Steele Jantz, it appears, has lost his chance.

An era that had Cyclone fans buzzing and excited for the future likely came to an end Saturday in a 33-17 loss to then-No. 17 Texas A&M.

After an 0-for-4, one-interception start, ISU coach Paul Rhoads pulled Jantz in favor of redshirt freshman Jared Barnett.

“I think right now Jared Barnett will be our starter for next week, and I don’t foresee anything that will change that in my mind,” Rhoads said after the game. “I think he did a lot of good things. There are things he missed, I’m sure. There are things he accomplished that we haven’t been accomplishing.

“I think overall he played pretty well against a defense that was hard to read and can give you a lot of fits with the different pressures that they bring.”

Barnett was 16-for-36 passing for 180 yards and led a touchdown drive on his first series in the game Saturday, capped off by a 19-yard touchdown run by James White. He started 6-of-8 in the game, but finished 10-of-24.

Rhoads didn’t comment on Jantz or his play against the Aggies (5-2, 3-1 Big 12), rather he focused on the rest of his team and how Barnett played.

At the point Jantz left the game, he was 123-of-228 passing on the season, throwing for 1,322 yards, 10 touchdowns and nine interceptions. Jantz also turned the ball over — either on an interception or fumble — in each game for the Cyclones (3-4, 0-4).

What Rhoads did comment on was his team’s mistakes and his receivers’ drops, as well as how his replacement quarterback played amid those problems.

“I think what I saw was great poise [from Barnett] out there on the football field,” Rhoads said. “I saw a redshirt freshman who was in control of himself and in control of our offense. I saw a guy that delivered the ball on time. I saw a guy that threw accurate passes over most of the course of the afternoon.”

Barnett was more critical of his own play and was quick to give credit to his teammates, much like his predecessor.

“First things first, I would say I have to be better,” Barnett said when asked to rate his performance. “I was ready. I was ready to go in. Steele went in there and he wasn’t having a very good day. Coach Rhoads pulled the trigger on me and expected me to go out there and make the plays.”

The offense seemed to have a spark when Barnett first entered the game, and it appeared as though he was set for a big game. But the A&M defense, Barnett said, caught on to what the offense was doing and was able to scheme against it the rest of the game.

Wide receiver Josh Lenz, who caught a career-high eight passes for 117 yards, was quick to praise Barnett.

“We all knew he had the ability to do [what he did in the game],” Lenz said. “He came in without skipping a beat [and] helped out our offense move up and down the field.

“He did give us a little spark and that’s what we needed.”

Right after the game, Barnett wasn’t aware of Rhoads’ comments regarding next week or the coach’s thoughts on starting the Garland, Texas, native.

Instead, he said he knew he’d have that conversation with his coach later in the week and that the team needed to correct the problems that had led to the first four-game losing streak in Rhoads’ tenure.

“We’re just coming off a loss and there’s a lot of things we have to improve on,” Barnett said.