THE OFFENSE

Base formation: Pro set

2006 per-game averages:

Points: 24.0

Total yards: 356.6

Rushing yards: 113.8

Passing yards: 242.8

Turnovers lost: 1.4

Time of possession: 28:29

THE DEFENSE

Base formation: 4-3

2006 per-game averages:

Points: 28.8

Total yards: 377.4

Rushing yards: 124.8

Passing yards: 252.6

Turnovers gained: 1.2

THE COACH: Dan McCarney

Year at Iowa State: 12th 

Record: 55-79

Worth noting: Three head coaches at Baylor and two at Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma State have moved on since McCarney took over at Iowa State in 1995. Only eight Division I-A coaches have a longer tenure than McCarney, who was just 13-42 after five seasons.

THE GAMERS

Todd Blythe

Position: WR Year: Jr.

Height: 6-5

Weight: 210

Worth noting: Came back from an offseason knee injury to become an All-Big 12 performer last season. Among receivers averaging at least four receptions a game, he had the second-best yards-per-catch average of 19.61 (just behind Pittsburgh’s Greg Lee).

DeAndre Jackson

Position: CB Year: Sr.

Height: 6-0

Weight: 195

Worth noting: The Sporting News ranks Jackson among the top 10 defensive backs in the country. Teams have been careful to test the all-league performer, as he has just two breakups. A hard-nosed tackler, Jackson forced four fumbles in 2005 and has caused one this season.

Bret Meyer

Position: QB Year: Jr.

Height: 6-3

Weight: 208

Worth noting: Considered one of the nation’s best dual-threat weapons. Last season, Meyer threw for 300 yards in three games and for more than 250 in three others. He’s become even tougher to defend by improving as an on-the-run passer.

QUARTERBACKS

Nebraska hasn’t found a way to stop Bret Meyer. In two games against the Huskers, he’s passed for 662 yards. The Cyclones’ all-time leader (5,988 yards) is coming off a 24-for-29, 323-yard performance against Northern Iowa, and for the season is 94-for-149 (63.1 percent). With his team needing a touchdown to avoid losing to the Panthers, Meyer completed three passes and rushed three times to account for all 74 yards of the decisive drive. In fact, he either ran or passed on every second-half play. Meyer has thrown four interceptions, but at one point last year he went a school-record 155 passes in between picks. In four of ISU’s five games this year, he’s also rushed at least 12 times and has a team-high four touchdowns.

RUNNING BACKS

Omaha Creighton Prep graduate Stevie Hicks is back to full strength after an injury-plagued 2005 season. He’s averaging 4.7 yards per carry, but with ISU falling behind by two touchdowns last week got just seven carries. His backup, Jason Scales, had five, which explains why the Cyclones rushed for only 81 yards (and just 16 in the second half). The Cyclones utilize their fullback maybe more than any other Big 12 team. Senior Ryan Kock has 16 career touchdowns on just 76 carries.

RECEIVERS

The rangy Todd Blythe is Meyer’s favorite target, especially in the red zone. He’s caught an ISU-record 23 touchdown passes. Two years ago, Blythe burned Nebraska for 188 yards in one half, but he’s far from a lone ranger. Jon Davis, a Papillion-La Vista graduate, has come back from an Achilles injury suffered in spring ball. He just recorded a career game (seven catches for 117 yards and the winning score) and has two more receptions (21) than Blythe. Former quarterback Austin Flynn leads the Cyclones with 23. R.J. Sumrall, whose cousins are NFL receivers Reggie Wayne and Robert Ferguson, is a capable backup to Blythe. Against Nebraska last year, he had four catches for 99 yards. Tight end Walter Nickel also had a TD grab against NU in 2005 and is averaging 14.3 yards on his 10 catches this season.

O-LINE

The Cyclones have started the same offensive linemen each game, and four of the five — left tackle Scott Fisher, left guard Seth Zehr, center Scott Stephenson and right tackle Aaron Brant — are seniors. Last year, Zehr played the right side. Stephenson, who transferred from Minnesota and had never played center, was All-Big 12. Brant, a second-team preseason all-league selection, will be making his 30th straight start.

