After a week of rest and reflection, the ISU football team returns to action this weekend in their Homecoming battle against the Texas Tech Red Raiders.

Texas Tech comes to Ames following an 18-point comeback win over then-No. 23 Texas A&M.

The Raiders were led by quarterback Kliff Kingsbury, who completed 49 of 59 passes for 474 yards and five touchdowns.

Kingsbury was rewarded for his performance by being named Big 12 co-offensive player of the week, along with Texas A&M’s quarterback Dustin Long.

Texas Tech head coach Mike Leach said he has been impressed with Kingsbury’s play, although it doesn’t come as much of a surprise to him.

“He’s gotten progressively better as time has gone on. He’s played well since I’ve been here,” Leach said. “He’s playing as good as I’ve seen him play right now.”

ISU head coach Dan McCarney knows that his defense will have their hands full with Kingsbury and the Raider offense.

“I don’t know if I’ve seen a quarterback throw with more accuracy, consistency or confidence,” McCarney said. “He’s just an amazing football player and he’s got great receivers. They are just playing with great confidence. I think it’s going to be a great matchup Saturday night.”

While Texas Tech was scoring 40-plus points for the fourth straight game, Iowa State was resting up before embarking on the toughest stretch of games in school history.

McCarney is glad that the break came when it did.

“We were pleased with the work we got done during our open week, as far as practices, weight lifting and academic emphasis,” he said. “Just getting everybody rested up a little bit.”

McCarney knows his team was due for a break.

“We play a 13-game season, so we are trying to be smart about our approach,” he said.

This weekend’s game features the top two offenses in the Big 12.

McCarney is cautious of his team’s opponent this weekend, because of the momentum they are carrying on offense right now.

“Coming in here, they’re about as hot offensively as anybody in the country,” he said. “Texas Tech is just scary offensively watching them on tape. We’ve got to do all we can to slow them down. There’s not going to be a whole lot of stopping.”

Leach said his team will have to play well on both sides of the ball to beat the Cyclones.

“Their offense as a whole, and how well they are playing together right now is going to be tough,” Leach said. “They are pretty good on defense. They are real scrappy and play with a lot of emotion.”

With a 5-1 record, a five-game win streak, and a No. 11 ranking, the Cyclones are going to be put to the test in the next seven games, with trips to Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas State and Colorado.

The team used the off week to see what they’ve done right and wrong so far.

“We looked at things we haven’t done a good job of. We are proud to be 5-1. We’ve come a long way,” McCarney said. “There were plenty of things to correct. There’s nobody getting too carried away with themselves, I promise you. There’s a lot to do.”