Last week’s lack of intensity against Kansas will not help the Iowa State football team win a Homecoming battle against Colorado this Saturday, Head Coach Dan McCarney said.

“I’ve gotten a lot of calls and a lot of letters about the real heart that the team showed against Oklahoma and so many of the other games this year. I just don’t think we played that way down in Kansas and that’s my responsibility because I’m in charge of this thing,” McCarney said at his weekly press conference on Tuesday.

“To have any chance in hell to compete with a great team like Colorado — that’s exactly the way we’ve got to come out from the first snap here Saturday.”

The Buffaloes (5-1) are No. 9 in the nation and suffered their only loss of the season to No. 7 Kansas in Boulder two weeks ago. The Buffaloes had last week off.

Colorado boasts the second best passing offense in the nation, but starting quarterback Koy Detmer is out for the season with a knee injury. Backup quarterback John Hessler has had his share of playing time. The sophomore led the Buffaloes to wins over Texas A & M and Oklahoma earlier this season.

The Big Eight Conference is having considerable success this year in football, five teams are ranked — four of them in the Top 10, but with the Cyclones at 2-4 and three of those ranked teams left to play, McCarney said he’s not about to give up on his team.

“I’m not going to come in here all gloom and doom because it’s another Top 10 team. I’ve got to make sure that my players don’t lose their spirit and the great attitude that they have,” he said.

The Cyclones are not as big in size as most of the teams in the Big Eight they’re facing, but they are big in effort and heart, McCarney said.

“When you stand on the sidelines and you see them lined up across one another and you, with the naked eye, can see a complete physical mismatch, you know you’re in for some trouble. I don’t think Saturday’s going to be any different. We’ll stand on the sidelines and we’ll see some kids that are over-matched physically,” McCarney said.

“Does that mean we come out without a plan to win, a belief to win or we don’t come out and compete with a great spirit, great attitude and great heart? No.”

One highlight from the Kansas game was the kick return ability of running back Jahi Arnold. Arnold ran one kickoff during the game for 43 yards, the longest of the year for the Cyclones.

McCarney said Arnold showed during practice that he could perform on the special teams. The sophomore from Downey, Calif., will take over the kickoff return position from starting running back Troy Davis, who will get some much deserved rest.

The Cyclones will try to establish a running game against Colorado, with the brunt of that running game done by Davis, McCarney said.

“There’s no secret going into it — we’ve got to establish that running game with him taking most of those handoffs. That’s why we ended making the decision to take him off the kickoffs because he’s so valuable to us in the backfield,” McCarney said. “We see Jahi Arnold everyday in practice. He did an excellent job last week in practice. We gave him the chance, and he was one step away of going the distance for a touchdown, so I think it was a good decision.”

Arnold said he is ready to take over on kickoffs and hopes he can help the set the offense in scoring position — and maybe even score on his own.

“It’s a great feeling — catch the ball and just run. That’s my job is to set the offense up in good field position or even try to score,” Arnold said.