As far as coach Paul Rhoads is concerned, the Kansas Jayhawks’ 2-5 record might as well be a Halloween costume. Kansas is this year’s homecoming opponent for the Cyclones and Rhoads knows how important it is for his team not to take its foot off the gas after beating Texas.

KU coach Turner Gill has announced that he will be starting his third string quarterback Quinn Mecham on Saturday. Mecham found a spot on the Jayhawk roster after a stint at Snow Junior College in Ephraim, Utah.

“He throws the ball around the yard with good velocity, we know that about him,” Rhoads said of Mecham. “You don’t make a switch to a quarterback like that and alter your entire offense. They’re going to keep doing the things they do and work to run the ball well and throw screens. We’ll be in a position to defend it hopefully.”

With Mecham being the starter for the Jayhawks, the ISU coaching staff had little to go off of as far as game tape on him. They ended up having to go off of video tape of him from his days at SJC that was posted on YouTube.

During the 2008 season at SJC, Mecham threw for 1,851 yards and 25 touchdowns while only throwing five interceptions. The Jayhawks will also be without wide receiver D.J. Beshears. He was suspended for the game for undisclosed reasons.

Rhoads thinks the Jayhawks lack of their top receiver will have a positive effect on their offensive production.

“This is a team that is maligned by a lot of people right now,” Rhoads said of Kansas. “Young men don’t take to that very lightly. This is a football team that is going to come up here and are going to play lights-out Saturday at one o’clock.”

Defensive coordinator Wally Burnham doesn’t care who is lined up under center for the Jayhawks. His defense is going to stick to their game plan. Burnham’s defense is coming off a strong performance in the victory over Texas.

While in Austin, the ISU defense forced four Texas turnovers and A.J. Klein led the way with 11 tackles. They also held Texas to under 100 yards rushing on the game.

Burnham is hoping for much of the same success against Kansas.

“We’re going to work on what we know to do,” Burnham said. “That’s the only thing you can do. You can’t go making up stuff or your kids lose confidence in you. If they go with something different then we’re going to have to adjust.”

Kansas’ offense is based on the zone read play and they also run a high number of screens. Gill also uses a variety formations in an attempt to fool the defense.

Defending the screen pass is a responsibility for the entire defense.

“It’s 11 people’s responsibility,” Burnham said. “The defensive line has to release to the quarterback then your underneath coverage people have to read offensive lineman downfield and then your secondary has got to get the ball on the ground if someone hasn’t done it before then.”

In last season’s contest in Lawrence, Iowa State came up short losing 41-36 in their best offensive performance of the season. Quarterback Austen Arnaud completed 25 of 40 passes for 293 yards. He threw for two touchdowns and ran for another, while running back Alexander Robinson carried the ball 27 times for 156 yards.

The Jayhawks are a far less talented bunch than when Todd Reesing, Dezmond Briscoe and Kerry Meier were in uniform, but Arnaud isn’t doubting that they pose a threat.

“It’s a new KU defense schematically,” Arnaud said. “They’re different in that aspect, but we got to keep our foot on the gas. I felt like at times last year, even though we scored 36 points, we took our foot off the gas. We need to score more points than they do and that’s our objective as an offense.”