Saturday’s 19-14 loss at Colorado left many Cyclone faithful uttering the all-too-familiar phrase, “Here we go again.”

ISU coach Dan McCarney said it’s up to him and his staff to make sure his players don’t start thinking that.

“It’s our job,” McCarney said. “There’s still a lot to play for — we’ve played three conference games with five of them left to go; we’ve still got a lot of snaps and Saturdays left.”

The loss to the Buffaloes was the third straight for the Cyclones and, although his team hasn’t yet won a conference game this season, McCarney said he sees improvement every week.

“Our team’s growth is important, and that’s not going to be measured each week with a win,” McCarney said. “We’re trying to put ourselves in that position, but I want to make sure this team is improving, growing, maturing; and I think we’re seeing that.”

Even though his Cyclones failed to convert on any of their five red-zone scoring opportunities Saturday, McCarney said his team left encouraged rather than disheartened.

“I didn’t sense any discouragement. I think these guys were encouraged that they went on the road and went toe-to-toe with a really fine program,” McCarney said. “Everybody around this conference and this country respects Colorado football, and we clearly felt like we had opportunities to win the game.”

Instrumental in the Cyclone scoring woes yet again was the kicking game, as Iowa State missed two field goals from 22 and 25 yards. The Cyclones are dead last in the Big 12, having converted only 3 of 11 attempts on the year.

With McCarney desperately searching for an answer to his kicking riddle, he awaits the return of an injured placekicker. No, not Tony Yelk — but redshirt freshman Josh Griebahn.

Griebahn has been sidelined since July after undergoing foot surgery.

“[There was] a navicular bone in his foot as the doctors describe it; they finally did have to do surgery,” McCarney said. “It was something [that worsened] over time and has really bothered him since high school. It wasn’t like he stepped off a curb and popped a bone in his foot.”

McCarney is unsure when Griebahn can return, but he has started to evaluate his recovery.

“I don’t think we’ve ever had anyone work harder in rehab to get back than Josh,” McCarney said. “He kicked some balls in practice [Monday] night.”

Griebahn was named first team all-state by the Iowa Newspaper Association and the Iowa Coaches Association while he attended West Branch High School in West Branch. He also holds his high school’s record for longest field goal at 48 yards.

McCarney likes the sound of that.

“We’ll continue to look at him this week,” McCarney said. “With the obvious problems we’ve had with Tony Yelk being out of the lineup all year long, Josh will definitely be in the mix to kick for us.”