The ISU football team didn’t “play great football,” but it got “a great victory” over Baylor head coach Dan McCarney said in his Monday teleconference.

McCarney said he was proud of his team in the 26-25 win.

“It wasn’t an outstanding performance by our team, but I think they showed great resolve,” McCarney said.

After claiming its first conference win since Nov. 2, 2002, the Cyclones will try to start a winning streak Saturday when Kansas rolls into town.

The Jayhawks (3-4, 1-3 Big 12) finished last season 6-7 after losing 56-26 in the Tangerine Bowl against North Carolina State.

Kansas defeated the Cyclones 36-7 last season.

McCarney said Kansas is a better team than last year.

“They’re very physical [and they] play with a lot of confidence,” he said.

“It should be a heck of a matchup.”

One of the biggest areas of improvement for Kansas is on defense, McCarney said.

“They have great speed up front with their defensive linemen and linebackers. It’s an outstanding defensive front,” McCarney said. “There is just experience all over. They’ve got a lot of guys back that started, and a lot of guys back that played.”

Iowa State has its own share of good defensive players.

Senior linebacker Brandon Brown was named the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week after recording 13 tackles, a forced fumble, recovering two fumbles and a sack in the Baylor game.

“He just played outstanding football,” McCarney said.

“In a hard-fought, close, tough game like that, his presence, his performance, really made a difference because we ending up forcing four fumbles.”

McCarney said Brown does his job “quietly.”

“He’s not going to say a lot of things. He’s not loud and braggadocios,” McCarney said. “But he observes things off the field about as closely as anybody I’ve ever seen.”

Offensively, the Cyclones will “definitely” be without senior tight end Brett Kellogg, who sustained a knee injury in the second quarter Saturday.

“The good news is that it doesn’t look like it’s going to require any surgery. The bad news is he will not be available this week, and it probably will be just week-to-week,” McCarney said. “We’re hoping to get him back sometime in the next few weeks.”

Quarterback Bret Meyer will continue to start under center for the Cyclones and won’t be sharing time with backup Austin Flynn, McCarney said.

“Bret has improved his play, he elevated his play and deserves to be our starter, and Austin Flynn is our backup,” he said.

Earlier in the season, Iowa State had a preset rotation before the start of the game.

“We don’t have that anymore and are with a starter and backup,” McCarney said. “[Flynn’s] got to stay ready in any situation, but Bret’s our starter, and we’ll go with him as long as he continues to play good football, perform and stay healthy.”

There will be more time split at the running back position after both Stevie Hicks and Jason Scales averaged 4.5 yards per carry in the Baylor win.

“[Scales] did in the game Saturday just what we had been seeing in practice. He had some good, tough, hard north-and-south runs and made some guys miss,” McCarney said. “We’ll continue to play both of those running backs.”