New year, same story.

The ISU football team left Kansas City disappointed for the second straight year after facing the Kansas State Wildcats.

Two winnable games, two chances to pick up much-needed road wins to boost morale, and both games resulted in losses.

Last year, the team was a winner of two straight when they made the trip to Arrowhead Stadium to take on Kansas State. Iowa State was 3-1, and had a fair amount of momentum behind them.

If you’re an ISU fan, you know what happened in that game. Furious comeback after mistakes and missed opportunities, blocked point after, game over. Coach Paul Rhoads said they learned a valuable lesson that day.

This year, the game itself may have ended differently – and less haunting for ISU kicker Grant Mahoney – but the causes were very similar.

It was obvious the ISU defense couldn’t tackle KSU senior running back Daniel Thomas. Thomas simply torched the Cyclones on the ground, rushing for 189 yards on 34 carries.

Thomas wasn’t a secret coming into the game Saturday. The coaching staff knew they’d have to stop him first and foremost.

Unfortunately for them, the 2010 version of the Cyclones haven’t prepared as well as the 2009 version, at least according to Rhoads.

“We’ve got to practice better,” Rhoads said. “We’ve got to get back to … understanding the importance of what preparation does for Saturday.”

Rhoads did say the offense had been practicing better than the defense lately, but that, “you need all parts moving together if you’re going to have great preparation.”

There could be several reasons for the drop-off in preparation for the defense. This unit is very young and has a lot of inexperienced players in key positions.

Injuries are starting to hit the Cyclones. Defensive tackle Bailey Johnson has a nagging leg injury and linebacker Matt Tau’fo’ou is out for extended time with a broken leg.

So now it’s up to the leaders on the defensive side of the ball to pick their teammates up and improve the preparation during the week.

“We have to have consistency all through the week,” said sophomore linebacker A.J. Klein after the game Saturday. “We can’t just pick up on one day and expect to go out and win on Saturdays.”

The biggest problem the defense faced Saturday – and it’s been a running theme for the unit – was missed tackles.

Granted, a guy like Thomas can make almost anyone miss, but it wasn’t just missing him. There were several situations in the game where the Cyclone defense missed very obtainable tackles.

It wasn’t all bad for the defense, though. It got a momentum-shifting gift of an interception from KSU quarterback Carson Coffman, who seemingly threw the ball right to Klein. He did his part after that, taking it back for a touchdown.

It also looked good in pass coverage, something that was surely aided by the fact that the Wildcats only threw the ball 12 times.

As for the offense, that was where the missed opportunities came into play. The most obvious was on the final drive for the offense, when Arnaud overthrew Robinson by inches on what would’ve been a sure touchdown.

Looking deeper, the more pressing mistakes were the drive-halting penalties – the Cyclones had eight for 64 yards. Instead of third-and-3 or 4, the offense consistently faced third-and-10 or longer.

It doesn’t matter who they are or who they’re playing, if the offense is in third-and-long situations every time out, it isn’t going to convert them at a high rate.

Right or wrong, Arnaud is taking a lot of heat for the loss. Fans across Iowa and here in Ames are calling for Jerome Tiller to possibly take over for Arnaud, especially now that he’s dealing with a bruised shoulder he suffered against Kansas State.

When Tiller was in Saturday, he played well, but only threw once. I think many of the people calling for Tiller fail to realize the redshirt sophomore hasn’t exactly lit the world on fire under center.

Sure, he led the upset of Nebraska last year, but let’s be honest; without an heroic effort from the defense, could he have carried the team past the Cornhuskers?

He’ll be the man someday. More than likely next year. For now, though, the team has to stand behind Arnaud. Some have already taken to Twitter to do just that.

Junior offensive lineman Zack Spears, who among other players is very active on the social networking site, addressed the fans who are “hating” on Arnaud.

“Dnt just love him whn he balls out, true fans love him through it all. Trust me, he loves y’all #Arnaudhaters #frontrunners #fairweather,” Spears tweeted.

So now, the team has to regroup and try to better their preparation. Because if they don’t, this could be a long season for the Cyclones.