The Cyclones were driving to take the lead in the first half against the Hawkeyes — the score tied at 10.

Quarterback Sam Richardson extended his impressive half with two completions for a combined 82 yards in the drive that put Iowa State up 17-10.

It would be the last productive drive and the final touchdown of the game for the Cyclones — and also the beginning the team’s downfall.

“The first half, we played awfully well,” said ISU head coach Paul Rhoads. “The second half, we just didn’t.”

The Hawkeyes started the resurgence out of the half, tying the game up early in the third quarter. The Cyclones failed to respond each time, punting the ball to end every drive in the third quarter.

Iowa rattled off two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to seal the deal, taking the Cy-Hawk trophy back to Iowa City with a 31-17 victory.

But Iowa State’s offense was outmatching Iowa’s offense through three-fourths of the first half, owning 112 yards more than Iowa in the middle of the second quarter.

The Hawkeyes charged back, however, late in the second quarter and continued their run into the second half, eventually overtaking the Cyclones in overall offensive yards and, more importantly, points.

Iowa State’s stalled offense led to most of its problems, allowing the defense to tire more quickly and not picking up the same amount of yards it did early in the game.

The Cyclones had 244 overall yards at the end of the first half. In the third quarter, Iowa State only added 31 yards to that total.

“A lack of first-down and second-down success put the [Hawkeyes] in what they wanted to be in,” Rhoads said. “It challenged our ability to be in the right place.”

The offense would end the second half with 66 yards on 31 plays, a far cry from the unit that put up 17 points before halftime.

Part of that stemmed from Richardson, who went 7 for 20 with 61 yards in the second half and threw the interception that ended any hope of a late-game comeback.

“I think our folks were covered,” Rhoads said. “The pocket escaped [Richardson] because people were covered. He had to move and slide and try to find someone that was open and allowed pressure to get there.”

Another part of the struggles may be attributed to the running attack that produced only 63 yards the entire game. The second half showed even less impressive numbers, as the Cyclones rushed for a mere five yards on 11 attempts.

The defense faced much of the same tale of two halves.

The ISU defense pinned Iowa back late in the second quarter. Beathard then scrambled for 44 yards to pick up a first down and drive his team that much closer to the end zone.

But it was the making of something bigger for the Iowa offense.

“We gave them some plays that wore us down,” Rhoads said. “We didn’t tackle very well. There was too much arm tackling going on tonight and not enough feet and body tackling.”

Beathard was the Achilles heel for the Cyclones, running for 77 yards on 10 attempts in the game, and creating multiple big plays to keep the chains moving, consistently pushing the Hawkeyes closer to the end zone.

Iowa State didn’t feel like it was anything Iowa did that had a hand in the Hawkeyes’ second half resurgence. It was more on the Cyclones themselves.

“It was just us,” said defensive end Dale Pierson, who had two sacks in the game. “Nothing that they did, it was just us making our mistakes.”

Whatever turned the tide, the Cyclones feel like they let one slip away from their grasp and this one hurt, being one of the most important games on the team’s schedule.

“We should have had that one,” said walk-on Trever Ryen with his lip quivering. “I’ll tell you guys something. I’ve never seen a team work so hard for something. To get a loss from an in-state rivalry sucks. I just know that this loss means a lot to us and I feel like we’re not going to lose another game.”