Todd Bandhauer. Quarterback of the future.

The man whose future was cut short by 33 percent last Saturday so he could throw for eight passing yards, get sacked for a loss of seven yards and throw an interception in what was really a meaningless game against Kansas.

I am not happy about the whole situation.

Not necessarily at Dan McCarney, mind you. He does have a job to coach his team to a victory each and every Saturday. He has come damn close in almost every game ISU has played in this year.

But did Cyclone fans have to pay such a price to win this game?

Why did you have to use him? Couldn’t Jeff St. Clair have performed the task at hand?

No. We had to go for the win. That’s why “Bandy” was inserted into the game to replace the hobbled Doxzon (who managed to avoid that adjective much longer than I ever imagined).

But did we really need to win this game?

Only a complete idiot would not be able to see the noticeable improvement that this Cyclone team has made. Who cares that the win total actually goes down? They aren’t playing Ohio U. or UNLV this year.

They are playing real teams and hanging in there. And the near future may very well have the Cyclones ending up on the other side of close games.

So why throw the future away? To satisfy the idiots who only look at the win/loss record and not the maturation of a very young team?

But like I said, I’m not all that mad at Coach. Some of my peers completely dumbfound me.

I’m talking about the individuals who persistently asked about Bandhauer’s status. About five weeks into the season, the questions about Bandhauer started surfacing. The inquiries became pleas: Redshirt Bandhauer!

And now that the outcome of Bandhauer’s season is a wasted year of eligibility, these same individuals have a new attitude.

Bandhauer isn’t ISU’s quarterback of the future.

He’s really not that good.

Come again?

When did this become common knowledge?

When was this determined to be fact? As soon as McCarney made the decision to throw away Bandhauer’s sophomore year?

We are talking about the same person who was the subject of preseason press conference questions which went something like this: “Who is going to start … Doxzon or Bandhauer?”

We are talking about the same kid who came into last year’s Colorado game as a true freshman and did a hell of a job. ISU led that game early in the fourth quarter before the Buffaloes came back to win. (Sound familiar?)

I’ll go ahead and say it in print — I hated the decision that was made. Based on Bandhauer’s performances in his first season here and the raw talent he seems to possess, I would have made sure his sophomore season actually was a season, not a series.

Sure, I sound like a Monday- morning quarterback, but guess what? I would have made the same call on Saturday afternoon.

What if Bandhauer would have led us to a victory on that afternoon, you might ask? Would I be complaining about the move?

Guess what? He didn’t. Any more moot points for discussion?

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Cristopher Clair is a senior in journalism from Waukon. He is the sports editor at the Daily.