As the ISU football team prepares for Kansas State this week at practice, the kicking game will surely be a main focus.

The Cyclone special teams suffered a disastrous 24-21 loss to Texas A&M last Saturday. The Cyclones went 0-for-4 on field goals when even a 50 percent day would have won the game.

Cyclone redshirt freshman kicker Tony Yelk missed two field goals and had two others blocked.

Yelk is 6-for-15 in field goal tries on the season, opening the door for competition with sophomore Adam Benike.

“Tony is 26-of-26 on PAT’s to lead the Big 12, but we can’t be 40 percent in field goals,” ISU head coach Dan McCarney said. “Tony’s got to improve and be more consistent, or we’ll let Adam do it. We’ll let those guys have good competition this week and then make a decision this week on field goals.”

The Cyclones also struggled with kicking early last season but made a switch to punter Carl Gomez.

Gomez ended with 7-of-8 field goals as the Cyclones finished 9-3, including a victory in the Insight.com Bowl.

“We started this a few years ago and we found that teams going to the postseason were at least 66 percent or higher in field goals,” McCarney said.

“Last year when we made our run, Carl was hitting his field goals and ended up at 66 percent, and that’s where we need to be this year.”

In Saturday’s loss, Yelk missed from 43 and 48 yards, and had attempts of 26 and 47 yards blocked.

“Tony has a strong leg but strength has nothing to do with it when it’s 26 yards,” McCarney said. “That’s just accuracy and timing. We’ve got to be more efficient.”

The Cyclones piled up 445 yards of total offense but had numerous drives stall in Aggie territory, forcing the Cyclones to try field goals.

“We can’t rely on kicking field goals every time we get down there,” ISU wide receiver Jack Whitver said. “We want to put up touchdowns so it don’t all rely on Tony. We’ve got to put points up as an offense in the form of touchdowns, too.”

Another special teams area McCarney feels needs work is in the return unit. The Cyclones are averaging just 7.2 yards a return on a punt and 15.6 on kickoffs.

“It’s very disappointing, and we’ve got to do a better job,” McCarney said. “We’re not helping our offense with our field position. We need to get some juice going in our returns.”