Kansas linebacker Drew Dudley wrestles down Iowa State quarterback Austen Arnaud during the second quarter, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2009 at Kivisto Field.

Note: This story is part of the 2010-11 KU football preview section that will appear in Saturday’s Journal-World. Check back to KUsports.com throughout the week for a breakdown of each Big 12 team, including an in-depth look at KU’s offense, defense and non-conference schedule.

Iowa State was one of the surprise teams in the Big 12 in 2009, finishing with a 7-6 record and a victory in the Insight Bowl.

Second-year coach Paul Rhoads knows his team will have to be much better this year if it hopes even to match its record from last season.

“We will be an improved football team in 2010, and we’ll need to be,” Rhoads said. “We face a very challenging schedule that some rate as the toughest in the country.”

Though Iowa State avoided some of the Big 12 South’s toughest teams last year, it doesn’t have that luxury in 2010.

Not only do the Cyclones play back-to-back road games against Oklahoma and Texas, they also play Iowa and Utah — two teams that start the season in the USA Today top 25.

The best news for ISU is that, offensively, most of its standouts are returning.

Senior quarterback Austen Arnaud has started the last two seasons for the Cyclones, and he enters the season as the perhaps the second-best quarterback in the Big 12 North behind Missouri’s Blaine Gabbert.

Rhoads said that Arnaud was the team’s most improved player this offseason.

“He’s been somewhat handicapped because he’s been through three coaches, three position coaches and so forth,” Rhoads said, “and he’s just now getting a chance to settle in to an offense that he could call his own.”

Last season, the 6-foot-3, 226-pound Arnaud threw for 2,015 yards and 14 touchdowns, but he also had a high number of interceptions (13). He is ISU’s all-time leader in completion percentage (60.1 percent) and ranks top five all-time in four other offensive categories.

Senior running back Alexander Robinson also returns after finishing third in the Big 12 in rushing last year (1,195 yards). He also led the Big 12 in 100-yard rushing games (six) and was MVP of the Insight Bowl after rushing for 137 yards.

“I think Alexander Robinson is a guy that is underrated in this league,” Rhoads said. “I wouldn’t trade him for another back in this league. I think he ranks right up there with all of them.”

Though leading receiver Marquis Hamilton is gone, senior Jake Williams (403 receiving yards, five TDs in 2009) and junior Darius Darks (303 receiving yards, two TDs) should be two of the Cyclones’ top threats on the outside.

Defensively, Iowa State has quite a few more holes to fill.

The Cyclones lost four of their top five tacklers from last season, including linebacker Jesse Smith, who led the Big 12 in tackles (135).

Much will be expected of senior defensive end RaShawn Parker, who had two sacks in 2009 before suffering a season-ending knee injury in the fourth game of the season.