Though Bret Meyer was named the Cyclones’ starting quarterback Thursday, the competition for the position is still very much alive heading into Saturday’s season opener against Northern Iowa.

“Yeah, it really is [still a race],” said ISU head coach Dan McCarney during Monday’s Big 12 coaches’ teleconference.

“Bret has really made a lot of progress, he will start, [but] we’re definitely going to play Austin Flynn and definitely play him in the first half. Both of them have improved, and whether we look like it or not on Saturday, our quarterback position looks better than it did any time last year.”

Another question mark heading into the season opener is finding someone to fill the void left by sophomore defensive end Jason Berryman’s absence. Berryman remains in Story County jail awaiting trial on robbery and theft charges.

McCarney said senior Tyson Smith will see the most time at Berryman’s former position of rush defensive end.

“Tyson will line up at [weakside linebacker] and rush end for us, but I would anticipate him playing more at rush end this weekend,” McCarney said.

McCarney made a few other changes to the linebacking corps this season, starting junior college transfer Tim Dobbins in the middle and moving senior Brandon Brown to the outside.

“[Dobbins] has made a real good transition [to Division I] and barring any problems in practice, Tim will start at [middle] linebacker for us,” McCarney said. “[Brandon] will play football wherever we ask him to, but he’s very capable out there, and he’s had a real good camp since we’ve moved him outside.”

Another issue McCarney addressed Monday was his decision to vote against using instant replay in games pitting Big 12 teams against the Big 10 — namely, Iowa State vs. Iowa. Though McCarney didn’t go into the specifics of the replay plan, he did give a couple of reasons he was against it.

“No. 1, coaches don’t get to challenge a call that’s made, and [in] a game of this magnitude — a Big 12/Big 10 matchup — I just don’t feel comfortable experimenting with something like that,” McCarney said. “I talked to a number of people — officials in our conference, supervisors of the Big 12 and other coaches — it wasn’t a snap decision.”

McCarney said another issue he was concerned with was the replay system causing games to drag on too long.

“The thing that we’re all concerned with is the length of games,” McCarney said. “We’re all conscious of that right now with all the television exposure, [and] then you start getting into challenges and appeals for plays — how much longer are the games going to go?”

Though McCarney isn’t in favor of instant replay at the moment, he said he is not entirely opposed.