched for a 39-yard touchdown with 1:35 left in the game. Jamie Kohl’s point-after kick gave the Cyclones a 24-10 lead.

“I knew when I saw the seam open up that I was going to score,” a smiling Davis said. “It was that big of an opening.”

Tyrone Watley led the ISU receiving corps with three catches for 58 yards.

Watley put ISU ahead, 14-7, when he scored on a 38-yard reception after beating Baylor defensive back Robert Neal on a post pattern. Watley hauled in the pass after Neal had partially tipped it and went in untouched with 12:22 left in the second quarter.

The Cyclone defense limited Baylor to 345 total offensive yards giving up the lowest point total of ISU’s season. Linebacker Michael Cooper had a team-high of 13 tackles for ISU.

Greg Schoon recorded a team-high three sacks for ISU from his nose guard position, recording a total of nine tackles .

“It was just a fun day to play,” Schoon said.

With Schoon, Cooper, James Reed, Jim Morse and James Elmore attacking everything up front, defensive back Kevin Wilson was free to crash in from the outside. Wilson twice came up with 10-yard sacks in the second half with Baylor driving.

Wilson has been used extensively as the Cyclone’s punt returner, but had been used sparingly as a defensive back before Saturday’s game.

“Everyone was making the plays up front,” Schoon said. “Then when we came in with the blitz, Wilson came in and made some good plays.”

“We wanted to utilize (Wilson) because he’s very, very aggressive and he does some good things,” McCarney said. “He’s an excellent blitz guy. He may not be the best cover defensive back that we have on the team, but he did a great job on the blitzes.”

ISU’s defensive line did a good job of neutralizing Baylor’s huge offensive line, which had four players weighing over 300 pounds. Schoon is ISU’s heaviest defensive starter at 286 pounds.

End Jim Morse led ISU’s defensive line with 11 tackles.

“We probably have one of the smallest (defensive) lines, but we don’t look at it that way, we look at our quickness,” said Reed, who had 10 tackles and one sack.