Steele Jantz was riding the pine when Iowa State upset Texas Tech last season in his first game as a nonstarter.

Having reclaimed his spot as the starting quarterback for the Cyclones (3-0) this season, Jantz will be looking for redemption in Big 12 games after a foot injury that hindered his play and led to his benching once conference play began.

“This is the first league game that he’s been healthy in,” said ISU coach Paul Rhoads of Jantz. “It gives us a chance to start to see what level of player he is now.”

The four-game losing streak that led to Jantz’s benching last season began with a 37-14 loss to Texas that halted the team’s shot at a 4-0 start for the first time since 2000. Iowa State will get a second opportunity for a 4-0 start on Saturday, when it hosts Texas Tech (3-0) at 6 p.m.

“It’s not so much redeem myself as it is redeeming the team,” Jantz said. “In a lot of ways, I let the team down last year. I think a lot of games, we should have won that we lost last year, so I don’t want that to happen to our team this year.”

The Red Raiders come into the game leading the nation in defense, allowing 160.33 total yards per game — almost 24 fewer yards than second-place Florida State — in their first three contests.

However, Rhoads said he does not trust those types of statistics until conference play begins.

“I think they’re still blurred a little bit at this point; I think rankings are a little bit blurred at this point,” Rhoads said. “Things are going to change in a hurry. We have seven undefeated teams in the Big 12 — at a maximum after this weekend, there will be five; there could be as little as three.”

Texas Tech is also allowing 10 points per game, which is sixth in the nation among FBS schools.

TTU quarterback Seth Doege comes into the game with 12 touchdown passes — tied with West Virginia’s Geno Smith, USC’s Matt Barkley and Tennessee’s Tyler Bray for most in the nation.

“He hardly throws any incompletions, and he hardly throws any interceptions — pretty good qualities for a quarterback to possess,” Rhoads said of Doege. “With that, they’re scoring 50-plus points a game and really executing very well.

“As good as he is and the numbers he puts up, people don’t hardly talk about him because of the other quarterbacks in this league. It’s just a league that’s full of great, great players, and where he ranks in that shouldn’t be shorted at all.”

Doege is known for his ability to keep his offensive unit on the field in an upbeat tempo that is notorious for wearing down defenses at critical points in the game. However, the ISU defense should not have too much of a problem against Doege and his teammates.

“The thing about it is our offense runs a fast-paced tempo, so we kind of get that in practice,” said nose tackle Jake McDonough. “We’ll go goods versus goods, and they’ll run their quick plays, and we’ll have to be on the fly, be ready, and it definitely helps with conditioning.”

Rhoads said the week of preparation for the game against Texas Tech has been better than it was a year ago heading into the loss against Texas.

Because of this and the way the defense has been playing, having not allowed a touchdown in 129 minutes of game play, the Cyclones are expecting a much different outcome this time around, especially against a spread offense like that of Tech.

“The linebacking corps take the run game out and force teams to pass,” said free safety Jacques Washington. “We’ve just been playing well, and I think we’re playing better this year.”