The crowd at Jack Trice Stadium buzzed with the thought. Fans started to filter in from the tailgating lots and student dorms, hoping to see a slice of ISU sports history. ISU football trended on Twitter, leading to national attention.

The spotlight magnified Saturday in Ames as Iowa State led No. 5 Oklahoma State — a team hopeful to be one of the four to make it to the College Football Playoff — deep into the fourth quarter of the final home game of the football season.

It wasn’t the first time the national spotlight shined on Ames in the fleeting moments of a game. Back in 2011, Iowa State upset an undefeated No. 2 Oklahoma State team at Jack Trice Stadium.

The similarities seemed uncanny. It was a November game in Ames, and the Cowboys entered it without a loss. 

“There were similarities, obviously — eerie similarities,” said ISU coach Paul Rhoads. “But I think the kids would tell you that there are no fairy tales. There’s no Cinderella and all that. It’s a man’s game. It’s fast, it’s physical. It takes hard men to play. That’s how they went about it.”

As attention continued to grow, and the precious time that stood between the Cyclones and their best win in four years ticked away, ISU fans were silenced.

Oklahoma State drove nearly the length of the field late in the game and scored the go-ahead touchdown, taking a 35-31 lead. The ISU offense, though, would get a couple more opportunities to take the lead with just more than three minutes left in the game.

Joel Lanning, who went 11-for-22 on the day and amassed 141 rushing yards, couldn’t make it happen. The offense turned the ball over on downs on the first drive following Oklahoma State’s lead-snatching touchdown.

The last ISU drive of the game began at the 5-yard line with less than two minutes to play, and Lanning overthrew his target on the first play, the ball instead landing in the clutches of a Cowboy defensive back. It was an interception. The game was over.

The crowd that was full of life just 15 minutes before when Iowa State entered the final quarter up by 10 points, fell eerily quiet, as the Cowboys knelt and the Cyclones watched helplessly as the final seconds ticked off the clock.

Oklahoma State had sneaked out of Ames with a 35-31 win. 

“When you don’t get a 4th and 1, it’s kind of a stomach eater at you,” Lanning said, referring to the drive that ended in a turnover on downs. “We had another chance, and I threw that interception.”

On the late-game drive that the Cyclones couldn’t convert on 4th down, receiver Carson Epps appeared to have a first down on a 2nd down pass-and-catch. The ISU coaching staff called the play like the team had moved the chains, but the referees spotted the ball just short of the line of gain.

Iowa State ran a pass play on the ensuing snap, which left some fans and media members scratching their heads.

“We thought we got the first down,” Rhoads said. “From our view on the spot, it sure looked like a first down. Lining the game is something that they’re supposed to stop to review if they feel it’s necessary, so we made a call on what we thought was a 1st and 10 play.”

Running back Mike Warren was stuffed on 4th down, and the Cyclones turned the ball over on downs.

Another play that fans can point to as a game changer was an overturned touchdown pass to Trever Ryen in the second quarter. The play was reversed to an incompletion, much to the dismay of those in attendance, in what was ruled a trapped. Iowa State settled for a field goal.

The ISU fans screamed the same narrative that has been heard in years past: The Big 12 referees ruled in the opponent’s favor. They were out to get the Cyclones.

“From my view, it looked like he had the ball,” Lanning said. “It didn’t look like it touched the ground at all. I don’t know. If we get that, it’s 35-35, and we’d be in overtime right now and trying to win the game. It’s a big game changer, but it was a bad throw.”

Looking past the referees, there were other aspects of the game in which Iowa State failed to capitalize. A struggle for Iowa State all season has been playing a complete game, and that was evident Saturday. 

Iowa State’s first half could have been the best half of football all season for the Cyclones, amassing 307 yards of total offense — 179 of them on the ground. But the Cyclones’ offense ceased in the second half, particularly the running game.

Iowa State only had 104 yards of offense in the final 30 minutes, and 70 of them came on the ground. Warren missed the back end of an offensive drive with a back injury, which may have contributed some to the loss of production.

“[There] was no variation in the [offensive] plan [in the second half],” Rhoads said. “The halftime program is what’s working, what’s not working and what adjustments have they made to stop what we’ve done.”

After the loss, the Cyclones are no longer bowl eligible, and while the team expressed that the next goal is to win the final two games, there was some disappointment.

Even though the team was close to upsetting an undefeated Oklahoma State, there won’t be much talk of moral victories going forward.

“We don’t want upsets,” Rhoads said. “We want championships. We want to be in the top half of this league. We want to get into the postseason. We want to win bowl games, and that’s something that we try to do every day.”