Cyclones Face 22nd-ranked Oklahoma

Iowa State, (3-3, 0-2) travels to Norman, Okla., for the Cyclones' fifth straight game against a rated opponent, a clash against No. 22 Oklahoma (3-2, 0-1) ... the game will be contested before a national Fox Sports Net audience ... Iowa State has not beaten Oklahoma since a 33-31 victory in Norman in 1990, a string of nine straight OU wins ... Iowa State is coming off a 28-14 loss to No. 22 Nebraska last weekend in Ames ... Iowa State had three touchdowns negated by the officials in the game, including touchdown passes from QB Bret Meyer to Austin Flynn and Todd Blythe ... before the loss to Nebraska, Iowa State won its previous two home games, 45-43 3OT over Toledo and 16-10 over UNLV in contests that went to the game's last play ... Iowa State head coach Dan McCarney, the Dean of Big 12 coaches in his 12th season, has coached five of ISU's seven-win teams in the history of Cyclone football ... Saturday's game is MAC's 136th game as the winningest football mentor (55 wins) in school history ... McCarney is the ninth-longest tenured coach in Division I-A ... MAC is 0-5 against Oklahoma with the Sooners holding a 65-5-2 advantage in the series, including a 33-3-1 mark against the Cyclones in Norman ... junior ISU QB Bret Meyer is now Iowa State's all-time career passing leader with 6,250 yards ... he leads all active NCAA Division 1-A non-senior quarterbacks with 6,882 yards of career total offense ... in the season-opening win against Toledo, Meyer ran for three touchdowns and passed for two others to pace Iowa State ... his TD passes came on consecutive overtime pass plays to WR Todd Blythe ... of Blythe's school-record 24 career TD grabs, 21 have come from Meyer, also an ISU record holder for touchdown passing tandems ... I-Back Stevie Hicks owns 10 career 100-yard games ... Iowa State LB Alvin Bowen leads the Big 12 and the nation, averaging 14.3 tackles per game ... middle linebacker Tyrone McKenzie is second in the league and seventh nationally at 11.2 tackles per game ... Iowa State has been strong at home under Dan McCarney ... the Cyclones have won 12 of their last 16 home games, 13 of their last 17 home night games and 18 of their last 22 non-conference contests ... a record crowd of 55,518 fans watched Iowa State beat Northern Iowa ... Iowa State hosted 55,338 fans in Jack Trice for the Nebraska game, Golden Rules Night, the No. 2 crowd in school history ... Oklahoma is coming off a 28-10 loss to Texas in Dallas, Texas ... Iowa State head coach Dan McCarney was an assistant coach at Iowa when OU head coach Bob Stoops played for the Hawkeyes from 1979-82.

LAST WEEK: NEBRASKA SCORE IN FINAL SECONDS OF 1ST HALF KEY

In its fourth straight game against a nationally ranked opponent, Iowa State had its chances against No. 22 Nebraska ... ISU QB Bret Meyer hit on 19-of-38 passes for 262 yards with a TD and an interception, but two key scoring tosses, one to WR Todd Blythe (called back for offensive pass interference) and one to WR Austin Flynn (called out of bounds) were called back, turning those drives into clock sappers ... Meyer had capped an 11-play, 43-yard with a 1-yard TD sneak to tie the score at 7-7 with 14:10 left in the second quarter ... Nebraska struck back with two scores, the second being the biggest, a 27-yard TD pass from Zac Taylor to Maurice Purify with three seconds left in the first half for a 21-7 Husker advantage at intermission ... Taylor was 17-of-21 for 131 yards ... the biggest difference came on the ground, where Nebraska rolled up 251 yards on 45 carries to Iowa State's 53 yards on 24 plays ... Cody Glenn had 148 yards on 19 carries and Brandon had Jackson 116 yards on 22 carries for the Huskers ... Blythe led Iowa State with six receptions for 96 yards and a TD on a 13-yard pass from Meyer with six seconds left in the game ... ISU LB Alvin Bowen, the nation's leading tackler, had a game-high 17 tackles.

