ISU Falls to No. 22 Nebraska, 28-14

AMES, Iowa ? Iowa State had its chances in front of the second-largest crowd in school history. But No. 22 Nebraska had two backs rush for over 100 yards while accumulating 251 yards on the ground en route to a 28-14 victory over Iowa State Saturday night. A crowd of 55,338 saw the game, the second-largest total in school history after last week's 55,518 tally against Northern Iowa. The combined attendance of the two games is an ISU record for consecutive home contests (110, 856). The Cyclones fall to 3-3 overall and 0-2 in the Big 12. Nebraska improves to 5-1 and 2-0 in the league.

The Huskers took the opening drive of the game for seven points, capped off by a three-yard run from Cody Glenn. Glenn recorded 49 of NU's 66 rushing yards in the opening drive. The Cyclones evened the score at 7-7 when Bret Meyer scored on a quarterback sneak from one-yard out with 14:10 left in the second quarter. A 23-yard pass from Meyer to Austin Flynn helped set-up ISU's first score of the game.

The Huskers quickly took momentum with two scores before halftime to make it a 21-7 ballgame. Brandon Jackson scored at the 8:07 mark with a one-yard run and the Huskers made the biggest play of the game right at the end of the first half. With the clock about to expire, NU quarterback Zac Taylor found Maurice Purify in the corner of the end zone on a 27-yard scoring strike with just three seconds left.

The third quarter was a Cyclone heartbreaker. ISU marched down the field on its opening drive of the second half, as Meyer found Todd Blythe twice for big gains to move Iowa State to the NU 29-yard-line. ISU appeared to cut the lead to 21-14 when Meyer found Blythe in the endzone, but a pass interference call on Blythe nullified the touchdown.

After a Cyclone punt, the Huskers fumbled on their next drive when ISU's Jon Banks knocked the ball loose from Taylor with Iowa State recovering at the NU 14-yard line. The Cyclones appeared to score again when Meyer found Flynn in the endzone, but the officials ruled Flynn out of bounds. ISU gave the ball back to Nebraska on downs when a fake field goal was stopped short by the Husker defense.

Both teams scored one more time. Glenn tallied his second touchdown of the game to make it a 28-7 contest with 1:33 remaining and Meyer hit Blythe on a 13-yard pass with six seconds remaining to end the game.

Meyer finished the contest with 262 yards passing and one touchdown to increase his career total to 6,250 yards. He is the first player in school history to pass for over 6,000 yards in a career. Blythe totaled 96 yards on six catches with one touchdown. Blythe now has a school-record 24 career TD receptions. Cyclone linebacker, Alvin Bowen, the nation's leading tackler, led both teams with 17 tackles.

Iowa State plays at No. 14 Oklahoma next weekend in Norman.

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Players Mentioned

Jon Banks

Jon Banks

Todd Blythe

Todd Blythe

Alvin Bowen

Alvin Bowen

Austin Flynn

Austin Flynn

Bret Meyer

Bret Meyer

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