Most Demoralizing Loss??

[mjlane]

Something was wrong with that team from about the Texas game on. They performed at such an unexpected high level all season that once the Texas game came around they seemed to physically just hit a brick wall, and were never the same afterwards. They then limped to the Big XII regular season championship, and after that it was pretty much over. Of course, I had to be a complete homer and take ISU to the Final Four that year (thanks for the advice, Dan Patrick :skeptical, but honestly, I should have known better - I knew they weren't right.

Yeah, I was living in North Carolina at the time of that tourney and convinced a bunch of people that ISU would make the Elite 8 or Final Four. Hey, they did it last year! I think ISU probably ruined a few brackets that year.

 

[cybsball20]

Something was wrong with that team from about the Texas game on. They performed at such an unexpected high level all season that once the Texas game came around they seemed to physically just hit a brick wall, and were never the same afterwards. They then limped to the Big XII regular season championship, and after that it was pretty much over. Of course, I had to be a complete homer and take ISU to the Final Four that year (thanks for the advice, Dan Patrick :skeptical, but honestly, I should have known better - I knew they weren't right.

See my post earlier in the thread...

 

[Incyte]

One of the worst was when I was in school and we were up about 28-0 on K State at half and lost the game. Probably circa '99.

We also had Texas on the ropes one year and Major Applewhite ate us up in a comeback.

 

[jay moe]

Hampton for me also, just sat there in my living room dumbfounded and now they always show that coach with his legs up every year in March, just makes me sick. I really enjoyed watching that team play and was heartbroken when they lost that last game.

 

[CRcyclone6]

I can't decide between Hampton or Mizzouri. The last few games of the basketball season that year, we weren't playing well at all. With so much on the line vs Mizzou, and really didn't play well, the crowd was out of it, plenty of seats available, and still had a chance to win. Talking myself into the Mizzou game. What about last year's hoops game at Kansas? Talk about a beat-down, demoralizing loss. That was the night of the big ice storm and my cable went out, so no more espn. Maybe that was a blessing so I couldn't watch the rest of the game.

 

[LindenCy]

Hampton was the most embarrassing, but some of the others just plain hurt. Of course Hampton just plain hurt too.

 

[jdoggivjc]

One of the worst was when I was in school and we were up about 28-0 on K State at half and lost the game. Probably circa '99.

We also had Texas on the ropes one year and Major Applewhite ate us up in a comeback.

Same year I believe...

 

[jperickson23]

You could almost see the Hampton game coming because of the loss to Baylor in the Big 12 tourney a week earlier. My vote would be the 2004 Missouri game hands down. The fact that we had a 20 something yard field goal missed that would have won it (thanks Shaggy) and then a first and goal from the 3 in OT to win it and still couldn't get it done is truly unbelievable. This was for the outright North Championship!!! I felt like I was punched in the face, gut, and nads all at the same time after that game!!

 

[isuno1fan]

Michigan State by a mile!

 

[bmuff]

Yeah, although I was disappointed with the hampton loss and embarassed, it was easy to see coming. Although I thought that they could beat Hampton, I did have them losing in the next round. How that ISU team won the conference I will never know. All they had was Tinsley. Horton was streaky and Shirley and Rancik were not real scorers down low. The opponent only needed to draw a couple of charges on Tinsley's spin moves and it was game over.

My most depressing loss was Mizzou 2004. At that point I started to have doubts about whether Mac could get it done. And those were amplified the next two years.

 

[tejasclone]

I'll vote for KU 2005. God. You know, to have the chance we had in 2004 against Missouri, that was freakin' historic, and we blew it. Really, really, really blew it, and we had so many chances to capitalize. But there was something in the back of head that whole game, especially near the end in OT: We are Iowa State. We will not succeed. Then I started to think we might actually be able to pull it out, but of course that was a foolish dream.

