With a rocky start to the 2002 season, the kicking game at Iowa State is gathering the most negative attention so far – specifically the field goal unit.

Tony Yelk, who is handling punting duties and lengthy field goal attempts for the Cyclones this season, received criticism for his subpar field goal kicking last year.

He was 0-for-4 in field goal attempts against Texas A&M as the Cyclones lost to the Aggies, 24-21.

The biggest miss of his career might have come in the Independence Bowl against Alabama.

His 47-yard kick drifted right and Iowa State lost 14-13.

So far this season, he’s had one attempt blocked and hooked a 48-yarder wide right against Kansas.

Head coach Dan McCarney said Tuesday his team might resort to some unorthodox tactics during kicking practice to improve the field goal department.

“We may have the whole team gather around them yelling and throwing dead grass at him,” said McCarney about trying to stimulate game conditions.

“We were seven out of eight in the red zone the other day. That missed field goal could cost us a major bowl bid at the end of the season if we don’t start making those.”

McCarney said he uses six sets of criteria to evaluate his team’s kicking game.

He said Iowa State beat Kansas from a kicking standpoint Saturday based on his calculations.

He pointed out that Yelk has been impressive with his punts and Adam Benike, who’s covering shorter field goal attempts and PATs, has only missed one attempt.

“The punt team was very solid,” McCarney said.

“Tony’s doing a good job, and the snapper, the punter, the protection and the coverage have all been doing a pretty good job.

“The kickoff team has been outstanding. We held them to 15.5 yards on returns on four kicks. They were our special teams MVP as a unit.”

The eighth-year coach also said his team needs to improve their blocking in punt return situations.

Regardless of the performance of his team Saturday against Tennessee Tech, don’t expect McCarney to change the way he treats his players.

He said he has one general rule when it comes to coaching.

“I just hold guys responsible for their role on the football team,” McCarney said.

“I’ll hug them sometimes, I’ll kick them in the rear end sometimes.”

Does a spot in the Top 25 await?

Iowa State received 123 votes in last week’s Associated Press Top 25 poll, coming in at No. 28, just three spots away from a national ranking.

With the Cyclones’ strong performance against Florida State and last week’s 45-3 victory over the Kansas Jayhawks, ISU cornerback Atif Austin said an Iowa State ranking might be past due.

“I feel like we should be already in there,” Austin said.

“We want people to notice that Iowa State is on the map and continue to do better every year.”

ISU head coach Dan McCarney said he could care less about where his team stands in the poll – as long as his team continues to improve.

“I don’t have anything to do with that, I really don’t,” McCarney said. “I’m not going to get into that.”

Should the Cyclones move into the top 25, it would be their first regular-season ranking in 21 years. After beating Pittsburgh in the 2000 Insight.com Bowl, the team was ranked 25th nationally.