ISU Head Football Coach Dan McCarney isn’t a big fan of night games but his team will be playing under the lights when they take on Oklahoma State Saturday in Stillwater.

Both teams enter the game looking to recover from defeat. The Cyclones are coming off a 49-27 loss to top-ranked Nebraska while the Cowboys are in a three-game losing skid. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

“The Nebraska game is over, we’re zeroed in on Oklahoma State,” McCarney said. “It’s time to move on to the next challenge. It’s a one-week season as far as we’re concerned and this next game is huge. We are very impressed with everything we’ve seen on Oklahoma State.”

It will be the second night game of the season for the Cyclones and the sixth in the last two seasons.

“The players are looking forward to going down there and playing another night game. Our record is 5-1 in the last six so maybe we should play more of them,” McCarney said.

“I don’t like them much but my players do. I don’t like waiting around to play, I love the 11 o’clock kickoffs. But as long as we keep winning games, I’ll kick off at midnight, I don’t give a damn.”

The Cyclones were 13th in the nation heading into the Nebraska game but only managed 37 rushing yards on 25 carries. Ennis Haywood was held to just 27 on 11 attempts.

It doesn’t get any easier for the Cyclone ground game as the Cowboys boast the 16th best rushing defense in the nation.

The Cowboys are giving up an average of just 95 rushing yards a game.

“Anytime you hold someone to under 100 yards rushing over five weeks, that’s super rush defense,” McCarney said. “They’re a real physical defense that does a good job of disrupting your run scheme. They also give you a lot of looks and some blitzes.”

Dwayne Levels leads the Cowboy defense with 47 tackles, including 30 tackles in the last two games. Jaqua Thomas has racked up 26 tackles and has nine stops behind the line of scrimmage.

The ISU offense is averaging 435.8 yards of total offense a game, but McCarney knows that the rushing game must return to form to help out quarterback Sage Rosenfels. Rosenfels threw for a career-high 346 yards in the loss to the Huskers.

“We feel pretty good about our passing game and pass protection, but we just can’t be one dimensional and expect to win,” McCarney said. “We got to get some balance back in our offense like we had the first four weeks of the season.”

Cowboy coach Bob Simmons has seen film of the Cyclones offense and has high praise for Rosenfels and his pass protection.

“Iowa State is a solid football team,” Simmons said. “I’ve had a chance to watch some film and they have an excellent quarterback in Sage Rosenfels and a strong offensive line.”

The Cowboy quarterback situation is far from clear as Tony Lindsay and Aso Pogi have been splitting time. Lindsay is a three-year starter but injured his shoulder early in the season and has been splitting time with Pogi.

McCarney doesn’t see much of a drop-off when Pogi comes in off the bench.

“Their quarterback situation isn’t like they’re pulling some rookie out of the closet,” McCarney said. “Pogi has played a lot of snaps over the last three games. Lindsay is probably a little faster, but Pogi has a real strong arm and moves around well too.”

The Cyclones defense will go up against the second-leading rusher in the Big 12 in Reggie White. White, 13th in the nation with a 117.6 rushing yards per game average, has four 100-yard games under his belt.

“We gave up 330 yards rushing against Nebraska so I imagine we’ll see a lot of No. 4 [White] with the ball under his arms,” McCarney said. “He’s a strong north and south runner and he does a good job of getting a lot of yards after contact. He’s going to be a real challenge for our defense.”

The 4-1 record that the Cyclones sport is better than a lot of the traditionally strong programs in the nation, a fact not lost on McCarney.

“We’re disappointed with last Saturday, but we got a better record than a lot of teams in the nation,” McCarney said. “Michigan, Notre Dame, Alabama, Tennessee, those are some pretty good programs and we got a better record than those teams.”