Ames, IOWA - This was Todd Blythe's, and by extension, Iowa State's, big chance.
After giving up a momentum-crushing touchdown to trail 21-7 going into halftime, ISU looked to its big-play threat to get the second-largest crowd in Jack Trice Stadium history something to get loud about.
Cyclone quarterback Bret Meyer put a deep ball from the NU 29-yard-line into the corner of the end zone. Blythe went airborne, snagged the pass and smartly got one foot down for another dynamic scoring pass.
But as the junior wide receiver began to celebrate, the yellow flag hit the ground and Blythe's rough night got even more frustrating when he was called for offensive pass interference.
"I did a fake curl route at the 10 and took off," Blythe said. "Bret threw a great ball out there. I guess they said I pushed off. I'm not here to judge officials or anything like that."
The third quarter sequence was a microcosm of the ISU offense, which put up plenty of numbers in the second half but failed to land a big blow to narrow the gap while the NU offense struggled.
Meyer completed 13 passes for 210 yards after halftime, and Blythe racked up all 96 of his receiving yards in the second half, but once the Cardinal and Gold's golden connection got going, Iowa State's hole was too deep.
"We got behind and kind of had to be one dimensional, but obviously you want to establish the run a little bit more than that," Meyer said. "We kind of got behind and had to throw the ball a little more."
This allowed a Husker defense that had given up 405 yards passing to Kansas one week ago to tee off on Meyer as he looked in vain for the one deep pass to jump start the Cyclones' offense.
Iowa State Coach Dan McCarney credited the NU defensive scheme of double covering Blythe with NU junior cornerback Andre Jones plus a safety for slowing the Cyclone offense early. In the second half, ISU moved Blythe around to set up one-on-one situations and the results showed.
But in the teeth of the most aggressive pass-rush performance of the season by the Blackshirts, Meyer's passes weren't on target enough to let the 6-foot-5 Blythe make the big catch.
With less than a minute left in the third quarter, Meyer overthrew Blythe in the teeth of heavy pressure, resulting in an interception by NU junior Cortney Grixby. Then, on the Cyclones' first drive of the fourth quarter, Blythe appeared to have a step on Jones as he raced to the end zone on a fourth-and-15 play from the Nebraska 37. The ball again missed Blythe's hands by inches.
It was another frustrating play in a trying night for the Iowa State offense.
"We knew we had our chances," Blythe said. "We thought if we could keep Bret upright, we could do well."
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