In its last seven trips inside the red zone, the ISU football team has scored zero points.

None. Nada. Nothing.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and maybe even absurdity.

“It’s very frustrating; if [offensive coordinator] Barney Cotton’s got to play tackle and I have to play guard, then we’re going to do it. I really don’t care, whatever it takes,” coach Dan McCarney said. “That’s the way we feel about it; if that’s what it takes to stop the nonsense.”

On the season, Iowa State has only scored points on seven of 21 red zone opportunities. It’s a baffling statistic, considering the Cyclones have put up more than 700 yards of offense in their last two games. Iowa State even rang up 403 yards at Colorado last week but was scoreless in five red zone tries.

“We’ve looked like a Big 12 offense the last two weeks between the 20-yard lines,” McCarney said. “We need to start scoring points because 23 and 25 first downs, 80 and 85 snaps from scrimmage [the last two games] and over 400 yards last week just don’t equal the kind of points we’re putting up.”

So what’s the Cyclones problem inside the 20? It’s no secret the kicking game has been pathetic, with the Cyclones making only three of their 11 field goal tries on the season. But, McCarney said, missed field goals aren’t the real problems.

“If we’d done a better job [scoring touchdowns], we wouldn’t have to worry about missing short field goals,” McCarney said.

Are the players trying too hard to make plays? Iowa State was plagued by mistakes and penalties inside the red zone against Colorado. ISU quarterback Bret Meyer said that’s just part of the game.

“Everybody’s human; everybody’s going to make mistakes. You see guys in the NFL making false starts — that’s just part of the game,” Meyer said. “I don’t think it’s anybody pressing more than they usually do.”

Could it be that the Cyclones don’t look at the problem close enough? McCarney said quite the contrary.

“It’s not like we haven’t emphasized it, put a lot of time into it or scrimmaged it — we’ve done all those things,” McCarney said. “We just need to do a better job of it.”

So maybe it’s a confidence issue? Meyer said it gets in the offense’s head somewhat, but that shouldn’t matter.

“It’s something that can play with your mind, especially with a young offense, but we can get past it,” Meyer said. “We’ve scored in the red zone before and we’ve won before, so we know what it takes.”

Are the Cyclones just plain out of ideas to score inside the 20? Not if you ask Meyer.

“I think we still have a pretty wide-open playbook in the red zone; I don’t think we’ve used everything that we can,” Meyer said. “We haven’t pulled out all the stops; I don’t think that’s the case.”

Maybe it’s the play calls themselves that are the problem?

“It’s not the calls. Believe me, it’s not the calls. You can put 25 different calls out there, but the calls aren’t going to make a difference if you don’t go out there and execute,” McCarney said.

“When the heels of your offensive lineman get knocked back and the defensive lineman’s don’t, it’s bad news for an offense in the red zone.”

So what does McCarney plan to tell his Cyclones to get this red zone monkey off their backs? Simple — just do your job and make plays.

“You’ve got to go out there and make plays, whether it’s a fade route, hand-off or play action pass — whatever it is, we’ve got to start doing a better job,” McCarney said.