“Quarterback controversy” is not a phrase synonymous with Cyclone football in recent years, but it may now be.

Early in last week’s 52-21 loss at Texas Tech, ISU head coach Dan McCarney replaced freshman Austin Flynn, who has started every game for the Cyclones, with junior Cris Love, leaving McCarney with a tough decision to make: Who will play quarterback this Saturday against Texas?

“Austin had been our guy through the first few games of the year, but Cris did some good things off the bench the other day,” McCarney said Monday.

“[Love] threw a couple of touchdown passes and had a third called back. It probably was his best of the night, the touchdown that was called back with a hold on the offensive line.”

McCarney said his decision will not be made until the end of the week.

“We’re going to take all this week to evaluate and finalize a decision for Saturday,” he said.

Junior Waye Terry, who redshirted last season after transferring from Foothill College, hasn’t played since Sept. 6 despite three blowout losses.

McCarney said Terry is still in the mix at quarterback, though.

“There’s nobody entrenched as the No. 1 [quarterback] right now,” McCarney said. “Waye’s still practicing and trying to learn the system and trying to get in the hunt for more playing time.

“It’s just [about] being more consistent on the practice field. We’ve not forgotten about Waye, but when you make a change in the game like we did the other day, we’re looking for more consistency and more productivity. Right now, going into today’s practice, it’s between Cris and Austin as to who’ll start the game on Saturday.”

The Cyclones will face a Texas team that, although having lost to Oklahoma 65-13 last week, has had quite a bit of success in splitting playing time between their two quarterbacks: Vince Young and Chance Mock.

“Clearly both of those quarterbacks can play — they’re tremendous athletes and great players,” McCarney said. “You see them putting up 40 points a game, so they’re not having any trouble [scoring] no matter who’s in at quarterback.”

Texas head coach Mack Brown said he will have to focus on both Love and Flynn playing in order to create an effective game strategy.

“What you have to do — going into a game like this — is plan on them both playing,” Brown said.

“Even if one gets hurt and comes out of the game, you still have to prepare for both, and we’ll just continue to prepare for that.”

McCarney hopes he will be able to choose a quarterback and stick with him, rather than split time.

“We’re not trying to play any games here,” McCarney said. “We’re just trying to put ourselves in position to score more points and win some games.”