A heartbreaking loss is how Head Football Coach Dan McCarney summed up the Oklahoma State loss over the weekend as he opened up his Tuesday morning press conference.

“We are obviously trying to put those two heartbreaking losses behind us we’ve had in the last two weeks — one where we trailed by 17 points and came back and had a chance to win, and one where we lead by 17 and the other team came back to win the thing,” McCarney said.

“We have had opportunities in the palm of our hands to win football games. We just didn’t finish those games, and those are the things that tear you up inside.”

McCarney gave credit to the offensive line of Oklahoma State for the come from behind victory.

“We got off to a good start in the [Oklahoma State] game, where we blocked a punt, forced them into a punt, forced them into a punt again, forced a fumble, and did the things we wanted to do, but from then on Oklahoma State’s offensive line took over the line of scrimmage, and knocked us off the ball,” McCarney said. “We scored four out of the first five possessions we had.”

McCarney is still very supportive of all of his players even with the recent losses.

“We are not about to give up on the kids in the program. We have a long way to go, and I think that there is progress still being made,” McCarney said. “We are close to becoming a good football team. Close to bringing back national respect and honor.”

While McCarney is supportive of past efforts, he also knows the toughest challenges are yet to come.

“I think that in the big picture of things, there are a lot of positives, that there is progress,” McCarney said.

“In this season, of the six games we have played, there have been some heartbreaking losses, and we are going to find out what kind of hearts these players and coaches have this week, and how we’ll respond and how we’ll get through this adversity of losing close games. I am hoping to put a full game together and play four quarters.”

The ISU football team, while improving, still has work to do. McCarney points the finger at the basic fundamentals of the game.

“We have to get back to basics and fundamentals, and do a good job of teaching and coaching,” McCarney said. “We are not going to be able to out-personnel or out physical anybody in the Big Twelve Conference, and I think everybody realizes that.”

McCarney’s outlook was optimistic on the coming game against Baylor.

“We are excited about the trip this week. We are a one touchdown underdog on the road,” McCarney said.

“We have a chance to work on some of the goals we set this year — to win on the road, which we haven’t done yet, and to win a game where we were a major underdog, which we are down in Baylor this week. That doesn’t happen very often to Baylor.”

Baylor has lost to Texas Tech, Nebraska, and and Oklahoma in the past three weeks, all Big 12 conference match-ups.