Tyrone McKenzie is in no mood to sugarcoat why Iowa State’s defense has tasted nothing like candy this season.

Indeed, if the Cyclones were a pack of M&Ms, they might actually melt in your hand.

The messy statistics:

The best ISU ranks in any team defensive category is 61st (out of 119 teams) against the run. The Cyclones are 95th in total yards allowed, 96th in points given up, 106th in pass-efficiency defense and dead-last in opponent’s completion percentage (74.4 percent).

Now, they’re getting ready to face Nebraska, which is No. 5 nationally in total yards and No. 3 in scoring.

So don’t bother asking the sophomore linebacker McKenzie what aspect of the Huskers’ offense he thinks Iowa State needs to emphasize stopping.

“You’ve got to key on everything with Nebraska,” he said. “You can’t say, ‘Let’s key on all this, or on that.’ We’ve got to key on everything. That answers all questions about that.”

If only coach Dan McCarney could find more answers to help him cure his defense’s troubles.

The Cyclones began the season having to replace starters at eight positions. Apparently, depth also was an issue. Despite the inconsistent play, McCarney has made just one change in the lineup.

On Saturday, he’ll make a second, replacing the team’s third-leading tackler, free safety Jon Banks, with redshirt freshman  Steve Johnson. McCarney said the move is related strictly to performance.

“These guys have all been in football for two months now and that bothers me a lot,” the ISU coach said of the defense’s  effort.

Anything, specifically, bothering him?

“The obvious one is after leading the Big 12 in takeaways last year,  we’re way off of where we should be,” said McCarney, noting that in last week’s 28-27 win against Northern Iowa, the Cyclones had three turnovers and got none in return. “That has got to improve, because you can’t win in the Big 12 Conference going minus three on Saturdays.”

In regard to the poor defensive numbers, McCarney says everyone’s to blame. The Cyclones’ front four hasn’t been able to apply consistent pressure on quarterbacks. Linebacker blitzes have been ineffective. And the secondary has had plenty of fundamental breakdowns.

“We’re going to continue to try and coach, and, believe me, we have,” McCarney said. “We’ve done it in the past.”

Under the former defensive coordinator at Wisconsin, Iowa State has ranked in the upper half of the Big 12 in total defense four of the past five seasons.

While that seems unlikely to occur this year, Nebraska coach Bill Callahan says the Cyclones have improved as they’ve gone along.

“Everybody gets hit with a big play here and there,” he said. “Overall, they’ve done an excellent job in getting a lot of young players on the field integrated into their defensive concept. They’re very sound fundamentally, and they play hard. That’s their trademark.”

To McKenzie, who transferred from Michigan State, it’s obvious what has plagued the Cyclones.

“When we’re not playing well, there’s a couple (players) not on the same page,” he said. “It’s not mental, we’re just not clicking.

“(But) whatever happened in the games, happened. You put it in the past.”

 Especially when you’re gearing up to face an opponent like Nebraska.

“Players see a team like Nebraska and their offense — you’ve got to be ready,” McKenzie said.

Reach Curt McKeever at 473-7441 or cmckeever@journalstar.com.