Where does the ISU football team go from here?

It’s the question that ISU football fans are asking after watching the team fall to Kansas last weekend, 34-14. But it’s not just the loss that has fans and players alike frustrated; it’s how they lost.

The Jayhawks jumped out to an early lead Nov. 8, scoring 24 unanswered points in the first half.

“Your assignments, you’ve got to do them right mentally, you’ve got to do them right physically, and we weren’t doing hardly any of that to start the game,” ISU coach Paul Rhoads said. “We had good practices that we didn’t carry over to game day. The first quarter was an onslaught.”

A slow start seems like nothing new for this team. It’s an issue that Rhoads says goes much deeper than preparing on game day.

“It’s not just game day, it’s leading up to the game,” Rhoads said. “As I went through that whole litany of things that it takes, you’ve got to be doing them from Sunday through Saturday … It’s the mental and physical preparation leading to what carries over on the field and having the mental toughness to handle that when you come in.”

Another reason for a slow start against the Jayhawks was uncertainty at quarterback throughout the week. Rhoads said that they only knew two days before the game that Sam Richardson, who suffered a minor shoulder injury in the game against Oklahoma, wouldn’t be able to play, and that caused some problems.

It showed on the field. Sophomore quarterback Grant Rohach completed only 50 percent of his passes Nov. 8 and struggled to get the offense into a rhythm.

“I played poorly,” Rohach said. “As a quarterback, you expect to win the game. We started out slow, when you get down by that much you’d like to come back, but when you start that poorly and miss easy throws continually early on you can’t expect to win. I put a lot of blame on me, and it’s just rough.”

With only two wins so far this season and just three games left on the schedule, it is now impossible for the Cyclones to make a bowl game.

“We’ve just got to play better as a whole,” Rohach said. “I hate to say that this late in the season, but it’s safe to say we need to improve in all areas. I think our chances at a bowl game are gone now. We have to play for pride now.”

And even though the morale in the locker room is perhaps the lowest it’s been all season, all hope isn’t lost. Running back Aaron Wimberly says it’s still possible for this team to regroup.

“There’s never too big a hole,” Wimberly said. “We just have to gave great preparation and compete every week. We just need to focus more.”