Strong performances following a sentimental victory have been somewhat of an elusive aspiration for ISU football these past few years.

This week will pose another challenge for ISU coach Paul Rhoads, as he takes his team from a 44-41 triple-overtime victory over archrival Iowa to its first road game at Connecticut this Friday evening.

The one thing more challenging than a six-day work week, Rhoads said, is a six-day work week preparing for a game on the road.

“They’re challenging,” Rhoads said of the shortened week at a Monday news conference. “It’s a challenging week because you have to alter your plan and preparation and make sure your football team is ready to execute and ready to play.”

Monday is typically an off day for the team, but with a Friday game time, alterations had to be made in planning the week’s schedule.

“The transition is kind of tough,” said senior cornerback Leonard Johnson. “We just played Saturday, we had an off day [Sunday], but we were still up and moving around. We haven’t really had a full day to rest our legs and get our legs back underneath us.”

The biggest challenge for the Cyclones (2-0) may lie in the hangover that comes after a big win like they had last Saturday.

“It’s a tough week, it’s a short turnaround and we’re kind of looking forward to that challenge,” said junior linebacker Jake Knott. “We’re looking forward to getting back out there and we’re staying focused so we don’t have a letdown this week.”

The losses that followed victories against Nebraska and Texas Tech the last two seasons was evidence of the Cyclones’ troubles responding to a big win.

Last season, the Cyclones’ 28-16 victory against Kansas began with a slow start that had partly been due to the team’s first-ever victory against Texas the previous week.

“Last year, we were kind of focused, but we weren’t focused enough,” said senior receiver Darius Reynolds. “That’s why we did start off pretty slow against Kansas because we were still feeding off the energy of the Texas game and we were still thinking about that Texas victory.”

In team meetings Sunday, Reynolds said Rhoads addressed the importance of negating slow starts after big wins.

“It’s a challenge that you can’t put your head in the sand about,” Rhoads said. “You’ve got to address it and we did that as we go throughout the week.”