Three games into the Big 12 season – three conference losses.

Definitely not an unfamiliar position for the ISU football team.

Iowa State (3-3, 0-3 Big 12) was in a similar situation last season after six games, displaying a record of 2-4 overall and 0-3 in the Big 12. Its losses last season were against Iowa, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M and Colorado.

It was then the Cyclones turned the burners on, winning five out of their last six games of the season – including an Independence Bowl victory – and shared the Big 12 North crown.

Although repeating as the North champions may be a stretch, ISU coach Dan McCarney said there is still plenty to play for.

“We’ve only played three games and there’s still five to go, so there’s a lot of football to be played,” he said.

“It’s not like there’s one or two games left in the Big 12.”

After Saturday’s game against Oklahoma State, the Cyclones have matchups against Texas A&M, Colorado, Kansas State and Kansas.

Despite the similarities in records between this and last year’s teams, it’s the way the Cyclones have lost the games that is the difference.

Last season Iowa State was trounced by Oklahoma State 36-7 and Texas A&M 34-3. The final loss was a much closer game, a 19-14 defeat at Colorado.

This season, though, the Cyclones have lost their three games by just a combined 20 points, including two overtime defeats.

“The difference is last time we had two complete butt-kickings; this year there haven’t been any of those,” McCarney said. “Just three [games] to the wire, completely to the wire.”

ISU tailback Greg Coleman has been instrumental to the team, filling the hole left by the injured Stevie Hicks and Jason Scales.

Coleman said it is not only important to see how Iowa State’s record is better overall by one win, but the way its played in the losses, as well.

“We feel like we’re a better team than we were last year. Every game we’ve played has been a dogfight,” he said. “We could have come out on the lower end of the stick, or we could have come out the way we are now. Now we’re sitting where we are.

“We have to move on for the next game against Oklahoma State, and get it done.”

In the meantime, although McCarney said he believes the Big 12 North champion this season will have a conference record above .500, the coming weeks in college football will remain close.

“It’s going to be a real, real run here for all six teams in the North, and we just hope to clean up some of our mistakes,” he said.

“These kids are playing with great effort, they’re playing with great passion.”

Frustration often runs hand-in-hand with multiple close-game defeats, but the Cyclones insist they remain as optimistic as they were when fall two-a-days began.

“We’re real confident, because when you’re that close, that’s the reason we’re so confident,” said tight end Ben Barkema. “If those games were blowouts, that would be a different story, but we’re right there, just a couple plays here or there.”

The confidence has transformed into a do-or-die mentality.

“There’s a sense of urgency,” McCarney said. “This is not what we plotted. We didn’t want to be a .500 football team after six games, but we also know you don’t go double overtime at Lincoln and overtime at Missouri unless you’re doing some good things, too.”

For the Cyclones, though, the losses will only transform into wins if they repeat everything from last season.

“We’re correcting the things we did in the losses,” Barkema said. “We’re just trying to get this one win.”