Coach Mack Brown was sorry it had to come against a friend.

Colt McCoy threw four touchdown passes and ran for another as No. 23 Texas ended its longest conference losing streak in 51 years with a 56-3 victory over Iowa State today.

Iowa State coach Gene Chizik was the co-defensive coordinator at Texas for two years before moving to Ames last November. He's not having an easy time of it with the Cyclones, who've been outscored 133-37 in Big 12 play.

"The only bad thing about today is Gene Chizik was on the other sideline and we care a lot about him and want him to do well," Brown said. "They caught us after Oklahoma. We had a hot hand and played as well as I've seen us play in a long, long time."

McCoy followed up a strong performance last week's 28-21 loss to Oklahoma with an even sharper game, setting the tone for the Longhorns (5-2, 1-2 Big 12) by tossing a 58-yard touchdown pass on their first play.

Just as important, Texas played a turnover-free game after coughing up the ball twice against Oklahoma and four times in a 41-21 loss at home to Kansas State.

"This week in practice, coach said we're starting a new season," McCoy said. "We didn't feel like we played at the standard we could play at. If we can build on that, we'll have a great second half of the season."

Iowa State (1-6, 0-3) couldn't pressure McCoy or cover his receivers and suffered its worst loss since a 77-14 pounding by Nebraska in 1997.

McCoy, calling most of his plays without huddling, directed the Longhorns to touchdowns on his first five series and finished 23 of 30 for 298 yards and no interceptions. He sat out the fourth quarter after ending his day with a flourish, slipping away from a potential sack and scrambling 44 yards for his first rushing touchdown of the season.

"Our pass defense? Other than being nonexistent, I thought we did a very poor job, starting with the coaching, starting with me," Chizik said. "It's the first time I felt pass defense-wise we weren't in the ballpark."

Texas broke a four-game Big 12 losing streak that dated back to last season. The last time Texas had lost four straight league games was 1956, when the Longhorns went 0-6 in the Southwest Conference.

Brown dismissed talk about the losing streak, calling it "a farce."

"Because those are two different teams," he said. "You're talking about last year's team and this year's team. We are just trying to get back on track."

After forcing Iowa State to punt on the first possession, Jordan Shipley got behind the defense on the Longhorns' first snap, then had time to wait for McCoy's pass at the 25 and take off for the end zone to complete the 58-yard play before the Cyclones recovered.

McCoy completed six straight passes the next time Texas got the ball, the last a 6-yarder to a leaping Quan Crosby in the far right corner of the end zone to make it 14-0.

Brown went with backup quarterback John Chiles for a series, which ended with a punt, before McCoy returned. It quickly became more of the same.

Jamaal Charles' 8-yard touchdown run ended a 6-play, 65-yard drive and McCoy hit Shipley on a 5-yard touchdown pass late in the first half to make it 28-3.

"I thought Colt was as good as I

The lead grew to 35-3 early in the third quarter when McCoy rolled left to avoid the rush and hit Nate Jones, who was standing alone in the middle of the end zone, on a 20-yard play. A little more than two minutes later, Texas' Brandon Foster intercepted a Bret Meyer pass and returned it 39 yards for a touchdown.

Texas had gone 12 straight quarters without a takeaway before Foster's interception. The Longhorns picked off another pass later and recovered a fumble.

"It was not about beating coach Chizik so much," Foster said. 'We were just looking to get a solid win. This was a business trip. We love coach Chizik."

Iowa State used some trickery en route to its only score, wide receiver Todd Blythe taking the ball on a double reverse and throwing a 21-yard pass to Meyer. That helped put the Cyclones in position for Bret Culbertson's 25-yard field goal early in the second quarter.

The Cyclones crossed midfield only once after that.