Could it be just one play? One big play to spark the ISU football team? Quarterback Bret Meyer and receiver Todd Blythe seem to think so.

“We just have to get that one big play,” Meyer said. “After that, we’ll just keep rolling.”

Meyer and Blythe, who had connected on so many game-changing plays last season, have been a tandem that has been virtually unheard from throughout this season – at least in terms of big plays.

Last season Blythe had nine total touchdown receptions and led the Cyclones in total receiving yards, average per catch and touchdowns. His nine scores were a school record for one season.

Meyer has connected with Blythe for just one touchdown this year, and Blythe said that’s part of the problem.

“We need more big plays like that this year,” he said. “I’m to blame for a lot of that, that’s what I did a lot of last year, making big plays, and I haven’t made them.”

The pressure he puts on himself, though, is not a reflection of how his teammates view him on or off the field.

“Our offense, and our guys, our team isn’t one that points fingers at people,” Blythe said. “As a player, my expectations are extremely high for myself. I know if somebody fumbles, or somebody else drops the ball, or the quarterback makes a bad read, that’s not going to bother me.”

It doesn’t bother Meyer, either, especially considering the expectations that the sophomore behind center has for the Cyclones.

“You can’t get frustrated,” Meyer said. “We could be 8-3 this year, there’s no reason to be frustrated.”

Oklahoma State allowed 62 points against Texas A&M last week, and the Cyclone offense will already be trying to up its 326-yard performance against Missouri.

The key to making the plays, according to ISU coach Dan McCarney, is a tricky balance between mentality and preparation. “You want to be relaxed, but yet you need to be ready,” McCarney said. “You can’t be so relaxed that you’re not ready to go out there and play.”

McCarney said when athletes become too relaxed, turnovers start becoming a factor in the game.

That’s when Blythe said support of the offense is the most important.

“Obviously, we’d like to have the plays, but I’m not going to look at them and say, ‘I wish you could have done this, or I wish you could have done that,'” he said. “I’m more focused on what I need to do, and what I need to do for this offense is make more big plays and make the catches that I’m capable of making.”

Maybe that’s the difference, too. McCarney said the team’s outlook could be completely different if some plays had gone as planned.

“The incentive and the motivation is as strong as its ever been this year,” he said. “Pick them out, which handful of plays – three, four, five plays we are from being 6-0 right now.

“It’s not eight drives, 25 plays we needed to make.”

When it all comes down to making the big play, though, the Cyclones don’t feel as if they need to change much.

“We do everything right, and we’re just not making plays,” Meyer said. “It’s just a matter of closing the deal.”