Updated at 9:50 p.m. CST Dec. 27

SHREVEPORT, La. — If one kicker is good, then two must be better.

That has been Miami coach Terry Hoeppner’s thinking all season and it won’t change when the RedHawks play Iowa State in the Independence Bowl on Tuesday night.

“We alternate kickers,” Hoeppner said Monday. “Who ever heard of that?”

Jared Parseghian and Todd Soderquist take turns kicking field goals and extra points. After one of them kicks, the other gets the next opportunity whether it’s a field goal or extra point. And it works.

Parseghian is 20-for-23 on extra points and 10-for-12 on field goals. Soderquist has made all 24 of his extra points and is 6-for-8 on field goals.

The only change in the rotation would be if a field goal attempt has to be kicked into a strong wind or from beyond 40 yards. Soderquist handles all of those kicks.

“I draw a line at the 25,” Hoeppner said. “Inside the 25, it’s whoever is up next. I may write a book about that — the two-headed kicker.”

ISU KICKERS: Iowa State also has used different kickers, but those changes have been out of frustration.

After Brian Jansen and Scott Krava were a combined 3-for-11 on field goals, coach Dan McCarney tried Bret Culbertson, a freshman walk-on who wasn’t even with the team during two-a-day workouts in August.

Culbertson has held the job ever since, making all 14 of his extra points and seven of nine field goal attempts.

One of those misses was costly. Culbertson was wide right on a 24-yard attempt with 1:02 left in the regular-season finale against Missouri and the score tied at 14. Missouri won 17-14 in overtime, denying the Cyclones the Big 12 North title outright and keeping them out of the conference championship game.

“Bret has done a super job,” McCarney said. “I told everyone after the Missouri game, there isn’t a player or coach on this team that would be going to postseason play without him. He wanted to take that loss on his shoulders. I wouldn’t let him.”

INJURED RECEIVER: Iowa State cornerback Ellis Hobbs is pulling for Miami receiver Michael Larkin.

Larkin was stabbed earlier this month and while he has returned to practice, Hoeppner isn’t sure how effectively the 5-foot-8, 163-pound senior can play. Hobbs wants to see Larkin in the game for a couple of reasons.

First, he knows Larkin would be disappointed if he can’t play and Hobbs said he doesn’t want to see that happen. And second, Hobbs said he wants to face Miami’s best. Larkin has 55 receptions and has caught at least one pass in an NCAA-record 49 straight games.

“If you don’t want the best out there, what kind of competitor are you?” said Hobbs, a first-team all-Big 12 selection. “You basically want to match up your skills, their best against your best. As a competitor, you’ve got to want the best out there. That’s the only way you know if you’re good or not.”

Hobbs leads Iowa State with four interceptions, one of which he returned for a touchdown. He also has broken up seven passes, forced a fumble and blocked a kick.

LONG TIME, NO SEE: Miami is facing a Big 12 team for the first time since playing Oklahoma State — it was the Big Eight then — in 1988.

Hoeppner was an assistant at Miami then and remembers that game, mostly because of Barry Sanders.

Miami drove to a field goal on its first possession, then kicked off and Sanders returned it for a touchdown.

“He ran the kickoff back so fast our coverage team didn’t even know he was there,” Hoeppner said.

Oklahoma State won 52-20 in what became a 0-10-1 season for Miami.

MAC ATTACK: While Iowa State has never played Miami, the Cyclones know a lot about Mid-American Conference teams.

Iowa State is 18-2 against teams from the MAC, the latest meeting a 48-41 victory over Northern Illinois on Sept. 18. The Cyclones’ losses to MAC teams were to Northern Illinois last year and to Western Michigan in 1994.