After averaging 4.7 yards per carry from 1999-2001, the ISU football team saw that figure decline to 3.7 yards per carry last season.

And after averaging just 3.8 yards per carry against Division I-AA Northern Iowa Saturday, one thing is clear to the ISU coaching staff: Iowa State needs more production out of its running game.

Starting Saturday against Ohio, the team is turning back to its most experienced running back to get that production, head coach Dan McCarney said.

“I don’t want to get into musical chairs at running back,” McCarney said at his weekly press conference Tuesday. “But [Mike Wagner] deserves it.”

Wagner, a senior who has rushed for 1,168 yards in his career, including a team-leading 87 in Saturday’s season-opening win over Northern Iowa, takes over the starting spot from heralded redshirt freshman Stevie Hicks, who struggled in his debut.

“We’re not about to desert Stevie Hicks — he’s going to have a great career here,” McCarney said. “It was hard to get extra yards [against Northern Iowa] because of the job they did tackling, but Wags was able to do that.”

Wagner, who has bounced up and down the depth chart ever since a 170-yard performance as a freshman against Oklahoma State in his first start as a Cyclone, said he knew he would have an opportunity to prove himself even after Hicks earned top billing after fall camp.

“It’s a little rough to take, but you just got to stick it out,” he said. “Your time will come.”

Also entering the picture this week is senior Hiawatha Rutland, who missed the UNI game because he was suspended after being charged with drunken driving in Ames Aug. 1.

“What he did, he did to himself,” McCarney said. “He’s inspired and motivated for a lot of reasons right now to come out and help this team.”

In 2002, Rutland led Iowa State with 614 rushing yards, as he and Wagner split time as Cyclone starters.

Another talented back, sophomore Brian Thompson, will move to the scout team this week with Rutland returning. Thompson ran for 305 yards and four touchdowns in 2002 in a backup role.

Now, whether Wagner, Hicks or Rutland is playing, McCarney said, the ISU offense must hold on to the ball longer and score more points.

“We had seven three-and-outs in [Saturday’s] game,” he said. “We’ve got to be stronger than that offensively.”

The Panthers held the Cyclones to 327 yards. Iowa State ran 10 plays in the fourth quarter for just five yards, barely holding on to the 17-10 win.

“We’re going to see better defenses,” McCarney said.

ISU players said they expected defenses to copy successful tactics used by Northern Iowa and teams that were able to shut down former ISU quarterback Seneca Wallace and the Cyclone offense last season.

“I expect them to bring down the safety every time and make me make decisions, make me throw the ball a little bit,” said redshirt freshman quarterback Austin Flynn.

McCarney said Flynn and right guard Aaron Brant, a true freshman, probably played the best of the eight freshmen starters Iowa State used Saturday.

Another true freshman, defensive end Jason Berryman, will get his first start against the Bobcats. He replaces Tyson Smith, who will miss the rest of the season after breaking his right fibula against Northern Iowa.

“[Berryman is] one of the fastest kids, even faster than Tyson,” McCarney said. “He’s just never played, until Saturday.”

A lack of experience was one reason the Cyclones ran the ball 45 times Saturday. McCarney said the coaching staff didn’t want to give Flynn too many things to handle at the line of scrimmage in his first game.

“We were not going to try to get Austin in a situation where he was overloaded with lots of things that would really hurt his performance,” he said.

Flynn said he was already feeling more comfortable at the helm for Iowa State.

“I’m starting to get a little confident,” he said. “I think [Monday] I felt a lot more relaxed in practice.”

McCarney said he would like to take advantage of Flynn’s talents and those of his five senior leading wide receivers.

But the ISU offensive line and rushing attack need to contribute more first, he said.

“I hope that we can get more balance in our offense,” he said. “We’ve got our work cut out for us.”