The word of the week around the Jacobson Athletic Building and the ISU football team this week is “huge.”

As in, how big a victory over No. 3 Kansas in the Cyclones’ season finale would be.

“I think that would be huge for our program, huge for our confidence as a team going into next year,” said freshman running back Alexander Robinson.

Huge, as in historically huge. A victory over Kansas would be the Cyclones’ first ever over a top-five team, and biggest upset since knocking off then-No. 7 Nebraska in 1992.

“I think [a win] would be a phenomenal ending for a year that is obviously not exactly what we wanted,” said coach Gene Chizik. “I told the team a month ago I can’t change the beginning but I can begin to change the end. That’s what we’ve tried to do. Saturday, if we could beat Kansas, which is a great football team, it would be a great ending to what wasn’t a great start.”

Since the Cyclones were demolished 56-3 by Texas, Iowa State seems to have righted the ship, pushing No. 4 Oklahoma and No. 5 Missouri into the fourth quarter before breaking through with victories against Kansas State and Colorado.

“When he said that, we were losing games we were supposed to win and it’s just frustrating, losing and losing,” said sophomore safety James Smith. “We decided we have to bunker down and play these last four games. I think it was at the time and try to play them as hard as we can.”

The late-season turnaround and opportunity to make a statement against Kansas sends a clear message that Iowa State can be competitive, Chizik said.

“I think that the message that it sends is that you can’t panic and you can’t get away from the fundamentals of the game,” Chizik said. “When we did not play well this year you can trace a lot of it back to us not being fundamentally sound.

“The two-game win streak lets our football team know that if we do the things that on Saturday make you successful, that we can play against the best teams in the country and be in the game. We can keep games close until the end and have a chance to win them.”

But the most important benefits from this season may be the lessons learned by underclassmen, such as Robinson and Smith, who said the turnaround has given Chizik and his vision that much more credibility.

“We know if we do what we’re supposed to do we can win football games,” Smith said. “This is like a foundation. As long as we believe in the plan and we execute the plan things are going to be better for the future.”

The trickle-down effect of a strong finish – even if it is just winning two out of three to close the year – will even impact recruiting, Chizik said. And that’s not hard to understand when compared to the alternative of a nine-game losing streak and what would have been a 1-16 record in their last 17 Big 12 games.

“Any time that you can show this is where we started and this is where we ended and the improvement in that segment is noticeable . I think that’s really big for recruiting,” Chizik said. “One thing that I feel good about is the guys that have already told us that this is where they wanted to come, they really feel good about seeing where the improvement is and we’re excited for them because they made the choice before they even saw the improvement.

“But it will be very big for our guys down the road, what we’re trying to do, what we’re trying to accomplish and the kind of player we need.”