Ask an ISU coach or player about Kansas State’s best offensive weapon and a likely description would involve one or more of these three words.

Tough. Durable. Hard-nosed.

Sounds like Kansas State has a pretty good running back, right? Well, sophomore John Hubert isn’t bad with 813 yards rushing on the season, but the Cyclones aren’t talking about Hubert. They have 6-foot-5-inch, 226-pound junior quarterback Collin Klein on their mind.

Klein, the Wildcats’ leading rusher, even drew a comparison from ISU coach Paul Rhoads on Monday to former ISU running back Troy Davis, a former Heisman finalist and the only college running back to rush for 2,000 yards in back-to-back seasons.

“Troy was really special from a durability standpoint much like Kansas State’s quarterback is very special from a durability standpoint,” Rhoads said of Klein. “I think he’s a special cat, I think he’s a really good football player and one tough kid.”

While Klein likely won’t eclipse Davis’ ISU record of 402 carries in 1996, the junior from Loveland, Colo., has carried the ball 267 times this season, earning him the title of busiest ballcarrier in the Big 12 and placing him sixth among all runners in the country. In fact, Iowa State’s stable of running backs have combined to carry the ball only 15 times more than Klein this season.

“[I’m] shocked that he’s been able to last in this league with the carries he’s got and the shots he’s had to take and not only survive but flourish,” Rhoads said. “His productivity is as good as anybody in this league.”

In his first year as the Wildcats’ starting signal caller, Klein is one of 41 players to eclipse the 1,000-yard rushing mark this season with 1,013, and his 25 rushing touchdowns is second only to Wisconsin running back Montee Ball’s 29. His 2,600 total yards accounts for 69.1 percent of Kansas State’s total offense this season and he’s responsible for 19.6 of the Wildcats’ 33.4 points per game.

“I think in this league, which has so many great quarterbacks, so many quarterbacks that are going to play in the National Football League, he’s probably as valuable if not more valuable to his team than any of them,” Rhoads said.

With Klein leading the KSU rushing attack, the ISU run defense will try to bounce back after allowing 293 yards rushing in its 26-6 loss to No. 9 Oklahoma in Norman on Saturday.

“It’s a big challenge for us up front and we’re going to take it personal because we pride ourselves on stopping the run,” said ISU defensive tackle Stephen Ruempolhamer. “We didn’t against OU and I think that was one of our big falls and now we’re going to get back to playing Cyclone defense and stopping the run first.”

OU freshman quarterback Blake Bell carried eight times for 14 yards and a pair of touchdowns to give the ISU defense a good glimpse at an offense that isn’t afraid to call on its quarterback to tote the pigskin.

“That power stuff that they did, obviously we used a specialized defense for, we won’t be able to just roll that same defense out to stop what they do with Collin Klein at quarterback but good preparation nonetheless,” Rhoads said.

Senior defensive end Patrick Neal previewed Saturday’s showdown in Manhattan, Kan., as a three-hour extension of Iowa State’s inside run drill it goes through at practice.

“They’re a hard-nosed, ground-and-pound team that will be different than what we’ve played in the previous weeks, but it will be a great challenge and a great opportunity for us,” Neal said.

ISU quarterback Jared Barnett said he’s impressed with Klein’s durability throughout the Wildcats’ 9-2 season, but also said he’s confident the ISU defense will be prepared.

“He runs the ball a lot, takes a lot of shots and I admire him because he gets up,” Barnett said. “He’s definitely a really good runner, but I’m sure our defense is going to have something for him.”