D-LINE

Ahtyba Rubin, who played both offensive and defensive line positions in junior college, has replaced true freshman Nate Frere at nose guard the last two games. That’s the only change in ISU’s starting defense this season. Tackle Brent Curvey, a 2005 all-league pick, has 4½ stops behind the line of scrimmage. True freshman end Rashawn Parker had 4½ tackles for losses in his first two games and leads ISU with three sacks. The other perimeter starter, Shawn Moorehead,  came to the program as a walk-on.

LINEBACKERS

Get used to hearing this name: Alvin Bowen. The weakside starter, a junior college transfer from Garden City, Kan.,  leads the nation with an average of 13.8 tackles per game. In the middle, Tyrone McKenzie, a Michigan State transfer, is sixth nationally with an 11.2 average. He had 16 stops last week. Adam Carper, recruited as a quarterback, was the team’s  No. 4 tackler as a redshirt freshman last season.

SECONDARY

Major issues here. Opponents have completed 74.4 percent of their passes against the Cyclones, making them the worst in Division I-A in that category. At one point last week, Northern Iowa quarterback Eric Sanders completed 12 consecutive passes. Left cornerback DeAndre Jackson is a proven star, but he can’t cover the entire field. Rightside starter Chris Singleton has a team-high two interceptions, but he’s the only defensive back with a pick. Free safety Jon Banks (the team’s No. 3 tackler) is being replaced by redshirt freshman Steve Johnson. Johnson, who’s played in one game, and strong safety Caleb Berg, a junior from Nebraska’s Heartland High School in Henderson, can expect to get tested often. 

SPECIALISTS

Ryan Baum, who walked on at ISU, is the top punt returner in the Big 12 (18.2-yard average on 10 returns). He took one 65 yards for a score last week. He also fumbled one away and was bailed out of another miscue by a Northern Iowa penalty. Another walk-on, place-kicker Bret Culbertson, has made the first 63 PAT tries of his two-plus-season career. He’s 3-for-4 on field goals this year and, for his career, 20-for-23 on attempts inside 40 yards (3-for-7 beyond that). DeAndre Jackson is averaging 23 yards on kickoff returns, with a long of 62. Freshman punter Mike Brandtner has a 39.8-yard average and has put four of 18 kicks inside the opponent’s 20-yard line. The Cyclones are giving up nearly 10 yards per return, though.

SCOUTING REPORT

From Northern Iowa coach Mark Farley, whose team built a 21-7 halftime lead at Iowa State and led 27-21 late in the fourth quarter. Farley then watched Meyer, with the Cyclones out of timeouts, engineer a 74-yard touchdown drive that took just 65 seconds and was capped on a 16-yard pass to Davis that put ISU up 28-27 with 1:05 to play. That ended up being the difference, as UNI’s Brian Wingert missed a 51-yard field goal on the final play, leaving Farley frustrated enough to punch a door coming out of his post-game interviews.

“Blythe is an exceptional player. No question, he’s their go-to guy and when the game’s in the balance, that’s who they’re looking for. You have to focus on him with a player, possibly two. When you do that, the other guys (Davis and Flynn) come into play. He gives you that catch-22 — pick your poison. We tried to mix it up and keep (Blythe) off-balance. At the same time, you’re doing that to the quarterback.

“Our intent (was) take away the rushing game — keep Meyer in the pocket. In the end, Davis got us in the corner of the end zone, but Meyer’s more dangerous when he’s running.

“We didn’t know what kind of success we’d have (defensively) going into that game. I’d watched them play Texas and they did a great job. I don’t know that they started throwing the ball because they were behind or because they thought they’d have more success (that way). They’ve got all those receivers, a good tailback and a running quarterback, so you’ve got to defend the whole field in every formation. (Meyer) was hot.

“They’re a young defense, (but) the tapes I’ve watched they’re getting better. They pressure the quarterback and try to get him to throw before he wants. We were going to do whatever we could do to get a yard. But as it turned out, our running game was pretty effective. There wasn’t much fancy about it.”