OKLAHOMA IS 44-2 AT HOME UNDER HEAD COACH BOB STOOPS

Texas quarterback Colt McCoy overcame a slow start by throwing TD passes in the third quarter to turn a 10-7 halftime deficit into a 21-10 lead as the Longhorns beat Oklahoma, 28-10 in Dallas Saturday ... OU TB Adrian Peterson ran 25 times for 109 yards, including a 29-yard TD run ... penalties were costly for Oklahoma ... they included an unnecessary roughness penalty that took 15 yards off what would have been a 73-yard kickoff return by Peterson, Peterson's fumble on the final play of the first quarter and an offensive pass interference penalty that wiped out a 29-yard gain ... Oklahoma's only other defeat was the controversial 34-33 loss at Oregon ... OU has defeated UAB (24-17), Washington (37-20) and Middle Tennessee State (59-0) ... Oklahoma is 44-2 at home since Bob Stoops became head coach before the 1999 season ... Peterson ranks fourth nationally, averaging 150.40 rushing yards per game and ranks second nationally, averaging 199.2 all-purpose yards per contest.

OKLAHOMA HEAD COACH BOB STOOPS

Stoops is 78-18 (.813) at Oklahoma ... Stoops was a four-year starter at Iowa (1979-82) when Iowa State head coach Dan McCarney worked as the defensive line coach for head coach Hayden Fry ... Stoops then coached at Iowa (1983-87), Kent State (1988), Kansas State (1989-1995) and Florida (1996-98) before taking over as head coach at Oklahoma ... Stoops is 3-0 against Iowa State.

THE IOWA STATE-OKLAHOMA SERIES

Oklahoma has an overwhelming lead in the series, with a 65-5-2 advantage since the teams first met in 1928 with the start of the Big Six Conference ... Oklahoma leads the series, 33-3-1 in Norman ... the Sooners have won nine straight games since Iowa State beat the No. 16 Sooners, 33-31 in Norman in 1990 ... Oct. 20, 1990 ... Chris Pedersen's fourth-quarter quarterback sneak across the goal line gave Iowa State a comeback win to break OU's 28-game winning streak against the Cyclones ... the Sooners took an early 14-0 advantage, but Pedersen led the Cyclones back, scoring from 11 yards out, then connecting with Blaise Bryant for a 40-yard touchdown pass ... Oklahoma struck back with two more scores, the latter coming when Jason Belser picked off an errant throw by Pedersen and took it 42 yards for a touchdown, giving OU a 28-14 lead ... still trailing 31-20 after three quarters, Iowa State came back again ... Sherman Williams' 7-yard scamper closed the gap to 31-26, and Pedersen called his own number for the winning score on a Cyclone drive that started when OU missed a short field goal that would have put the game away.

THIS DATE IN HISTORY (Oct. 14); Huge win in 2000:

Iowa State quarterback Sage Rosenfels hit on 19-of-38 passes for 290 yards with an interception and two touchdowns, including a 33-yard scoring strike to Lane Danielsen with 18 seconds left in the game as the Cyclones won a third-straight road game for the first time since 1978 and opened the season with three road wins for the first time since 1971 ... the play and the win were HUGE for ISU which finished the season 9-3 and with a victory over Pittsburgh in the Insight.com Bowl.

FOUR ISU HOME NIGHT GAMES A RECORD FOR ONE SEASON

Iowa State has played a record four home night games while all three road contests have been daytime affairs.

IOWA STATE FOOTBALL -- BIG 12 BOWL LEADER

Only Texas, Texas Tech and Oklahoma have gone to more bowl games (6) than Iowa State (5) since the start of the 2000 season.

Bowls since 2000:

6 - Texas Tech, Texas and Oklahoma
5 - Iowa State, Nebraska
4 - Kansas State, Colorado
3 - Oklahoma State, Texas A&M
2 - Kansas, Missouri
0 - Baylor

MEYER AMONG MOST EFFICIENT ISU QB's...

Iowa State quarterback Bret Meyer has developed into one of the most efficient quarterbacks in Iowa State history with 37 career TD passes to 21 interceptions.

BLYTHE RANKS HIGH AMONG NATION'S ACTIVE WIDE RECIEVERS

CAREER YARDS PER CATCH

Name, YPC
1. Todd Blythe, Iowa State, Jr. 19.0
2. Jason Hill, Washington St., Sr. 18.5
3. D'Juan Woods, Oklahoma State, Sr. 17.2
4. Johnnie Lee Higgins, UTEP, Sr. 17.0
5. Calvin Johnson, Jr. Georgia Tech 16.7

