Cyclones just focus on one more win

Iowa State coach Dan McCarney says the Cyclones don’t want to depend on help to clinch the Big-12 North division title. The Cyclones can lock up a trip to the league championship game with a victory over Missouri on Saturday but that could be assured Friday afternoon if Nebraska beats Colorado. He says whatever happens Friday really has nothing to do with what they do on Saturday. He says the bottom line is that if they can win one more football game then they’re the Big 12 champs. He says they’ll watch a little of the game on Friday, but he says the bottom line is they have to prepare to win a football game.McCarney says he believes the season turned around during an October 16th loss at Colorado. He says they played an excellent game in a lot of ways, but the kicking game was horrendous and they looked bad as a coaching staff, but he says he knew that they improved as a football team despite the loss.During their four-game winning streak the Cyclones are a plus-13 in turnover margain and McCarney says the defense has developed a big-play mentality. McCarney says they expect it and believe it and that’s one of the reasons they’ve been able to win games.A season which began with lofty expectations for Missouri has unraveled after the Tigers lost their fifth straight over the weekend to Kansas. Now the Tigers will try to cool off the Cyclones. Missouri coach Gary Pinkel says ISU has gotten better and better each week. He says while the Tiger can play the role of spoiler this week they are more concerned about ending the season on a positive note. Pinkel says they’re looking to themselves and want to end the season on a positive note and breaking out of the losing streak.At one point the Tigers were 4-1 and the clear favorite in the division race. Now they find themselves searching for answers. He says if he knew the answer he would have done it weeks ago. He says he’s responsible and hopefully he can get his team ready to play well.