After eight months, the ISU football team will finally get to compete. The Cyclones take on a tough Toledo team at 7 p.m. at Jack Trice Stadium.

“Eight months is a long time since anyone has put on a Cyclone uniform to play, so we’re excited,” coach Dan McCarney said. “Toledo’s got a tremendous ball club and they’ll be ready to play from the get-go.”

The Cyclones open the season against the Toledo Rockets from the Mid-American Conference, who are coming off a MAC West Division championship in 2005 and a GMAC Bowl victory over UTEP.

“We’ve got our hands full. Everyone’s aware of that,” McCarney said. “We going to have to really be good. We can’t go out and slowly get into the game like we did last year against Illinois State. This is a better team with better talent and we’re going to get beat if we do that.”

The biggest question going into the opener for the Cyclones is how effective the defense will be after losing seven starters from last season, including three of the four starting defensive backs and two of the four defensive linemen.

Although the defensive backfield, led by returning starter DeAndre Jackson, appears fairly set, the defensive line is much more fluid with McCarney opting for a rotation of players to man the posts.

“There’s no doubt in my mind we’ll play at least eight guys on the defensive line in this game,” McCarney said. “Last year we were lucky to play six guys and sometimes we didn’t even play that many.”

Two freshmen are listed as starters on the defensive line, with even more freshmen filling the two-deeps on defense and hoping to see some playing time. Some fear that the defense won’t be able to play as aggressively early as it would like and that the offense will have to make up for the lack of experience on the defense by outscoring teams.

McCarney, however, doesn’t buy that.

“We’re not going to limit anything [on defense],” McCarney said. “We’ve prepped these guys for a very complex offense in Toledo and, yeah, we’re playing some freshmen on defense but we aren’t putting 22 freshmen out on the field.”

McCarney added that his defense has to be prepared against Toledo.

“We just better come out ready to play Thursday night and we better give a great Cyclone effort on defense, because this stuff about having to outscore everybody is happy horse crap,” he said.

The linebacker corps also took a hit losing the team’s leading tackler in 2005 – Tim Dobbins – to graduation and Matt Robertson to suspension.

Adam Carper played in all 12 games in 2005 at linebacker for the Cyclones and figures to anchor the unit this year after racking up 41 tackles last season. Carper said in the end it won’t be experience but rather trusting the coaches and execution that will lead to a successful defense.

Jack Trice turf manager Mike Andersen adds white paint to the ISU logo in the north end zone of Jack Trice Stadium on Wednesday.Photo: Charlie Litchfield/Iowa State Daily

“We really don’t want to step down from our defense last year,” Carper said. “We know Coach Skladany is going to put us in the right place. We’ll just have to execute.”

On the offensive side of the ball things are much more fluid.

Running back Stevie Hicks will begin the year healthy after an injury-plagued 2005 season that severely hampered the ISU rushing attack.

Hicks will be complemented by quarterback Bret Meyer, who returns to run the offense and throw the ball to what some have called one of the best receiving corps in the conference, if not the nation.

Receiver Todd Blythe, who holds the school record for most touchdown receptions in a career with 18 and has two more seasons to play, said the outside expectations don’t add any pressure to the offense. They are no different than the expectations the team has for itself.

“We have a lot of people that think [the offense] is going to be really good, but so do we,” Blythe said. “We expect to go out and be good, so it’s not really any added pressure.”

Receiver Jon Davis will be available for the Toledo game after recovering from an Achilles tendon injury suffered in the spring. Originally it was thought that Davis could miss a month or more.

“It’s huge to have him back,” Blythe said. “He brings a whole other threat to our offense. He’s a big play threat with great speed and he can take it the distance from wherever he’s at.”

Other resources from ISD:

Big 12 Break Through

Four Cyclone players hurt in preseason play

Harris moves to defense

More on Cyclone football…

Season of opportunity

Football strives to find running back balance

Blythe here to stay

Harris finds home at safety

McCarney chooses next season’s captains

Ponca City recruits have shown potential