CAREER TOUCHDOWN RECEPTIONS
Name, TDs
1. Dwayne Jarrett, USC, Jr. 32
2. Jason Hill, Washington St., Sr. 30
3. Jarrett Hicks, Texas Tech, Sr. 29
4. Johnnie Lee Higgins, UTEP, Sr. 25
5. Todd Blythe, Iowa State, Jr. 24
Eric Deslauriers, Eastern Mich., Sr. 24
7. Calvin Johnson, Georgia Tech, Jr. 21
Vincent Marshall, Houston, Sr. 21
9. Jeff Samardzija, Notre Dame, Sr. 20

RUMBLE, YOUNG MAN, RUMBLE

Iowa State senior FB Ryan Kock scored his 16th career touchdown against UNI on his 76th career carry ... last season he tallied 13 TDs on just 54 carries ... Kock set an ISU single-season record for rushing touchdowns by a fullback with his touchdown in the fourth quarter against Oklahoma State last season ... the previous record was nine, set by Tom Watkins in 1960 ... Watkins scored a total of 10 touchdowns that year, with the 10th being on an interception return ... Kock was ninth on ISU's single-season rushing touchdown list (all positions) ... he had the longest rush of his career, nine yards against Nebraska this season.

TURNOVER MARGIN A KEY TO VICTORY

Coach McCarney has put a premium on increasing the number of turnovers forced by his defense ... when Iowa State has finished the season ahead in turnover margin and points off turnovers margin, the Cyclones have posted a winning record (2000, 2001, 2004, 2005) ... a look at how turnover margin and points off turnovers have played out since 1994.

TRADITION OF BALL SECURITY

Counting lost fumbles by the whole team, ISU is tied for fourth in Division I-A in fewest fumbles lost since the start of the 1999 season and leads the Big 12 Conference by a wide margin. Iowa State's rush defense allowed 102.7 ypg last season, the best among post-WWII Cyclone squads.

PICK A LITTLE

Bret Meyer's 2005 interception-free streak reached a school-record 155 attempts before a third-quarter pick at Kansas ... Meyer's stretch spanned over 22 full quarters and parts of six games ... the previous school record was 141 attempts, set by Todd Bandhauer in 1997 ... this was the first time since the inception of the Big Six Conference in 1928 that ISU has gone four consecutive games (OSU, A&M, KSU, CU) without throwing an interception.

IOWA STATE'S 2006 TEAM CAPTAINS

The Cyclones have four captains for the 2006 season: Junior quarterback Bret Meyer, senior wide receiver Austin Flynn, senior defensive tackle Brent Curvey and senior defensive back DeAndre Jackson.

McCARNEY'S CYCLONES IN THE NFL

An indicator of Iowa State's continued improvement under Dan McCarney is the number of ISU student-athletes who have gone on to the professional ranks ... ISU's NFL players at the start of training camp are all McCarney products: Jordan Carstens (DL, Carolina), Reggie Hayward (DE, Jacksonville), Ellis Hobbs (DB, New England), James Reed (DL, Kansas City Chiefs), Sage Rosenfels (QB, Houston), Oliver Ross (OL, Arizona), Seneca Wallace (QB, Seattle), Tony Yelk (PK, Atlanta), Tim Dobbins (LB, San Diego), LaMarcus Hicks (DB, Detroit), Landon Schrage (DS, Baltimore), Steve Paris (S, Baltimore), Nick Leaders (NG, Baltimore).

WATCH LIST MANIA

Several of Iowa State's players have been recognized as ranking among the nation's best at their respective positions:

Bret Meyer, QB Maxwell Award; Davey O'Brien Award; Archie Manning Award

Scott Stephenson C Rimington Award; Lombardi Trophy

Brent Curvey DT Outland Trophy/Nagurski Award; Lombardi Trophy

TOUGH SCHEDULE

Based on 2005 records, Iowa State's 2006 football schedule is the second toughest nationally:

1. Duke .639 (92-52)
2. IOWA STATE .633 (93-54)
3. Northwestern .624 (88-53)
4. Florida .620 (88-54)
5. Cincinnati .610 (86-55)
6. Michigan .607 (85-55)
7. Colorado .606 (86-56)
8. Arizona .603 (85-56)

Iowa State and North Carolina face the most 2005 bowl teams in 2006:

1. IOWA STATE 9
North Carolina 9
3. East Carolina 8
Maryland 8
Duke 8
Colorado 8

BAUM NO. 2 IN BIG 12 IN PUNT RETURNS, TD VS. UNI

Iowa State punt returner Ryan Baum, a former walk-on was named the Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Week after racking up 103 yards on four returns against UNI, including a 65-yard return for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter that tied up the game ... Baum's average of 18.0 yards per return ranks second in the Big 12 and ranks him eighth nationally ... Baum's career average stands at 15.2 yards on 20 career returns ... the only Cyclone with a better career return average with at least 20 returns is James "The Eel" McMillion, who averaged 15.91 on 53 career returns between 1991-93.

