#21 Iowa failed to turn first half control into multiple touchdown drives (despite several opportunities to do so), which cracked the door open for Iowa State in the second half. The Cyclones stormed through that door with 20 points after the break, including a 54-yard rocket of a field goal with six seconds remaining to record a 20-19 upset win over the Hawkeyes and take the CyHawk Trophy back to Ames.

On what went wrong for the Hawkeyes after a strong start:

A week ago, Iowa's offense roared to life in the second half against Illinois State and scored 34 points to coast to a 40-0 win. On Saturday, the Hawkeye offense was anemic in the second half, outside of a 7-play, 79-yard scoring drive that put Iowa up 19-7 with 4:47 to go in the third quarter.

The other Iowa second half drives:

* interception
* punt
* punt
* punt
* punt
* punt
* interception (final play hail mary)

On those other six drives (not counting the final play hail mary), Iowa gained 23 yards on 23 plays. You won't win many games with a one yard-per-play average. Even if you factor in the touchdown drive Iowa had in the third quarter, that makes Iowa's second half stats 102 yards on 30 plays, or 3.4 yards per play. That won't cut it.

Iowa's passing game was the primary offender in the offense's meltdown; the Hawkeyes went 3-of-10 for just 19 yards through the air in the second half. Reece Vander Zee, Iowa's breakout receiving threat a week ago, had just one catch for 10 yards. That was still better than Luke Lachey; somehow Iowa's safety blanket at tight end finished the game with zero receptions.

Iowa was more effective running the ball -- 21 carries for 88 yards -- but that production dried up outside of the touchdown drive, especially with Iowa State keying to stop the run and blitzing hard. That's when the Iowa passing game needed to pick up the slack, but Cade McNamara & Co. were wholly unable to do so.

Cade McNamara answered a lot of doubters with his performance last week. As it happens, those caveats noting that "it was only Illinois State" may have been more relevant than Iowa fans had been hoping to see. McNamara's performance on Saturday should bring the doubters back in full force, and with plenty of justification.

McNamara's second half stat line -- 3-of-10, 19 yards, two interceptions -- was particularly bad, but his full game stat line is miserable as well: 13-of-29 for 99 yards, zero touchdowns, and two interceptions. He finished with a QB rating of 59.7, which is positively Deacon Hill-esque.

The numbers paint a grisly picture, but McNamara failed the eye test just as miserably. His timing was off throughout the day, often under-throwing his targets (one notable under-throw resulted in an interception early in the third quarter, another key under-throw could have resulted in a big play touchdown to Kaleb Brown with a better throw).

It's not as if McNamara was under fire in the pocket for most of the game, either -- Iowa State was credited with one sack (on a slow-developing play-action pass play) and one QB hurry for the game. The Iowa offensive line had its issues at times, but they kept McNamara clean for the most part; he simply wasn't able to make the throws in this game.

That looms as a big concern with Big Ten play just two weeks away (and a daunting trip to Columbus to face #2 Ohio State about a month away). The calls for Brendan Sullivan to get meaningful reps against Troy next week are going to get much louder after a day like this from McNamara.

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There was one bright spot for Iowa on offense in this game and it was Kaleb Johnson. Johnson took over the starting role after his standout second half against Illinois State -- and picked up right where he left off, with eight carries for 105 yards and a touchdown in the first half. His touchdown run to put Iowa up 7-0 was a master class in execution, with the right side of Iowa's offense perfectly sealing the edge and leaving Johnson an easy lane to cruise through on his way to the end zone.

The only problems with Johnson's first half? That he wasn't used enough. Johnson had three runs of 26 yards or longer, but only had eight total carries for the half. More inexplicable was the fact that Iowa ran eight plays inside the Iowa State 5-yard line in the first half -- and Johnson touched the ball on zero of those plays.

That's inexplicable in a game where Johnson had such a hot hand, especially given the overall ineffectiveness of Iowa's red zone play-calling in general. Iowa had two drives that featured first-and-goal situations from the Iowa State 5-yard line or closer; both drives ended in Drew Stevens field goals rather than touchdowns -- missed opportunity points that loomed large at the end of the game.

Unfortunately, Johnson's outstanding effort -- 25 carries, 187 yards, two touchdowns -- will join the ranks of other Iowa running efforts in losing efforts, like Mark Weisman's 217-yard, three-touchdown effort against Central Michigan in 2012.

The offensive failures will (understandably and deservedly) get the headlines for Iowa's loss, but the defense had a second half to forget as well. The Hawkeyes gave up 20 points and 260 yards of offense in the second half (7.6 yards per play), after the Cyclones were held scoreless and to just 10 yards of offense (3.4 yards per play) in the first half. Iowa entered the second half with a 13-0 lead but got outscored 19-6 in the final 30 minutes of the game.

You have to go back to the Northwestern game in 2020 for the last time that Iowa had a double-digit lead (17-0 in that game) and let it slip. Iowa football has been about getting lead and relying on the defense to make that lead hold; while the resulting games haven't always been pretty to watch, it's been a (mostly) effective strategy for the Hawkeyes.

It didn't work on Saturday and while the offense could (and should) have done more to build its lead, some flaws of the defense were exposed in ISU's second half comeback as well. The pass defense showed some real shakiness, with Iowa State QB Rocco Becht going 13-of-19 for 205 yards and two touchdowns in the second half to lead the Cyclone comeback.

Becht hit his two big play receivers -- Jaylin Noel (5 receptions, 133 yards, one 75-yard touchdown grab) and Jayden Higgins (8 receptions for 68 yards and a touchdown) -- often in the second half. Becht's 75-yard bomb to Noel on the first play after Iowa had scored to go up 19-7 was firm proof that the Cyclone threat was far from quashed. His touchdown strike to Higgins drew the Cyclones closer and his 30-yard dart to Noel on ISU's final drive effectively set up Kyle Konrardy's game-winning field goal.

Iowa's defense forced just one turnover (and none after the first quarter) and generated just one sack and two total quarterback hurries. The defense kept the ISU running game under wraps -- 28 carries, 89 yards -- but the inability to get more pressure on Becht or force more errant throws proved costly down the stretch.