It’s Dan McCarney’s last game with the Cyclones, and even though it would be easy to seize the spotlight, the ISU football coach wants to end the season with a win for someone else.

He wants a win over Missouri for his players.

McCarney knows he will get a chance to prowl another sideline soon, but many of his players will never step on a field to play again.

“I want to coach again and I believe in my heart I will,” McCarney said. “This is not about me, it’s just not. If you’ve ever played the game, there is one last time where you get to pull on the uniform and that is really, really meaningful.

“Hopefully I’ll wear a whistle again. But a lot of these guys will never pull on a uniform again and the finality of that is really meaningful.”

With all the emotion surrounding this game, McCarney knows he will have to be careful to still prepare for the game like any other.

Emotion alone, he knows, won’t win the game.

“We all know there was a lot of emotion at the Alamo and they all got killed there,” McCarney said. “Emotion can only go so far.”

McCarney’s Cyclones have struggled all season, winning three of their first five games but then dropping their last six. Iowa State is the only team in the Big 12 without a conference win and is in danger of going 0-8 in league play for the second time in four years.

That record led to McCarney’s resignation, becoming effective at the end of the season.

Still, McCarney leaves a huge legacy at Iowa State. He is the school’s all-time leader in wins with 55 and has led the Cyclones to five bowl games in his 12 years.

“As a team, as a group of players, we want to get this done for Coach Mac and send him out on a good note,” said junior receiver Todd Blythe.

For 23 players, this will also be the last time they enter Jack Trice Stadium as Cyclones.

“We’re hoping to have a great atmosphere for these young men and I know the Iowa State fans will come out and support the seniors,” McCarney said.

Even though there are no postseason hopes for the Cyclones, that doesn’t mean they have nothing to play for.

Aside from it being senior day and their coach’s last game, Iowa State wants a little revenge.

Two seasons ago, Missouri beat the Cyclones in overtime when an ISU win would have sent the team to the Big 12 championship game. Last season Missouri beat Iowa State again in overtime, and the Cyclones fell one game short of that title game again.

“They knocked us out, twice,” said senior receiver Austin Flynn.

“I wish they had their chance to be in the Big 12 championship game if they beat us. I’d love to go after it and get them back.”ÿ

The Tigers have two games left and are playing for bowl position. Wins in their final two games would give Missouri a 9-3 record.

If everything goes their way, the Tigers could finish as high as third in the Big 12; if things don’t, they could end as low as sixth. That’s the difference between the Cotton Bowl and the Insight Bowl.

The Cyclones would love nothing more than to help send Missouri to the Southwest.