What a game.

I had a hypothesis that if the Cyclones weren’t up at the half, that they had a better chance of winning than if they were up at the half.

Not saying that the ‘Clones can’t win a game if they were up at the half, it’s just that they normally don’t.

Well, the Cyclones weren’t up at the half, but they did attain the lead halfway through the third quarter (28-21).

Quite unexpected from an unranked team versus a seventh-ranked team.

That was just one of the pleasant surprises that the Cyclones had in store.

Even when Colorado buckled down and took care of business and built a big lead, 42-28, Iowa State proved that they were not out of the game.

The big lead never fazed the ‘Clones. They kept the game alive, taking advantage of every Colorado slip-up. Give our team an inch, and they’ll go the mile.

Iowa State was able to end the game with dignity, 49-42. And to think that the ‘Clones were a 27- point underdog.

To this I give most of the credit to Dan McCarney.

He said last week he wasn’t going to Colorado to just hang in there, or to be competitive. He went in there to win.

Bold words, but words I believe that he kept and proved against the Buffs.

To be honest, I was expecting the outcome to be much worse.

I wasn’t expecting Troy Davis to break the 200 yard mark. But he surpassed that with 228 yards rushing in 35 attempts.

What a guy. That is 40 more rushing yards than all of Colorado’s backs combined.

Troy needs only 178 yards to have another 2,000 yard season. With two games left, I hardly think that will be a challenge, even with the likes of Nebraska and Kansas State.

Can you say Heisman?

But even though we have the best running back in football, that alone can’t win a game.

Colorado proved that point. What they didn’t do with their legs, they did with their arms.

401 yards passing by Colorado’s Koy Detmer with only one interception. No wonder they are ranked seventh.

Compare that to our very own Todd Doxzon, who had 153 yards with two passing touchdowns, one rushing touchdown and two interceptions. Doxzon made a strong showing against a very tough opponent.

In conclusion, the point that I want to get across is that I don’t want to hear from anyone about how we should have won against Colorado, or how we need a new coach (because we don’t), or how our team sucks (they definitely don’t suck), unless I hear it from McCarney himself.

And I doubt that that will happen. Iowa State played unbelievable ball against the Buffs and I think that we should all give our team a round of applause.

See you all later. Same time, next week, when discussion is over Iowa State’s win against the Big Red.

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Rory Flaherty is a junior in construction engineering from LeMars.