It took a little man to do an enormous job Thursday night in a battle between the only two winless football teams in Division I last year.

Iowa State tailback Troy Davis rushed for nearly 300 yards to lead the Cyclones to a 36-21 victory over the Ohio University Bobcats.

Davis offensively dominated the entire game. The 5’8″, 185-pound sophomore broke ISU’s 34-year-old all-time single-game rushing record with 291 yards. The total was 13th in the Big Eight’s all-time single game rushing records.

Davis scored three touchdowns and carried the ball 40 times. His longest carry was a 50 yard run up the middle at the start of the second half that ended with Davis on the Bobcat’s 10 yard line.

The most yards Davis ran in a game last year came against Rice when he rushed for 74. He carried the ball only 35 times all of last year.

One of the reasons Davis got the ball so many times was starting quarterback Todd Doxzon never played. The junior from Omaha was sidelined because of a sprained ankle during practice earlier in the week.

Many of Davis’ opportunities where a result of ISU’s defense.

Particularly in the second half, the Cyclone defense forced Ohio to turn the ball over several times.

Head Coach Dan McCarney took full advantage of those turnovers. He also took full advantage of Davis. He rushed for 197 yards in the second half.

The Cyclones trailed 21-12 at the start of the fourth quarter. Then they turned up the heat. The ‘Clones went on to score 24 unanswered points.

As the final gun sounded, some of the almost 33,000 fans who attended the game stormed the field. They raised Davis in the air and then tore down the goal post at the north end of Jack Trice Field.

Davis wasn’t the only Cyclone breaking a record in the game.

The game was the first time a Cyclone coach had won his debut game since 1979 when Donnie Duncan’s team beat Bowling Green 38-10.

More details on the game and additional coach and player comments will be in next week’s Daily.