Saturday in Jack Trice Stadium, an era will come to an end.

Nearly all of the fifth-year seniors of the ISU football team can remember the program being led by three different coaches.

This group though will be the last. None of them played under Dan McCarney, as his final season in Ames was this group’s first, a year they all sat out of competition. However, they practiced for a season under his tutelage during the 2006 season.

Their first three years in Ames – under McCarney and then Gene Chizik for two seasons – were trying times for the program and its youngsters, as Iowa State struggled to a 7-25 mark over the three years. Chizik would depart after the 2008 season, the third regime change for the team’s most experienced members.

“The first few years were extremely hard,” said running back Alexander Robinson, a McCarney recruit. “You come in here, you don’t get as many wins in college as you come in expecting, so it’s tough to go through that early in careers. But, I think it’s helped us mature as a group, going through all that.”

Since Paul Rhoads entered as the Cyclones’ coach in 2009, Iowa State has a 12-12 record, including an Insight Bowl win in December, Iowa State’s first bowl win since 2004.

When Rhoads came to Ames, though, he had to win over the hearts of this group of seniors, most of whom had just finished their sophomore season.

“I have tried to imagine that and all the change they’ve had to go through,” Rhoads said. “What’s so important to me is how they’ve embraced myself and our staff, and what we’ve challenged them to go out and perform. They’ve done it with no reservations, they’ve approached it full speed, they’ve done the things we’ve asked, they’ve led in great fashion and have had success because of that.”

Saturday, the group of 18 seniors will take the field at Jack Trice Stadium for the final time, against Big 12 rival Missouri.

For most, like Robinson, the game is chance to earn a bowl berth, extending the farewell tour through December. For others, like his backfield partner for the past three seasons, quarterback Austen Arnaud, the action on the field won’t mark the end

A severe knee injury suffered against Colorado has brought his ISU career to a close after compiling one of the more impressive resumes in ISU quarterbacking history.

His resume says first in all-time completion percentage, second in passing yards, touchdowns and completions. But Saturday, he can’t be on the field with his teammates where he has been for three seasons. Now, he’s relegated to cheerleader, trying to will his roommates, friends and teammates to go out with a bang.

“It’ll be tough, but I’m excited to see these guys play,” Arnaud said.

A couple of Arnaud’s roommates, safety Michael O’Connell and receiver Jake Williams, have been around the quarterback and the program for five years, as well.

“It’s been a journey. It’s been awesome,” O’Connell said. “I couldn’t be more happy to go out with such a great group of guys that have been through three coaches and stuck through the ups and the downs.”

They all talked about the journey. They acknowledged that a tumultuous five years wasn’t what they “signed up for.”

Most of them aren’t ready for the journey to be over, and only a few of them have even realized that the end is drawing so near.

“It’s kind of surreal thinking that it’s been four and a half years and this will be the last time we play at Jack Trice,” Williams said.

The group doesn’t have a lot of star power – Arnaud is one of the school’s all-time best passers, Robinson one of the more successful runners – and this isn’t a class loaded with NFL talent.

They’ve had to work for their success.

“They’ve won a fair amount of games and I think that’s something they can be very proud of as they walk away from here,” Rhoads said. “We don’t have bad weeks, we don’t have bad days, we come and what we ask we get, and that’s a pretty good badge to wear.”

Their work isn’t done yet, either. The week leading up to the game was just like any other leading up to a game.

Film study was Monday, practice on Tuesday and Wednesday, lighter on Thursday, walkthrough Friday. The grind was the same, the game will be the same, only this time, there might not be a next week.

“Not thinking a whole lot about it being the last go around,” said defensive end Taylor Mansfield. “But at the same time, trying to absorb everything and make sure that I remember everything.”

Guys like Mansfield have stuck around through coaching changes and position changes, despite not seeing a ton of time on the field. He’s fortunate though, he gets 12-to-15 snaps per game. Guys like Brad Adams and Preston Kaufman have stuck around to only see the field for special teams, if even that.

For whatever other reasons there could be, they’ve stuck around because they’re family, O’Connell said.

This group will be the last that has been through so many of the program’s changes, and they’ve gone through them together.

Now, they’ve reached the end of the road, and Saturday, they’ll be playing for a bowl berth, a chance to extend their careers and they’ll be playing for each other.

“Just got to go out there and lay it on the line,” Robinson said. “There’s no more chances, so go out there and play hard like we do every week. Just got to get out there and get after it.

“We don’t have any more chances. Nothing else is promised.”