By Amanda Ouverson

Daily Staff Writer

In its last two games, the ISU football team has been outscored 70-10, and that’s reason for concern for coach Dan McCarney.

Despite scoring only three points against Texas A&M, McCarney said he saw some good things from his offense, including 85 offensive plays, 23 first downs, zero fumbles and zero penalties. The Cyclones were two-for-two in short yardage situations.

“When you have that much possession time, that many offensive plays and that many first downs, it shouldn’t equate to three points,” McCarney said.

One place the ISU offense needs to improve is inside the red zone.

The Cyclones had the ball inside the 10-yard line, at the 10-yard line and at the 17-yard line and failed to reach the end zone against Texas A&M.

“When you’re down in those kind of situations, you’ve just got to find a way to get in the end zone,” McCarney said.

Finding the end zone once Iowa State has gotten inside the red zone has been problematic for the Cyclones all season long; they’ve scored only seven-of-the-16 times they’ve reached the red zone for 41 total points. On the other hand, Iowa State’s opponents have converted on 16-of-17 scoring opportunities inside the red zone for 101 points.

Quarterback Austin Flynn said part of the reason for the Cyclones problems is the shorter field once the squad gets within the red zone.

“It’s not like you can try to attack [the defense] deep, they only have a certain amount of yardage to cover,” Flynn said.

“I thought we improved as an offense, we started driving the ball. We had some pretty good drives throughout the entire [Texas A&M] game and now the next thing is finishing; that’s what we’ve got to do this week.”

After starting quarterback Bret Meyer got “dinged” in the second quarter against the Aggies, Flynn took over at quarterback. Flynn completed 9-of-24 passes for 89 yards and threw both of the Cyclones’ interceptions, including one right out of the gate at the beginning of the third quarter. Flynn said he takes responsibility for his play against the Aggies.

“I thought our defense didn’t play great, but they played solid and our [offensive] line probably improved more than anything this week, and I just didn’t get the job done,” Flynn said. “I put a lot of that on my shoulders about this loss, I have to improve to help out this team.”

The ISU offense is at the tail end of the Big 12 in every category; the Cyclones average 18.2 points, putting them in last place in the scoring offense category.

Iowa State’s total offense is 11th of 12 teams, at 295.6 yards per game, while the Cyclones’ rush offense averages 117.2 yards for ninth in the Big 12.

The Cyclones’ pass offense is 10th in the league, averaging 178.4 yards per game.

McCarney said that, in order for the Cyclones to gain confidence, they must have success. He said the two go together.

“We’ve got to get back down [in the red zone], make some things happen, get down in the end zone and give our running backs some opportunities inside the red zone,” McCarney said.

“It will give our offense a great shot of confidence.”