The emotion and sentiment in the Iowa State locker room after Saturday’s loss to Oklahoma was evident. They were beating the 14th ranked team in the country for most of the game and then they lost — end of story.

Nevermind the ISU football records that were broken again at another Cyclone home football game.

So what if Troy Davis is now the first sophomore running back ever in collegiate history to run for over 1,000 yards in five games.

“A thousand yards doesn’t mean a thing if you don’t win the game. It doesn’t mean nothing to me really,” Davis said after the game.

Who cares if Todd Doxzon, who was not 100 percent recovered from an ankle injury, threw 20 passes and completed 14 of them for 200 yards — just nine yards short of his career high in 1994 against Oklahoma State.

It’s no big deal that one of those passes was a 90-yarder to Ed Williams and that pass broke the longest pass play record of 89 yards set back in 1946 against Kansas.

“We didn’t make the plays,” Williams said.

Before the game, Head Coach Dan McCarney called Oklahoma defensive lineman Cedric Jones, “The best player at that position I’ve ever seen.”

So who really gives a rat’s ass that Tim Kohn, the Cyclones’ offensive tackle, basically stopped Jones, Oklahoma’s defensive sensation, from being much of a factor in the game.

Jones had only three tackles all day.

“Without even knowing it, Cedric had a sack,” Kohn said. “That one play Doxzon got hit from behind and fumbled, that was pretty much my responsibility. I didn’t pick that guy up because I had blinders on Cedric. So, in a way, he took me out of my game.”

No, I don’t think so. Football players and athletes in general, want to improve. The way to do that might be to emphasize your own mistakes — or to look at the team’s performance in general and not at your own.

Before the Oklahoma game last week, Kohn said the way he played opposite Jones, one of the best defensive players in the country, would be a challenge he wanted to live up to and a test he wanted to pass.

I’d say he passed it with flying colors.

So did the rest of the Cyclones. Even though the loss at home hurts, the Cyclones cannot help but be happy with the way they played against one of the top teams in the Big Eight and the country.

The story of the game was turnovers. Oklahoma’s turnovers in the first three quarters helped take ISU to a 26-23 lead and a couple of Cyclone turnovers in the final quarter was enough icing for a Sooner victory cake.

The point is that the Cyclone football team is prepared to play any team, whether or not it is the No. 1 rushing defense in the nation. The team is prepared to win and — unlike last year — they are not prepared to lose.

Kohn told me after the game that there were more tears in the ISU locker room than after any football game he’d been in.

“The players are just so tired of losing on this team and last year that wouldn’t have happened. Guys would have probably shaken it off and said it was a moral victory. But we can’t put up with this and we’re not going to put up with this.”

A good attitude if you want to win football games, but I still think McCarney and company have to look at this game as a “moral victory” — even if it is a loss. The Cyclones almost beat the best defense in the country and one of the top teams in the nation.

Give credit where credit is due.