• Highlights: Iowa State at Nebraska




LINCOLN — Iowa State coach Paul Rhoads admits that before the game he could have thought of plenty of places he would rather see Jerome Tiller make his first start.

After the Cyclones upset Nebraska 9-7 Saturday, Tiller couldn't think of one.

The redshirt freshman stepped in for an injured Austen Arnaud and guided ISU to its first win at Nebraska since 1977.

Tiller, who hails from San Antonio, managed the Cyclone offense, taking care of the ball and throwing for a 47-yard touchdown to Jake Williams in the second quarter that would stand up as the game-winner for Iowa State.

And he did it in front of almost 86,000 dressed in a different shade of red.

“It feels great,” Tiller said afterward. “It feels really great.”

Tiller had prepared to start since last week. Rhoads said he told both Tiller and backup running back Jeremiah Schwartz — who started for the injured Alexander Robinson, the Big 12's leading rusher — that it was “time to grow up.”

“He really did a good job of keeping a cool head,” Williams said. “We had some ups and downs on offense, and he did a good job of keeping things under control.”

Although Tiller admitted there were butterflies when he got off the bus, he said most of them went away after the first drive. There were points where Tiller limped off after taking big hits, but Rhoads said there was “a look in his eye, that he was going to finish the deal.”

“He looked pretty cool to me,” Rhoads said.

Tiller threw for only 102 yards, but carried 19 times in ISU's zone read offense for a team-leading 65 yards. He didn't fill the stat sheet, but he directed one giant win for the Cyclone program.

And in Lincoln, of all places.

“Wouldn't have it any other way,” Tiller said.

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