Iowa State football fans have always been able to take comfort in the fact that while Iowa State does lose a lot, they are at least putting their best possible product on the field. I was one of those who believed that until some doubt arose after covering ISU’s media day. The uncertainty is whether or not the kicking game should have been as bad as it was. Let’s face facts. The field goal/extra point unit was bad last year. Their arrival onto the field was greeted with the same enthusiasm you would greet a fresh case of Survivor Island jungle rot. 7-13 in field goals, good for 10th in the Big 12. Football is a game of inches and whether or not the pigskin goes through the sticks can greatly affect the outcome of the game. Coach McCarney repeatedly talks about how four games were lost by a total of 17 points. Iowa State fell victim to Kansas St. by seven, Colorado by four, and Texas and Kansas by three each. I bring this up because in each one of these close games a special teams kick was missed. The question that should be asked is “Could they have done better”? I believe the answer is yes. The coaches are responsible for putting the best players on the field, and I think they failed to do that by playing Mike McKnight last year. But did the coaches know they were making a mistake by sticking with McKnight? Good Question. While interviewing McKnight at media day, he discussed how his kicking game was off last year because of two separate muscle pulls he suffered last year. He explained that these injuries made him alter his style and basically “learn how to kick all over again”. Should McKnight have been benched when he started to struggle? His backup Stephan Nass was unproven in game situations, but he had played well in the `99 Spring game making two extra points and a 49-yard field goal. The coaching staff stayed with Mcknight and he and the team continued to struggle due to his injuries. So why wasn’t McKnight stored away on the shelf and Nass brought in? There are two possibilities. First the coaching staff felt that an injured McKnight was better than a healthy anybody else. Secondly, McKnight didn’t let on to the extent of his injuries. I’ll go with choice number two. Check out what McKnight said at media day and you decide. “I couldn’t sit out and say `I’m not going to kick this week’ because they had other people they would have given the opportunity to. If I wasn’t kicking all week at practice they would have put someone else in. If I had been the no question number one [starter], they would have told me to sit out a couple of days, but that wasn’t the case,” he said. It seems to me that Mr. McKnight forgot there is no “I” in TEAM. A lesson that will have to be learned if Iowa State is to have better results this year. McKnight might not get a chance to redeem himself this year. The Cyclones have a phenomenal freshman waiting in the wings named Tony Yelk who is reportedly giving the other kickers a serious run for the money in two-a-days. Yelk is from Wisconsin where he was high school All-World and may see playing time quickly. In other kicking news, punter Carl Gomez is looking forward to this year’s campaign. His punting numbers were not great last year but credit that to a numerous amount of pooch punts he was called on to deliver, punts that hurt his average but helped the team. Gomez expects big things from Iowa State this year. “Everybody is ready to play, and everybody is sick and tired of people putting us down. We have the best team athletically since I’ve been here.” If the Cyclones can manage to get their kicking game in line this year then their overall special teams should be much improved. J.J. Moses returns to thrill the crowds as Iowa State’s deep return threat. The saying goes, “Special teams win championships.” I don’t think anyone expects that to come true, but I know the Cyclones wouldn’t mind their special teams contributing in a major way in guiding the Cyclones to a much needed winning season. Marcus Charter is a junior from journalism and mass communication from Ames.