To fail once when you're on the brink of something historic is one thing. Yes, it stung like hell, but it is somewhat understandable, considering we had such a young team. In 2005, all the pieces were there. Aside from the Iowa game, the 2004-2005 regular seasons mirrored EXACTLY. Go 2-1/3-0 to start, then take an 0-3 slide, then win 4 in a row, and **** it down the leg in the last one. Going into the KU game, I felt for sure that we wouldn't allow ourselves to be victimized by our mediocrity and incapability again. But sure enough...we found every way to lose that game. Repeating history and not learning from our mistakes was what disappointed me the most.

 

[chuckd4735]

agree 100%. we win that game, it wouldn't have come down to a missed field goal at years end-we would have won the north.

For Football I agree with the Baylor game in 2005. Other than the Houston Bowl, that game was our worst loss of the year, knowing that all other losses came in OT that year. I think the Baylor loss was just downright embarassing, especially after taking #9 Iowa to the woodshed 2 weeks prior to that.

For Basketball, If we are talking DEMORALIZING, Hampton wins by a mile.

 

[CYVADER]

i want to cry right now. come on guys-let's stop posting about this stuff-too sad for a Friday

 

[brianhos]

I'll vote for KU 2005. God. You know, to have the chance we had in 2004 against Missouri, that was freakin' historic, and we blew it. Really, really, really blew it, and we had so many chances to capitalize. But there was something in the back of head that whole game, especially near the end in OT: We are Iowa State. We will not succeed. Then I started to think we might actually be able to pull it out, but of course that was a foolish dream.

To fail once when you're on the brink of something historic is one thing. Yes, it stung like hell, but it is somewhat understandable, considering we had such a young team. In 2005, all the pieces were there. Aside from the Iowa game, the 2004-2005 regular seasons mirrored EXACTLY. Go 2-1/3-0 to start, then take an 0-3 slide, then win 4 in a row, and **** it down the leg in the last one. Going into the KU game, I felt for sure that we wouldn't allow ourselves to be victimized by our mediocrity and incapability again. But sure enough...we found every way to lose that game. Repeating history and not learning from our mistakes was what disappointed me the most.

That game was good and bad, the bad was of course what we saw on the field. The good was that enabled us to get Chizik. Had Mac won that game, he would have been still coaching at ISU. It would have been hard to hire the coach that took us to the big 12 championship just 2 years after that game.

 

[drlove]

The first loss to UNI in football. I can't believe there have been several.
Losing to Michigan State.

 

[CTTB78]

The MSU loss was by far the worst, as this was our first legitimate chance at a national championship in a major sport. The referee situation makes it all the harder to take.

 

[lakeliving]

Basketball- I have to go with the Michigan St loss. Other posters have mentioned this as well, to be so close to the Final Four.................something that may not happen again in many of our lifetimes. We had a fantastic team that year, all ingredients needed to go. The following year, it was a team that defied the odds to have the success they did (that is a compliment, not a put-down) but it was very obvious by the end of the year the tank was empty for that team.
Football- The "Misery" game has to be the one for me. Everything was there for us to win, to be a part of ISU history,only to have Lucy pull the football away from us. Unfortunately Lucy pulled the same trick on us with the Kansas game, and the UCONN game, the K-State game mentioned by a previous poster, the Toledo game this year.........................man, I hate Lucy...............

 

[tejasclone]

I think it's time for a "Most Uplifting Win" poll to preempt the inevitable alcoholism that will result from reading this thread.

 

[candg4ever]

The saddest part of the Mich. State fiasco is that we shouldn't have even been playing them until the Final Four!! There is NO WAY we aren't a #1 seed in some regional! Once again, the powers that be in the National Clowns Against Ames put the screws to good old ISU and it's faithful. Oh well, we should be used to it by now.

 

[jdoggivjc]

I think it's time for a "Most Uplifting Win" poll to preempt the inevitable alcoholism that will result from reading this thread.

That will quickly turn into a "Super Bowl" thread...