Head Football Coach Dan McCarney expressed excitement and gratitude for the present and hope for the future in his press conference Tuesday morning.

“I want to take an opportunity to thank the Iowa State fans for the attendance and the support we received,” McCarney said. “Attendance is up over 16 percent over last year, which is the highest in the big twelve right now. We are drawing more than Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State through these first four games, and that’s major — that’s really, really a tribute to the Iowa State people and Ames.”

In last Saturday’s game, over 45,000 people were in attendance. McCarney then focused on the upcoming game against Oklahoma State.

“We’re really excited about the ball game this week, it’s a toss up. Two young football teams, new programs, new staff, fighting for respect and national recognition. I think that it is going to be a hell of a football game,” McCarney said.

“We are really looking forward to this game. We are really healthy overall, although Sheldon Napastuk will definitely not play. He has a knee injury and will be out for a couple of weeks. Other than that I think that everyone should be ready to go for the ball game this Saturday. Oklahoma is better offensively than they were a year ago.”

McCarney also added that their statistics as far scoring points presently are not really good overall.

“I think defensively that they are better. I think that they are ahead of us in all the Big Twelve statistics. They’re bigger, more physical, with a lot of Bob Simmon’s recruits playing this year. They have some good, young players.” In last year game, Iowa State beat Oklahoma State, 38-14.The game is at Oklahoma State, and kickoff is scheduled for 2 p.m.