Without tight end E.J. Bibbs on the field, it was difficult for the ISU offense to get things moving.

Bibbs, who suffered a leg injury earlier in the season, had to watch from the sidelines as his team fell Dec. 6 to TCU (11-1, 8-1 Big 12) 55-3.

With the football team failing to win a conference game this season, and finishing with just two wins overall, its season is officially over.

“Being 0-9 and being 2-10, that’s hard probably for an 18-, 19-, 20-year-old to fully grasp at this point, especially with the emotion that they’re just wrenched with,” ISU coach Paul Rhoads said. “It’s not hard for me to understand and see. We’re a lot closer than we are further away. But a lot has to take place to get over that hump.”

In their bout with TCU, Rhoads says there were still some positives to come out of it, especially in the first half. The Cyclones went into halftime trailing 17-3, a score that many predicted would be much worse.

“We were pesky for 30 minutes and pleased with the effort and the response of our guys through that first 30 minutes,” Rhoads said. “We were worn out in that 30-minute effort, and I think that showed quickly in the second half.”

The second half was when the Horned Frogs proved why they’re one of the nation’s top teams. TCU scored 31 points in the third quarter, and Iowa State just didn’t have an answer.

“I think we just stopped believing that we had a chance to stay with them,” said ISU wide receiver Jarvis West.

By the end of the game, the Cyclones didn’t have much left. With TCU’s high powered offense in the third quarter, cornerback Sam Richardson said there wasn’t much they could do to stop them.

“At that moment I kind of felt the sense of the team, and everybody was just kind of like, ‘Let’s get this over with,'” Richardson said.

Without a bowl game to prepare for, the Cyclones now will turn their attention to next season. Rhoads biggest focus for the coming years is simply to keep his players healthy.

“I’d like to finish with a senior day where we’re all padded up instead of going out in street clothes,” Rhoads said. “If you’re undermanned, you want to go out there and try to find a way to give the kids a chance to win.”