The season isn’t getting any easier for head coach Dan McCarney and the Cyclones.

Already dealing with a loss to Northern Illinois, the Cyclones will have to take on the No. 1 Oklahoma Sooners this weekend without two of their best players.

Tailback Hiawatha Rutland and defensive tackle Jordan Carstens, both seniors, suffered injuries against the Huskies, with Rutland’s torn anterior cruciate ligament ending his playing days at Iowa State.

“Unfortunately, Hiawatha Rutland’s career is over at Iowa State. We’re going to miss him dearly,” McCarney said in Monday’s weekly Big 12 teleconference. “These things happen — it’s part of the game and we’re going to miss him, but we’re very grateful for the contributions he’s made in his career here.”

McCarney said Rutland underwent a magnetic resonance imaging on Monday to confirm the extent of the injury, but the likely outcome is obvious, he said.

“There was no question through the manual exam at the end of the game that [Rutland] was done for the year,” McCarney said.

While Carstens’ leg injury is not nearly as serious as Rutland’s, it is still unlikely that he will see any action against Oklahoma. Carstens also underwent an MRI on Monday to find the extent of his injury.

With players like defensive end Tyson Smith and punter Tony Yelk also going down earlier in the year, McCarney said he’s never had a rash of injuries like this, but he’s still trying to keep a positive attitude.

“It’s tough when you have certain players that can really impact your football team go down, but, in their absence, we look at it as a great opportunity for the next guy to step up and do his part,” McCarney said.

Replacing Carstens against Oklahoma will be freshman defensive lineman Brent Curvey.

“He’s a true freshman 290-pounder that had played very little going into last week’s game, but he got a lot of snaps in that game and he’s really improved,” McCarney said.

“Brett’s a guy who’ll have a really fine future here.”

McCarney also said junior lineman Andy Leaders would see playing time on the interior line.

In Rutland’s absence, McCarney said now-healthy freshman Stevie Hicks will back up starting tailback Michael Wagner.

“[Hicks] had injury problems for two or three weeks, but he really looks 100 percent now,” McCarney said. “His role is changed now, and, with Hiawatha going down, he’s definitely our number two man.”

Hicks had one carry for minus-one yards Saturday.

As the Cyclones start conference play, McCarney said he hopes this is the last he will see of these injury problems.

“It’s hard, every coach is the same, you get so attached to your players, you have so much compassion for them and then something happens like this and it just tears your heart out,” he said.

“It’s one of the very few things I dislike about coaching football. Hopefully it’ll slow down sometime soon.”