There was no room for excuses or comforting thoughts for Iowa State after a 27-20, double-overtime loss to Nebraska on Saturday at Memorial Stadium.

“We came here to win,” Cyclone coach Dan McCarney said. “Not look good, not be competitive, not be almost, not going to overtimes and then wait for people to pat you on the back and say, ‘Boy, wasn’t that a great game and you were real special.’

“We came here for one reason — to win a football game. Period. End of story. And anything less than that is unacceptable.”

McCarney and his Cyclones felt the goal was attainable. And within their grasp.

“We had lots of opportunities and we weren’t good enough to win the game,” McCarney said. “And I sure credit Nebraska and the job they did today.”

McCarney and the Iowa State players pointed to the performance by Nebraska running back Cory Ross. He scored both of the Huskers’ overtime touchdowns and also scored on a 70-yard screen pass over the middle in the third quarter.

“Ross is the conference leading rusher and a lot is just his elusiveness and his speed and his toughness,” said McCarney. “Whether you pitch it to him or you fling it to him or you hand it to him, when he gets the ball in his arms, he is really dangerous.

“I saw more missed tackles by our defense, especially by our secondary, than I want to see and a lot of that is the talent and ability of Cory Ross. He’s a tremendous football player.”

Nick Leaders, the Cyclones’ senior nose guard from Millard West, agreed.

“When he gets the ball in the open field, nobody’s going to touch him,” Leaders said. “We knew they were going to get him the ball, one way or another. Whether they hand it off to him or throw it to him, they’re going to get it to him.

“He’s their best player, by far, and he showed it tonight.”

The Cyclones weren’t exactly in accord about what was expected from Nebraska.

“We knew they were going to throw the ball,” McCarney said. “That’s their strength. Cory Ross is a great running back, but they know what they’re doing. Bill Callahan knows what they’re doing and it didn’t surprise us they came in here throwing the ball all over the place.”

Linebacker Adam Carper saw it differently.

“We thought they’d try to run on us,” he said. “I think we were all a bit surprised by how much they threw on us.

“We knew Ross was the leading rusher in the Big 12 and with their success last year, we thought they’d run the ball more than they did, especially in the first half.”

Linebacker Caleb Berg said the Cyclones were prepared for it all.

“Nothing surprised us. Pass or run, they had to do what they had to do,” he said.

Leaders had a chance to seal an Iowa State victory in the first overtime. The Cyclones had already scored and on Nebraska’s first play, he nearly intercepted a screen pass.

“We ran a blitz. We came right on the tackle and I looked up and the ball hit me right in the hands,” Leaders said. “I had enough time to be able to catch it. I have to make that play if we’re going to do the things we want to do.”

McCarney said he was optimistic when the game went to overtime.

“There was no doubt in my mind we could win that football game,” he said. “It was going to come down to somebody making a play, somebody making a catch, somebody making a throw, somebody making a tackle, somebody in great coverage.

“The screen play they threw out there, it bounced off Nick Leaders. Had he caught that one, the game’s over.”

McCarney credited the Nebraska defense, which sacked ISU quarterback Bret Meyer six times for 43 yards in losses, hurried Meyer eight times and had five more tackles for  9 more yards in lost yardage.

“They blitzed an awful lot. They brought a lot of guys and a lot of heat with the nation’s No. 1 defense going in today,” the coach said. “When you have a guy like No. 7  (Meyer) and a good corps of receivers, which we have, every week we’re going to try to exploit their defensive back. We’re going to try to throw the ball.”

That will require better execution, according to McCarney.

“We had too many drops today by our receivers,” he said. “Some of that was good coverage by Nebraska, disrupting the ball. And some of it was poor concentration, poor focus.”

Reach Ryly Jane Hambleton at 473-7314 or rhambleton@journalstar.com