The stomachs will be growling Thursday night at Cyclone Stadium.

When the Iowa State football team takes the field against the Ohio University Bobcats, both teams will be hungry, ISU Head Football Coach Dan McCarney said.

McCarney gave some insight at his weekly press conference Tuesday on the first game of the season for the Cyclones. ISU and Ohio were the only Division I schools that did not win a game last season.

“It’s a very unique situation,” McCarney said. “I can imagine how hungry they’re going to be, and I know exactly how hungry this football team is for some positive things to start happening. So it’s going to be a lot of fun and there will definitely be a Cyclone hitting town Thursday night.”

If the weather conditions are favorable, McCarney said he hopes to put his defense on the field first.

“I love taking the field first with your defense,” he said. “I’d like to set the tempo with our kickoff team to get the ball knocked down and get a big hit on the kickoff team and let our defense, who was 107th in America last year, show the fans and the people that there’s a different defense on the field at Iowa State now.”

Offense may be McCarney’s strong suit, though. The three player rotation at running back with sophomores Troy Davis and Jahi Arnold and junior Graston Norris is very solid. McCarney said all three backs have done well the last month in practice.

“I feel very good about all three of those backs, and you’ll see all three of them Thursday night,” he said.

The game should be a good battle because Ohio’s new head coach Jim Grobe has adopted an option offense similar to the offense former ISU football coach Jim Walden used and McCarney scrapped when he was hired as head coach.

“I’ll be real surprised if it’s not a close game,” McCarney said. “Fortunately, a lot of our kids have been a part of an option offense, and we’ve used those kids in a lot of situations trying to get our defense ready.”

A number of the players on the roster are young with little or no collegiate experience. Twenty-two players will hit the field for the first time in their college career, McCarney said.

“I’m hoping by the time we line up out there that there’s not going to be any stargazing going on and that they’re going to be focused and concentrating on the game,” he said.

Some of the team captains were also on hand at the press conference. Senior strong safety Matt Straight said he felt the atmosphere will be different Thursday night under McCarney’s new leadership.

“We’ve added a chemistry to this team, and I hope people will be able to see it Thursday night,” Straight said.

Senior offensive tackle Byron Heitz said the team is working better together than in past years and this first game of the season is a good testing ground.

“This game will be a real good test to see how well our program has come along,” Heitz said.

Tim Sanders, a junior inside linebacker, said the Cyclones are prepared to win and focus on getting the job done. He credited McCarney with getting people excited about ISU football.

“We want to play in a hostile environment as long as it’s on our side,” Sanders said.

McCarney said many of the players from both teams have not experienced success, despite all of the hard work they put into their respective programs.

“This will be the first chance for one of those teams to have a great celebration in the locker room,” McCarney said. “We just hope it’s us.”