Three weeks ago, it seemed like the sky was falling for the UT football team, having lost a heartbreaker to West Virginia and gotten trounced by rival Oklahoma.

But after three straight wins, No. 19 Texas (7-2, 4-2 Big 12) was lauded as the “hottest” team in the Big 12 by ISU coach Paul Rhoads, whose Cyclones will be its next opponent Saturday in Austin, Texas.

“Sometimes you hit that rhythm that I talk about at different points in the season,” Rhoads said. “[Texas] had a couple tough losses in a row against good football teams and they’ve bounced back and are now playing very well as 11 guys on the field in all their phases, all their units.”

One of the shining moments of Rhoads’ tenure as coach at Iowa State (5-4, 2-4) was his team’s upset of Texas two years ago in Austin. Before the Longhorns slumped to a 5-7 finish that year to miss a bowl game for the first time since 1997, they had beaten a fifth-ranked Nebraska team on the road for a 4-2 record and No. 22 ranking in the AP poll.

But ISU running back Jeff Woody, who had eight carries for the 30 rushing yards in that win two years ago, said it all came down to execution.

“We just played better than they did,” Woody said. “They were a little bit down, and we took advantage of it. We just executed better than they did all day.”

The Longhorns come into this game having won three straight but have had a porous defense that has allowed 31.6 points per game, which ranks 90th among FBS teams.

Steele Jantz is expected to get the start at quarterback for the Cyclones. Jantz is 1-1 since returning as the team’s starter, having completed 62 percent of his passes and thrown for five touchdowns and two interceptions in those games.

“I think what Steele’s doing is he’s not trying to force the issue,” Woody said. “Everybody who watches Steele Jantz play knows that he’s got all the talent in the world, even with anybody in the country.

“When he lets the game come to him, he can do anything he wants to.”

As opposed to its defense, Texas’ offense presents challenges for Iowa State.

Texas is 11th in the country in scoring offense, averaging 40.3 points per game while also grading out in the top half nationally in both average rushing and passing yards.

Linebacker Jevohn Miller, who has stepped up in the absence of the ISU leading tackler Jake Knott, said everyone on the defense is a little more comfortable playing in Knott’s absence.

“We all know where we’re kind of going to be,” Miller said. “There may be a few adjustments depending on what our game plan for Texas will be.”

Kickoff is set for 11 a.m. The game will be shown on ABC in the state of Iowa — including the Quad Cities and Omaha television markets — and will be on the Longhorn Network everywhere else.