Iowa State football returned home Saturday after both an away game loss and a bye week.

Although a Big 12 win was on the line, the Cyclones were unable to push past the Oklahoma Sooners.

While the defense looked mostly confident, the offense appeared less confident than in previous games, and Iowa State found themselves with their fifth consecutive loss and still looking for a win in the Big 12.

Head coach Matt Campbell couldn’t say enough about the inconsistencies his team has had.

“It’s not an attitude and effort thing…but it is a detail and precision piece,” Campbell said.

Here are your three big takeaways from the Cyclones’ 27-13 loss.

Determined defense

As Iowa State won the coin toss, the Cyclones chose to defer giving the Oklahoma Sooners the ball first.

The Cyclone defense started off strong as Sooners quarterback Dillion Gabriel made an incomplete pass on the first play. Additionally, the Sooners were charged with a holding penalty putting them 10 yards back.

After a three and out for Oklahoma, Iowa State had their turn with the ball but quickly turned it over.

Quarterback Hunter Dekkers’ first play resulted in an incomplete pass intended for Xavier Hutchinson while his pass on the second play resulted in an interception.

Nonetheless, the Cyclone defense fought back. Myles Purchase forced a fumble on the Sooners while Gerry Vaugn recovered the football.

Additionally, while Oklahoma made their way down the field, Gabriel’s first pass attempt into the endzone was incomplete thanks to coverage by T.J. Tampa.

“Probably the best game I’ve ever seen T.J. Tampa play,” Campbell said.

Tampa along with Anthony Johnson Jr. and O’Rien Vance had a strong defense game individually. Johnson and Vance each had eight total tackles with Tampa having seven.

“If the [opposing] offense doesn’t score, then they can’t win,” Tampa said.

Additionally, Johnson earned his 50th career start creating a new school record.

The Cyclone defense was later on tricked out by the Sooners in the second quarter.

While Oklahoma had an opportunity to score, the Cyclone defense stayed persistent giving them what they thought would be a field goal.

At the beginning of the snap, that field goal play turned into a Sooner touchdown as punter Michael Turk passed to kicker Zach Schmit for two yards.

Nonetheless, the Iowa State defense was not enough to keep Oklahoma off the board. The Cyclones trailed 20-6 going into the fourth quarter.

Offensive hiccups

While the defense looked fairly dominant and consistent, the Iowa State offense seemed to struggle more than usual.

Furthermore, a poor snap that went over the head of Dekkers also resulted in a loss of 14 yards followed by a Tyler Perkins punt.

“It’s frustrating,” Jaylin Noel said about the little mistakes the offense made. “But at the end of the day, it’s on us so it’s on us to fix that.”

At the half, Dekkers was 12-21 on passes but for a total of 135 yards compared to Oklahoma’s 95. While the passes were more inconsistent, four players had total receiving yards of 23 or more.

As for the run game in the first half, the offense ran for nine yards compared to the Sooners’ 132.

“We’re good enough to run the ball with more consistency,” Campbell said.

The second half brought more incomplete passes from Dekkers and another Oklahoma touchdown.

However, the fourth quarter brought Iowa State their first touchdown of the game leaving just a one-possession game against the Sooners.

The touchdown featured a 15-yard touchdown from Dekkers to Noel. The touchdown was Noel’s third of his career and third within the last two games.

Not shortly after came a second and third interception by Dekkers.

The final stats for the offense was a 65% completion for Dekkers who also led in rushes with 31 yards.

Hutchinson led the receivers with 72 total yards.

The rest of the season

Only four games remain in the season for Iowa State. Two will be away with two on the road.

One of those away games will arrive next weekend for the homecoming game against West Virginia.

With another loss on the season and the games winding down, the potential of a bowl game continues to lower.

“You gotta go back to work, you gotta continue to pound away at your craft,” Campbell said.