The Iowa State football team might be spotted watching the Weather Channel a little more closely this weekend.

ISU (0-6) will play Baylor (1-5) Saturday at Jack Trice Stadium at 1 p.m. The weather on Saturday is supposed to be in the mid-30 degree range with a good chance of rain or snow. Baylor is located in Waco, Tex., where the weather has been consistently in the 70s this week.

“A blizzard would be great this Saturday,” ISU Coach Dan McCarney said. “I don’t know how much of a factor the weather will be, but it’s supposed to be raining and in the 30s from what we’re hearing. I hope that will be an advantage for us.”

If the cold weather does adversely affect Baylor, it will be a complete reversal of fortune for ISU from last season. Baylor beat ISU, 49-21, last year in a late October game played in 80-degree weather. The Cyclones led 21-14 at halftime.

ISU receiver Tyrone Watley said the weather played a factor in last season’s game, albeit a small one. Watley had two catches for 50 yards against Baylor last season, and leads the Cyclones with 497 receiving yards this season.

“We hadn’t practiced in that type of weather, it was real, real humid,” Watley said. “It played a little bit, but I don’t think it had a real big factor [in the outcome of the game].”

Of equal concern to McCarney as the playing conditions for Saturday’s game is ISU’s turnover situation.

ISU has given up 19 turnovers this season and have recovered only seven turnovers from their opponents. It is the worst turnover margin in the Big 12 Conference.

“We need to do a better job in the turnover category,” McCarney said. “They can be a big equalizer for a team.”

Cyclone outside linebacker Jim Morse said McCarney has given more than just lip service to the turnover situation.

“We’ve been working a lot of drills on defense where we work on stripping the ball and attacking the other team’s offense,” he said.

Saturday’s game has the potential to be a high-scoring game, as the teams combined for 1,044 offensive yards in last season’s game.

Baylor’s defense is ranked last in the Big 12 Conference in total defense, while ISU ranks 11th. ISU is ranked last in the conference in scoring defense, with Baylor ranking 11th.

Compounding the defensive problems for both teams is the fact that both ISU and Baylor possess passing attacks.

ISU quarterback Todd Bandhauer has passed for a Big 12-leading 1,460 yards this season, with 12 touchdowns and only six interceptions.

Baylor quarterback Jeff Watson has completed 92 of 165 passes for 890 yards this season. He has thrown four touchdowns and three interceptions.

Bandhauer said he knows what to expect from the Baylor defense on Saturday.

“They run a basic defense, they make many changes,” he said. “They may change things from play to play to throw you off, but they pretty much run the same thing.”

The Cyclone passing attack has had success this season with the short passing game, and that might be the case Saturday against the Bears.

“They play a soft-pass defense,” Bandhauer said, “But it can be deceiving. I don’t know if we will have success with the short passes, but I think we have the receivers that can run the long routes.”