The Bandhauer era might have three years remaining after all.

Head Football Coach Dan McCarney hinted at redshirting Todd Bandhauer, a sophomore quarterback for the Cyclones, during Tuesday morning’s press conference.

“Going into the season, we had absolutely no intention of redshirting Todd Bandhauer,” McCarney said. “But going into the seventh game down in Baylor this week, if the circumstances are right and the elements of the game are happening the way they happened in the first six games, that is exactly what we will do.

“But it would be great right now, with five games left, to redshirt him, with three years of eligibility left, because he can play winning football in the Big 12,” McCarney said.

“We would love to go into March and spring of 1997 with Todd Bandhauer having three years of eligibility,” McCarney said. “We still have a lot of the season left — five games — and if we need to use Todd Bandhauer to win football games, to put ourselves in a situation to win them, based on injury or lack of performance, we’ll use him.”

The coach is happy with the way that his backup has performed in practice, although he stressed Bandhauer’s title.

“Bandhauer is doing an excellent job. We feel great about him being a quarterback in our offense,” McCarney said. “He is the second best quarterback in our offense. He is the backup.”

The player that Bandhauer trails behind is senior Todd Doxzon.

“There is no question that Todd Doxzon is the best quarterback on this campus, and if we are fortunate and lucky enough to hold him out through five more games, it would be a minor miracle. But if we could do that, and we would love to do that, then [Bandhauer] could be a starting quarterback next year with three years of eligibility.

McCarney said he is surprised with the durability of his starting quarterback. “We never, in a thousand dreams, anticipated redshirting Todd Bandhauer this year. Very rarely do you ever see a team go through a season, it’s almost unheard of, that one quarterback takes every snap,” McCarney said.

Doxzon has directed the team to the point of staying competitive, which is another reason for the coach to wish for continued health.

“If we stay healthy, Doxzon stays healthy, we’re in a lot of close games, which we hopefully can do in the next five weeks.”

After the Baylor trip, ISU hosts Kansas and Nebraska and travels to Colorado and Kansas State. Three of the last four opponents are currently ranked in the AP Top 25.

“It’s going to be tough to do against the competition we have,” McCarney said.