AMES, Ia. – Heading into Saturday’s game with NIU, the Iowa State defense was tied for No. 7 in the nation.

After the shootout, the Cyclones fell to No. 16 in the nation defensively, yet still won the rematch with the Huskies 48-41 at Jack Trice Stadium.

“This wasn’t a great day for us defensively,” ISU coach Dan McCarney said. “We know we will have to play a lot better in the Big 12 conference and for Oklahoma State.”

The 41 points for the Huskies was 32.5 points above ISU’s 8.5 average for the season.

“If you would have told me the score of this game was going to be 48-41, I would have told you you’re crazy,” Novak said.

In their first two games of the season, the Cyclones had allowed a combined 121 yards on the ground for an average of 60.5 per game. On Saturday, the Huskies ran for 117, 94 of which came from A.J. Harris.

So how could NIU break down one of the nation’s top defenses so easily and still end up on the losing end?

“It’s not a matter of talent; I think we’re good enough to compete with whoever we play,” Novak said. “What happened today was typical. We had two penalties where we weren’t properly aligned, we had a roughing the passer penalty, a blocked punt.

“Those are things that a good football team doesn’t do, especially in a game like this, and we’ve done that for three games so far. That’s the difference I see from this team and our team last year.”

The Huskies finished with seven penalties, including a pair for not enough men on the line of scrimmage, for 49 yards.

NIU also turned the ball over four times, including four interceptions, which led to 21 ISU points.