ISU head coach Dan McCarney sent out reminders to some of his players Monday that playing Cyclone football doesn’t include being penalized.

In Saturday’s 58-7 loss to Kansas State, ISU players were flagged 17 times. Five of those penalties were declined, but it was enough for the team to lose its stake to the claim of least-penalized team in the conference — an honor it had held all season.

The Cyclones, who have now totaled 60 penalties on the season, are now second in the Big 12 behind Kansas. Iowa State averages 45 penalty yards per game.

“That was just sickening,” McCarney said about the abundance of yellow on the field. “That was not Iowa State football.”

Monday’s practice routine regularly includes conditioning drills, but this week was busier than usual. Each player was singled out for their mistakes during team meetings, McCarney said. He said all of them have taken responsibility for what they did.

“I put every one of them up on the PowerPoint [presentation] yesterday with the kid’s name and the penalty that they were called for,” McCarney said.

Then came the consequences.

McCarney said every player who committed a penalty or turnover, no matter the circumstances, does running or other conditioning drills after practice the following Monday. He declined to elaborate further about the specifics of the system he has in place and for whom, but said it varies.

Kyle Knock said the running backs do ‘bear crawls’ for 100 yards if any member of the group fumbles in games or practice. Hiawatha Rutland lost a fumble in the third quarter of last weekend’s game — one of six ISU turnovers in the game. It was the first one lost by an ISU tailback in over two years.

And what about Seneca Wallace, whose two interceptions were run back for touchdowns?

“I’m not sure what he does for interceptions, but I’m sure it’s not any fun,” Knock said.

McCarney said some of the calls, such as offensive false starts, are mental errors. Some of the penalties were out of frustration and some were questionable calls. But if your number was called, you’re going to pay the price, he said.

He believes the extra conditioning drills result in fewer mistakes the next time on the field. The fewer the mistakes his team has, the better its chances are to win, he said.

“That’s one of the reasons I think that we’re up there in the top three in the conference just about every year,” McCarney said. “We just don’t want to beat ourselves, and it’s a good reminder.”

Knock agreed.

“It’s not easy, especially when everybody’s sore,” Knock said about the extra running. “Any little extra thing you do, you’re going to remember that come next week.”

Several players paid their dues for being flagged Monday, but one penalty wasn’t on a player.

It was committed by the offensive staff, which was called for a substitution infraction in the second quarter. The error resulted in a five-yard penalty.

“I had to figure out who the hell was going to run for the offensive staff,” McCarney said. “They ended up passing that on to Kevin Bolis, my graduate assistant.”