Iowa State sophomore tailback Stevie Hicks, a Creighton Prep graduate, has had two of his three 100-yard rushing performances in the last three games. The bad news is, the Cyclones still rank as one of the nation's least-feared offenses. Against Kansas last week, ISU was held to a season-low 192 total yards and failed to score an offensive touchdown.

"We're not going to go up and tag Nebraska for 45 points. That's not going to happen," Cyclone coach Dan McCarney said. "They've got a really outstanding defense. But we've got to do a better job than we did Saturday. … There's no Outland candidates up front in our offensive line right now. We've got a ways to go."

And not just on offense.

"We still have yet to put a game together where it's all three phases, where you really say there's no doubt we won those areas convincingly," McCarney added. "And it's going to take one of those kind of efforts to get after Nebraska and have a chance to play with them. … We can't go out there with one or two phases of our football team and expect to win."

ON A ROLL: Two weeks ago, the Cyclones were losers of 13 straight Big 12 Conference games. Now, they're looking to win their third straight and move into a position where they control their destiny in the Big 12 North Division. "We never lost our kids," McCarney said. "I think they've shown a lot of resolve and resiliency and character through the last few weeks, and the last couple of Saturdays they've gotten some payoffs and reward. They know what it takes to win. We're hoping we can do that some more before the season's over."

QUOTABLE: "The first game of the year we were an underdog to a I-AA team, so I guess it says something that we've made some improvement this year." — McCarney on the Cyclones being in position to grab a share of first place in the Big 12 North.

— Curt McKeever