ISU head football coach Dan McCarney knew when he chose to start four freshmen on offense, including the quarterback and tailback, it would be a bit of a gamble.

In Saturday’s season opener he found that some of his decisions played out and some did not.

Freshman quarterback Austin Flynn had a strong debut, passing for 158 yards and one touchdown in leading the Cyclones to a victory over the Northern Iowa Panthers. Flynn also showed good mobility as he rushed for 67 yards and another touchdown.

“I thought he did a really solid job in his first start,” McCarney said.

“All in all, I thought he did a lot of good things. He will be a much better quarterback just from that start and that experience and leading us to victory.

“With success comes confidence and I’m sure he’ll be a better leader and have a little more bounce to his step just from being out there and getting the first victory.”

Freshman tailback Stevie Hicks didn’t fare as well as Flynn, rushing for only 19 yards on 12 carries. “He ran a little tentative, but he’s only a redshirt freshman that will get better and better,” McCarney said.

“He’s not a rookie anymore, he’s got one game under his belt and he’ll have to improve and learn from that as I know he will.”

Both Flynn and Hicks were named starters after McCarney announced one-game suspensions for junior quarterback Cris Love and senior tailback Hiawatha Rutland.

McCarney said Flynn is still the starter at quarterback, but running back is a different story.

“Right now Mike Wagner is running with the number ones, and Hicks is with the twos, but [Rutland is] definitely in the mix at running back,” he said.

McCarney was unsure whether Rutland will start on Saturday.

“Hiawatha’s suspension is over, so it’s up to him to go and earn playing time — whether he’s number one or number two, that’s yet to be determined,” McCarney said. “He will be a factor in our offense this week and definitely plan on seeing him play on Saturday.”