For the first time in more than a decade, the ISU football team has started out conference play 1-0.

Iowa State (2-2, 1-0 Big 12) came out in a dominating fashion against Kansas (0-4, 0-1 Big 12) Saturday, winning the game 38-13.

“It was absolutely necessary,” said quarterback Sam Richardson about getting the win. “After starting out 1-2 in non-conference, we really had no choice but to start getting a little momentum here and winning some games. If we want to accomplish what we want to, you have to get the wins going.”

The Cyclones racked up 512 total yards of offense on Saturday – the highest number they’ve produced all season. They gained nearly 270 yards through the air, and had four different players find the end zone.

But it wasn’t just the aerial attack that impressed in the conference opener.

The Cyclones, who have struggled to run the ball all year long, rushed for nearly 250 yards against the Jayhawks. A good chunk of those 250 yards came from redshirt freshman Mike Warren.

In his 18 carries, Warren ran for 175 yards and two touchdowns, averaging nearly 10 yards per attempt. Warren’s performance broke a 15-year-old ISU freshman record for the most rushing yards in a single game.

And while his experience on the field is limited, this isn’t Warren’s first big game. Two weeks ago against Toledo, Warren ran for 126 yards. He leads the team in rushing with 329 yards through four games.

“It’s really surprising,” Warren said. “I knew that I would have success, but not this much success. It’s really surprising. I don’t know how else to explain it.”

ISU head coach Paul Rhoads said that Warren has improved drastically in the past four games. His biggest improvement, Rhoads said, is his ability to simply read the defense.

“[Warren is] a talented player, and he’s starting to grow up,” Rhoads said. “He’s having to do it as a redshirt freshman, and he’s showing us that he has the ability to do it as a redshirt freshman. The cuts he made today and the timing of when he made them … he didn’t do before the Toledo game.

And that’s the process of the light turning on and burning a little bit brighter.”

Warren said he’s noticed the difference too, adding that he didn’t think he would have been able to make some of the reads that he did Saturday against Northern Iowa in week one.

But now, just four games into the season, Warren said he is feeling a lot more comfortable out on the field.

“It’s slowing down a lot because we practice it all the time,” Warren said. “Everything is moving in slow motion, and once I see it then I just go and make a decision.”

But it wasn’t just the run game that Warren contributed to. Richardson said that because Warren found so much success on the ground, it opened up more options for him in the passing game.

Richardson finished the day 27-of-37 for 269 yards and two touchdowns.

“It’s a lot easier. You don’t have to pass it on every down,” Richardson said. “When holes like that are opening up, if you’re in a little riff there in the passing game, [you can] just hand it off to him and let him do what he’s going to do. Everyone in the offense works together with each other, so it makes it a lot easier.”

Now that he’s had two big games on the ground, Warren said his confidence is growing. And with a good Texas Tech team up next on the schedule for the Cyclones, Warren’s confidence boost couldn’t come at a better time.

“It’s going to snowball and keep snowballing,” Warren said. “The more you play in games, the more it’s just going to come natural from now on.”