With only three games left, the ISU football team is looking to salvage what’s left of their season.

So far, the Cyclones are 2-7 and have yet to win a game in conference play. They also fell out of bowl contention with the loss last week against Kansas.

So what’s left to play for? Well, for quarterback Sam Richardson, there are still things for the team to accomplish.

“I’m big on the seniors,” Richardson said. “Obviously when I’m a senior I want to be sent out the right way. Not getting to a bowl, it hurts. But getting them wins here the last three weeks of the season, I think that will be a great task for them as well.”

The Cyclones found themselves in a similar situation last season as well. The team was able to rally late in the year to win their final two games, giving them three total wins on the year.

“We kind of just took the offense honestly,” Richardson said. “We were really getting into stuff that we were comfortable with. You kind of play with an edge sometimes when you’re in that situation where teams kind of over look you and think that your season is over. I think that’s the same edge we have right now.”

Some players on the team, however, can’t help but look ahead to next season. Along with his goal of finishing the year strong, Richardson understands that it is important to get a good foundation started for next year as well.

“I see kind of a change in our team,” Richardson said. “We obviously want to turn it around for our seniors, and obviously for a start for next year. I feel like that’s the way were looking at it now. There’s opportunities to go out and win games, and I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t be able to.”

Yet despite the team’s recent struggles, over 50,000 fans have packed Jack Trice Stadium for 24 straight games, the longest streak in school history. The 40-year-old stadium, however, is still getting some changes. The ISU athletic department announced last November that they are expanding Jack Trice Stadium, a project that will bowl in the south end zone and add a new scoreboard, among other things.

The expansion will increase the stadiums capacity to 60,000, making it the third-largest football stadium in the Big 12 conference. The updated stadium is something officials hope will benefit both the football program, and the athletic department as a whole.

“This project has multiple benefits for the institution, the athletics department and the football program,” ISU Athletic Director Jamie Pollard said in a press release. “There will be a significantly enhanced main entrance to campus, capitalizing on a natural symmetry between Jack Trice Stadium and Reiman Gardens, two university landmarks. Additionally, there will be a dramatically improved game atmosphere with the closed-in end zone.”

Ticket sales have remained high for seats in the updated sections of Jack Trice, officials say. But with the Cyclone’s recent losses, there is a worry by some that a lower number of fans will continue to buy tickets.

ISU coach Paul Rhoads said that he isn’t worried about the possibility of a low number of fans in attendance for the rest of the year, but that he knows the core group of fans will still come out to support the final games.

“We have a loyal fan base,” Rhoads said. “There’s a core group of Iowa State Cyclones that not just now, but always have been, as loyal as anybody in the country. I’m so very appreciative of that loyal core group. They want a winner, they want to support a winner and I want to give them one and end that frustration for all of us.”