Football Preview: Texas vs. Iowa State

#23 Texas (4-2) vs. Iowa State (1-5)
Time: 11:30 am, Saturday, Oct. 13
Location: Jack Trice Stadium, Ames, Iowa
TV: Fox Sports Southwest
Radio: KVET (98.1 FM, 1300 AM)

Last week's loss to Oklahoma left the Texas Longhorns in a historic hole, looking up from the bottom of the conference standings with an 0-2 league record for the first time in 50 years.

Midway through the season, the Longhorns are out of the national title picture, and their chances for winning the Big 12 South hinge on other teams losing.

It's not all bleak for UT, however. Even with their second loss of the season, the Longhorns remained ranked in the Top 25 for the 115th straight week, the longest streak in the country. And the team's fortunes have historically turned around following previous losses to Oklahoma. Even though Texas lost five straight games to the Sooners from 2000-2004, the Longhorns won the following week in each of those years, and Mack Brown's teams have a combined 29-4 record in those years following a loss to the Sooners.

Photo by Asten on flickr.

Saturday's opponent, the Iowa State Cyclones, will have a familiar face on the sidelines. The Cyclones are coached by Gene Chizik, who was the co-defensive coordinator at Texas in 2005 and 2006. Iowa State's only win this season was against in-state rival Iowa, but the Cyclones have lost three games in a row and face ranked teams (Texas, #6 Oklahoma, and #11 Missouri) in each of their next three games.

Texas has won all six meetings with Iowa State, including a 37-14 win last season in Austin.

Game Notes

Change of Fortune: Texas has lost four straight conference games dating back to last season, and the Longhorns have a 5-4 record in their last nine games.The last time Texas began conference play with two consecutive losses was 1956, when the Longhorns went 0-6 in Southwest Conference play under coach Ed Price, who was replaced the following season with Darrell Royal.

Longhorn Injuries: Senior all-conference receiver Limas Sweed will miss the rest of the season to have surgery to repair ligament damage in his left wrist. Nate Jones and Quan Cosby will start at the receiver positions, with plenty of playing time going to Jordan Shipley and Billy Pittman. Texas also will be without two other players for at least part of the season. Junior fullback Luke Tiemann will have surgery to repair a broken left wrist and junior defensive end Aaron Lewis is out indefinitely with a broken left elbow suffered last week against Oklahoma.

Opponents to Watch: Cyclones senior quarterback Bret Meyer is a four-year starter whose size and athleticism could give the Longhorns trouble. Meyer's favorite target is Todd Blythe, a 6-5 senior who is close to breaking all of Iowa State's career receiving records.

Hold on Tight: After a fumble and a tipped pass led to two Texas turnovers against Oklahoma, running back Jamaal Charles has taken a lot of criticism this week. Charles has fumbled four times this season, with all four resulting in Longhorn turnovers. Worse, his fumbles have come at inopportune times, with two near the goal line as Texas closed in on a score, and another as the Longhorns were trying to close out the game against Central Florida. Charles has averaged one fumble every 30 carries this season. By comparison, the OU running back duo of Allen Patrick and DeMarco Murray have combined for 130 carries and two fumbles (none lost), an average of one fumble every 65 carries.

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