Iowa State Head Football Coach Dan McCarney wouldn’t call this week’s game with the University of Nevada Las Vegas a must-win situation, but it is a very important game confidence-wise.

The Cyclones have a chance to be at .500 going into the Big Eight race if they win Saturday, McCarney said at his weekly press conference. ISU has the Sept. 30 weekend off and then plays Oklahoma on Oct. 7.

“I’d like to have two weeks with a real good positive taste in our mouths, so I’m hoping that’s what will happen this weekend,” he said.

Sophomore wide receiver Ed Williams, who had an outstanding game against Iowa with eight catches for 131 yards, said the team hopes to beat UNLV so they can feel more comfortable against Oklahoma in two weeks.

“We feel it’s real important because we have a chance to come away at .500, 2-2,” Williams said. “Then that will help our confidence against Oklahoma, which is ranked in the top 25.”

The Cyclones are coming off a loss at the hands of the University of Iowa last Saturday. The Hawkeyes won that game 27-10 in Cyclone Stadium. This Saturday’s game against UNLV is also in Ames.

The Running Rebels tied for first in the Big West conference last year and beat Central Michigan in the Las Vegas Bowl. They finished the season with a 7-5 record.

After the first three games this year, UNLV has a 1-2 record and lost to Eastern Michigan 51-6 last weekend. The Rebels have been able to rack up yards offensively, but not points. They average over 400 yards a game, but 14 turnovers in the three games they have played have hurt them, McCarney said.

“They’ve had two offensive games where they’ve had over 90 offensive snaps, which means they can control the ball pretty good,” he said.

McCarney should know how well the Rebels can move the ball. Two years ago as defensive coordinator at Wisconsin, his defense, which won the Rose Bowl that year, saw UNLV rack up over 400 offensive yards and score two fourth quarter touchdowns in a 35-17 win for the Badgers.

“I personally know from first hand that they can move the football on anybody,” McCarney said.

The Cyclone defense may have their hands full containing the Rebels. ISU’s defense ranks last in almost every category in the Big Eight conference after three games. McCarney said the Cyclones are not even close to where he wants them defensively.

“We’ve got a real good scheme defensively, I really believe that, and our kids understand that, but scheme only goes so far,” McCarney said. “You’ve got to have people that can stand in there toe-to-toe and jaw-to-jaw with people and play for 60 minutes.”

Sophomore linebacker Michael Cooper said the Cyclones watched some film of the UNLV team. They have good athletes, he said.

“Defensively, it’s going to be a pretty big challenge going into the game,” said Cooper, who is the Cyclone’s second-leading tackler, with 32 tackles.

Offensively, the Cyclones will have running back Troy Davis. Davis is leading the nation in rushing with an average of 203.3 yards per game.

“We’re going to do all that we can to try and keep him there,” McCarney said.

The Cyclones may also be able to take advantage of UNLV’s small secondary, Williams said.

“They’re 5-8, 5-7; I’m 6-4, so no problem,” Williams said.

McCarney said two problems the Cyclones do need to improve on are their fundamentals and cutting down on penalties.

“I felt like, not only getting worn out physically in the second half against Iowa,” McCarney said, “but fundamentally we got sloppy on both sides of the ball in the fourth quarter and that’s one of the reasons we got beat.”

No players are ruled out for this game, McCarney said. Some players were injured in the Iowa game, but all of them should be well enough to play.