Iowa State’s Ellis Hobbs intercepted a pass in the final minute of play to seal the Cyclones’ second bowl win in school history as they edged Miami of Ohio 17-13 in the 29th Independence Bowl. ISU coach Dan McCarney on the post-game show on the Cyclone Network says it was a fitting way to end the season. He says they’ll talk about Hobbs for a long time, not only because he’s a great player, but because of the great young man he is. The victory capped a surprising year for the Cyclones in which they bounced back from a 2-10 record in 2003. He says they talked about it all through their preparation about putting an exclamation point on the season by winning the game.The Cyclones won the game in the trenches. Quartetrback Bret Meyer and running back Stevie Hicks both topped 100 yards of rushing and Hicks finished with a career-best 159. McCarney says that came against the 17th ranked defense against the rush.The Cyclones kept Miami’s passing attack in check and Hobbs says that happened because they shut down the Red Hawks running game.It was a satisfying win for Hobbs and the other Cyclone seniors who dedicated this past off season to getting the program back to a bowl game. He says the true fans who stuck with them in the bad times deserved this.ISU’s first bowl victory was in the 2000 Insight-dot-com Bowl. Senior defensive end Tyson Smith was part of both teams. He says he believed in McCarney from the start and is glad he made the decision he did to come to Iowa State.The Cyclones finish with a 7-5 record and won five of their last six games.