CULBERTSON CONSISTENT

Iowa State placekicker Bret Culbertson has been a consistent performer ... he has been successful on all 65 of his career PAT attempts, the school record for the longest streak of consecutive successful PAT tries:

1. Bret Culbertson, 65 , 2004-
2. Jeff Shudak, 56, 1989-90
3. Tom Goedjen, 50, 1972-74
4. Ty Stewart, 44, 1991-93
5. Reggie Shoemake, 39, 1970-71

Culbertson has hit on three-of-four field-goal attempts of the year, a 39-yarder against Toledo, a 24-yarder against UNLV and a 32-yarder at Iowa ... the 6-6 junior is 20-of-23 lifetime inside 40 yards ... when you add in his extra-point efforts ... Culbertson is 86 of 93 (.925) as Iowa State's kicker.

THEY WERE IOWA STATERS

Iowa State has had more than its share of NFL and collegiate coaches who worked at ISU before gaining further coaching recognition:

Name/at ISU Known As
Pete Carroll/assistant coach, 1978 USC head coach
Mack Brown/assistant coach 1979 Texas head coach
Joe Bugel/assistant 1973 HC NFL Arizona, Oakland
Dave Campo/assistant 1983 HC NFL Dallas Cowboys
John Fox/assistant 1984 HC NFL Carolina
Jimmy Johnson/assistant 1968-69 HC NFL Dallas/Miami
Glen Mason/assistant 1975-76 KU/Minnesota head coach
Jackie Sherrill/assistant 1968-72 HC Pitt/TX A&M/Miss. St.

Not to Mention the Head Coaches
Pop Warner (1895-99) Yes THAT Pop Warner
Johnny Majors (1968-72) Won 1976 NC at Pitt/HC Tennessee
Earle Bruce (1973-78) HC Big Ten Champion Ohio State

2005 REVIEW: ISU NETS FIFTH BOWL IN SIX YEARS

Iowa State's defense and the continued improvement of the Cyclone offense led by sophomore quarterback Bret Meyer helped ISU erase an 0-3 Big 12 start for the second straight season and earn the school's fifth bowl berth in the last six seasons under head coach Dan McCarney ... the season included a 23-3 win over No. 8 Iowa, the sixth Iowa State win over its intrastate rival in the last eight seasons ... three of ISU's losses came in overtime ... the Cyclones ruined Homecoming at Texas A&M with a 42-14 win over the Aggies and beat Kansas State in Ames (45-17) for the first time since 1983 ... Iowa State's last victory was a memorable 30-16 win over No. 22 Colorado (ISU's first victory in Ames over the Buffaloes since 1983) ... Iowa State lost to No. 14 TCU, 27-24 in the Houston Bowl ... Meyer finished the season with 2,876 passing yards, second in school history ... wide receiver Todd Blythe finished the season as the third 1,000-yard single-season pass catcher in Iowa State history ... Blythe and center Scott Stephenson were tabbed first-team all-conference performers by the Big 12 coaches ... but the story of the 2005 Cyclones was defense ... led by all-Big 12 defensive tackle Brent "Big Play" Curvey and all-conference nose guard Nick Leaders, the Cyclones allowed opponents an all-time defensive low of 102.7 rushing yards per game and just 10 rushing touchdowns ... the yardage total was nearly 40 yards under the school record of 139.2 set in 2004 ... Iowa State allowed a school-record low 2.98 yards per rush ... linebacker Tim Dobbins, cornerback LaMarcus Hicks and free safety Steve Paris also earned all-Big 12 honors.

Players Mentioned

Ryan Baum

Ryan Baum

Todd Blythe

Todd Blythe

Alvin Bowen

Alvin Bowen

Bret Culbertson

Bret Culbertson

Brent Curvey

Brent Curvey

Tim Dobbins

Austin Flynn

Austin Flynn

LaMarcus Hicks

DeAndre Jackson

DeAndre Jackson

Ryan Kock

Ryan Kock

Nick Leaders

Tyrone McKenzie

Tyrone McKenzie

Bret Meyer

Bret Meyer

Landon Schrage

Scott Stephenson

Scott Stephenson

Tony Yelk

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