ISU head football coach Dan McCarney has been around Iowa State long enough to know series records don’t mean squat. That is why he places no stock in the Cyclones 1-34-1 record against the Sooners in the two teams’ last 36 meetings.

“The history is not very good to Iowa State when Iowa State plays Oklahoma, but fortunately we aren’t playing history,” McCarney said. “We’ve tried to blaze new trails, tried to change history … and we’ve had some success doing that.”

That success in blazing new trails may have something to do with a new attitude. An attitude that player after player will tell you has turned this team from mediocre to the No. 9 team in the nation.

“That’s our mentality around here, to expect victory and go out and show up every Saturday and play with the best teams in the nation,” said junior receiver Lane Danielsen.

Danielsen said he didn’t put any limitations on what could be accomplished this season, but he will admit there are a few players who might be surprised at the team’s success so far.

“We came to Iowa State to play these big teams like Oklahoma and Nebraska,” Danielsen said. “At the same time, we didn’t come to just play them, we came to beat them and take Iowa State to a new level.”

That confident attitude has slowly come around due to the fact the Cyclones are 22-9 since 2000, while Oklahoma is 30-2 in that same stretch. The Sooners have taken the last seven games from the Cyclones — the last being a 31-10 win in Ames in 1999 — but the Cyclones aren’t worried about that. The weekly talk of big games is something McCarney is used to and welcomes.

“This isn’t the first big game we have seen this year,” he said. “Florida State was pretty big, Iowa was pretty big, Nebraska was pretty big, Texas Tech was pretty big. We’ve got some big games already, and this is another big one in a long line of this marathon season that we are coaching in and playing in this year.”

As the Cyclones depart for Norman, their first game out of the state of Iowa since opening in Kansas City, the opportunity to knock off a fellow top 10 team is pretty inviting.

“This game is a tremendous opportunity,” McCarney said. “I really think these kids will go down there, get off the bus in an unbelievable environment and believe we can win this game.”

McCarney is emphasizing ball control as one of the keys to victory.

“We’ve got to be able control the football, but it’s going to be real hard to run it,” he said. “We can’t go into this thing and expect to win a 7-6 low-scoring game. We have got to put some points on the board.”

ISU quarterback Seneca Wallace portrays a more laid-back attitude on the field, but his confidence in the abilities of the team is enormous.

“Just understanding what it takes and the drive that you need to go out there and win ball games is something that each player wants to bring to the table,” Wallace said. “We have a whole bunch of those players on this team. It is not surprising where we’re sitting right now. If we keep everybody healthy and everybody stays hungry, we’ll be all right.”