Lawrence, Kan. — As he walked to the team bus, Iowa State quarterback Todd Doxzon said he didn’t want to talk to anyone — so the nation’s leading rusher did.

“We played really poor out there today,” ISU running back Troy Davis said. “It’s the poorest play I’ve ever seen out here today.” The Cyclones lost to highly ranked Kanas, 34-7, on Saturday and are now 2-4, while the Jayhawks moved to 6-0, their best start since 1968. Kansas also moved up in The Associated Press football poll from No. 10 to No. 7.

Davis had 120 yards rushing on 30 carries and two catches for 17 yards. The sophomore still leads the nation in rushing and all-purpose yards, but his average dropped in both categories for the second straight week. Davis is now averaging 186.8 yards rushing and 227.2 all-purpose yards.

Davis said Oklahoma, the Cyclones’ previous opponent, was a better team even though ISU lost by only 13 points to the Sooners and led most of the game. Oklahoma tied Texas on Saturday, 24-24, and dropped from 13th to 15th in the polls.

“Oklahoma was the best team we’ve played,” he said. “This team wasn’t near Oklahoma, we just didn’t come out and play today.”

Head Coach Dan McCarney agreed that the ISU team on the field in Kansas is not the team that has played well most of the season.

“We just didn’t execute in some ways. I think their defense is outstanding,” McCarney said. “But I was very disappointed we didn’t get more than seven points on the board.”

“All the practices we’ve been practicing hard, but when game time came I didn’t see none of what we’ve been practicing,” Davis said.

ISU senior defensive tackle Jason Putz said the Cyclones lacked concentration and intensity against Kansas, which was the complete opposite of how they played in the Oklahoma game.

“I think we had a bad mentality going into the game. We played Oklahoma really tough, and we just didn’t come out to play this time.”

Kansas quarterback Mark Williams completed 12 consecutive passes to start the game, a Jayhawk record, and led his team to a 27-0 score at halftime. Williams was never sacked in the game.

Putz said the Cyclone pass rush was ineffective because the defense was worried Williams would run with the ball.

“We were really worried because of the Oklahoma game that if we got out of our rushing lanes then we definitely knew Williams could run,” Putz said. “That possibly could have been the reason, because we were so conscious of staying in our lanes that we didn’t get the pressure on him.”

The Kansas defense did put the pressure on Doxzon. The junior threw 28 passes and completed only 11 of them for 130 yards. Doxzon was sacked three times in the game and threw two interceptions, one of which was on the Cyclones’ opening drive.

“We didn’t help him much. The protection broke down a lot, and he looked like he was running for his life out there,” McCarney said. “So it wasn’t one of his best days, but obviously it wasn’t one of our offense’s best days.”

Saturday’s scoring mismatch was a prime example showing the Cyclones need bigger players if they hope to win in the Big Eight Conference, McCarney said.

“It’s the same thing it’s going to be every week of the Big Eight season. We just physically can’t hang in there and go toe-to-toe with people,” McCarney said. “We’ve just got to keep trying to get every bit of ounce of effort out of these kids and go out and recruit some size and some depth.”