Iowa State flattened Kansas University in the Jayhawks’ football season opener last year at Ames, Iowa.

The Cyclones finished with 511 yards — compared to 150 for the Jayhawks — took advantage of three Kansas turnovers, and spoiled Mark Mangino’s debut as KU’s head coach with a 45-3 rout.

ISU coach Dan McCarney was expecting a much tougher game at 1 p.m. today at Memorial Stadium.

“We are in a rut right now of losing,” said McCarney, whose team has lost eight straight games since opening the season 2-0. “We need to try to do whatever we can to come out of it. If we go down there and are not ready to play, they will spank us. They’ll knock us silly.

“They’re really improved. They’re playing with a lot of incentive because they need to beat us to be bowl eligible.”

Kansas (5-6 overall, 2-5 Big 12) needs a victory in its regular-season finale to save its postseason hopes. ISU (2-8, 0-6) is nearing the end of its worst season in seven years but still must play Missouri next weekend at Columbia, Mo.

After five years of struggling to put ISU on the map, McCarney had delivered three straight bowl seasons before the Cyclones fell on hard times this year. The slide actually started in 2002 when Iowa State started 6-1 — including victories against Iowa and Nebraska — before staggering to a 7-7 finish.

Things have been difficult in 2003 against the nation’s third-hardest schedule, which included five ranked opponents and seven teams that played in bowl games last year.

ISU suffered nonconference losses to Iowa and Northern Illinois and is in danger of failing to win a conference game for the first time since 1994 when the Cyclones went 0-10-1 overall and 0-6-1 in the Big Eight in coach Jim Walden’s final season.

“I know Dan McCarney is a great football coach,” said Mangino, who will start senior quarterback Bill Whittemore today following a three-game absence because of injuries.

Colorado's Dominique Books (18) tackles Iowa State's Lane Danielsen (82). The Buffs defeated the Cyclones 44-10 last Saturday at Ames, Iowa.

“What he has done there is remarkable, an outstanding job.

“When you are team that is trying to build and climb into the top echelon of this conference and then stay there, you can’t afford any injuries, you can’t afford to have any bad games with turnovers. The margin of error is very small.

“Their best defensive tackle was out for a period of time. They haven’t settled their quarterback situation at least until this week. You have to have one field general out there calling the shots and the kids believe in him. We are lucky here at Kansas. We have a starting quarterback the kids believe in. We have a backup the kids believe in and we have third guy in Brian Luke who is capable. The offensive players believe he can make plays, too. We are very fortunate. Not every team has that.”

Iowa State has started three different quarterbacks. Junior Waye Terry, who has one touchdown pass and four interceptions, was excepted to get the nod against Kansas.

Seventeen Cyclones have missed at least one game to injury, including tailback Hiawatha Rutland. The senior captain and last year’s leading rusher played in only three games. The Cyclones have four rushing touchdowns in their eight-game skid and none in the last three.

Iowa State’s 15.9 point average ranks 11th in the Big 12 and 110th out of 117 Division I teams. ISU ranks 106th in scoring defense.

“It’s been a struggle for us all season long offensively,” said McCarney, whose been forced to use 17 freshmen, including four true freshmen who start.

One of the few bright spots has been senior Lane Danielsen, who has caught 41 passes for 676 yards and four touchdowns. He owns ISU’s career records for receptions (158) and receiving yards (2,594).

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“He’s had a fabulous career, obviously,” McCarney said. “He’s a former walk-on who’s become a captain. He’s rewritten record book here. He’s even better young man off field. He’s just amazing.”

The Cyclones will face a KU defense eager to redeem itself after allowing 40 or more points in four of its last six games.

“It’s been a tough couple of weeks,” defensive back Tony Stubbs said. “We want to bounce back and get this win.”