There was an underlying message throughout ISU football coach Gene Chizik’s Monday press conference:

Improve or don’t expect to keep your job.

“This ship was set to sail, and we started slow,” Chizik said of the opener. “Like I told everybody, there will be an expected urgency in your game. We are going to show you and tell you what we want corrected, and we are going to give you time to correct it, but the hourglass is ticking now.

“So right now, I don’t see any changes [in the lineup]. Now if you ask me three weeks from now, the answer might be different.”

The first-year head coach stressed the necessity for improvement and progression after Thursday’s 23-14 loss to Kent State.

Chizik was underwhelmed with the performance of two lines, citing the offensive line’s performance as “average” and stating “for me to say that our defensive line was average is almost being a little bit kind.”

“It’s like I told the team, I can only stand being below average so long now, and so it’s not [quarterback] Bret [Meyer], it’s not the offensive line . it’s everybody,” Chizik said. “So I want to see a marked improvement in exactly what we want you to do as an individual every week, and eventually if we’re not getting the results, then we’re going to make changes.”

Grumbling from the crowd was heard after quarterback Bret Meyer’s two interceptions, the second of which was returned to Iowa State’s 8-yard line. Chizik said Meyer has to make better decisions and he knows he has to manage the game better.

Meyer acknowledged that assessment, saying that he just needs to make the plays that are there.

“He can’t throw two interceptions and turn over the ball twice and expect us to win against anybody, ever,” Chizik said. “When you don’t have a play, you have got to have the field presence about you to get rid of the football, and throw it away, and get yourself out of a negative play and live for another down.”

Chizik said the team needs to be more physical, and pointed out the worst miscues of the Thursday’s games – four drive-killing penalties, a bad snap that resulted in a fumble, and two interceptions – early in his address.

“Everything out there was correctable. When we show our kids the film and they see it, they cringe,” Chizik said. “This guy makes this block, instead of a two-yard gain it’s a 20-yard gain, you know, one guy is out of place here, one guy is out of place there – I think those are all the evils that you anticipate may happen in your first game, and they did.

“I think all of our worst nightmares came true Thursday night.”

Iowa State allowed 367 yards of total offense to the Golden Flashes in the loss, including 205 yards rushing – 76 of those to quarterback Julian Edelman.

Chizik commended the three turnovers the Cyclones forced in the red zone, but said the defensive line didn’t get enough pressure on quarterback and missed sacks, allowing Edelman to scramble. He said the coaching staff felt there is a lot to be desired from the play of the offensive line.

“The game I thought was a below-average game, but again very fixable, had nothing to do with effort,” Chizik said of the offensive line. “It had to do with concentrating and doing the things that they are coached to do, down in and down out. I won’t stop there and say that its just the offensive line, either, it’s a lot of positions.

But we have a lot of growing to do on the offensive line.

“They have to understand the physicality and the tempo of the game, and they are not anywhere near where we need them right now, but again, that’s why we are going to practice today.”

Chizik said the team wasn’t discouraged or in a panic after Thursday’s game.

He also said he now has a “definitive measuring stick” for the state of the team.

“We did a lot of good things,” Chizik said. “Well, obviously, we didn’t do enough to win, so we’ve got to go back and try to perfect some of the things we weren’t good at. To be honest with you, we know where we are at, and we know that we were below average Thursday night.”