When the ISU football team takes the field inside Jack Trice Stadium on Saturday to square off with Oklahoma, it will be day 42 of Iowa State’s touchdown drought in Ames.

The last Cyclone touchdown in Ames was in the fourth quarter against Northern Iowa on Sept. 8 – six weeks ago.

“It’s very frustrating because if you look back we have some drives where we started on the 9-yard line and moved all the way downfield and ended up getting a field goal out of it,” said ISU receiver Marquis Hamilton. “I don’t really know if there’s a certain way you can fix it. You just have to stay focused so we do get touchdowns.”

In Iowa State’s past two home games – against Iowa and Texas – they have scored a combined total of 18 points – all accounted for by six Bret Culbertson field goals.

The Cyclones came close to a touchdown against Texas early in the second quarter, but weren’t able to finish the play. Receiver Todd Blythe couldn’t hang on to a Bret Meyer pass that he got his hands on in the end zone, and the Cyclones settled for a field goal that made the score 14-3 in favor of Texas.

“It’s kind of the same thing every week,” ISU coach Gene Chizik said. “We have to make plays. We felt like we had a play where we threw a fade ball up to Todd. You know, he’s got to come down with the ball.

“We just need to make plays. That’s what needs to happen.”

Hamilton said the players know that they have to make plays and realize that is what the coaches expect from them.

“I feel like we take a lot of pride in making plays out there,” Hamilton said. “It’s like a motto that we kind of have as a receiving group and the coaches kind of force it on us. We definitely go out there and try to make plays, regardless of what the score is.”

But, more often than not, the Cyclones have not been able to make those plays, resulting in a scoring offense that tied with Iowa for 115th in the nation at 16.3 points per game. Their offense ranks 99th in the nation at 333 yards per game.

However, Chizik said players don’t think about stats on the field.

“It weighs on my mind and our offensive coaches’ minds,” Chizik said. “I don’t think our players get down there and think, ‘Oh boy here we are, we can’t score again.’ I don’t think it’s that mindset.

“Players on game day have to make big plays. We saw Colt McCoy go on scrambles two or three times and guys come up with big plays. I don’t know how you coach that.”

Compounding problems for Iowa State’s anemic offense has been consistently bad field position. Against Texas, Iowa State’s average starting field position was their own 22-yard line.

“[Field position] is huge,” Chizik said. “As I’ve said before our margin for error is very slim. When we have to drive 60, 70, 80 yards to get into the end zone, that’s hard for us. I think if we ever did start with great field position right now, I think offensively we’d be more productive.”

While Meyer agrees with Chizik, he wouldn’t use field position as a total excuse for the struggles of the offense.

“It’s obvious when you have a short field it’s going to be easier to score,” Meyer said. “But that’s just part of the game. Field position is important, but if you’ve got 80 yards or 40 yards as an offense, it’s your responsibility to do that.”