Cyclones will face motivated TCU

AMES - Keeping his news conference as G-rated as possible, Iowa State football coach Paul Rhoads stated it simply.

TCU 'wants to beat the heck” out of Iowa State, he said.

The Horned Frogs checked in at No. 3 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings and will be playing the Cyclones today, trying to solidify a berth in the four-team playoffs. Iowa State is fully prepared for the possibility of TCU trying to put up 'style points” to further a favorable view by the selection committee.

'They want to flat out beat the heck out of us Saturday in Fort Worth and leave no doubt that they're one of the four best teams in the country,” Rhoads said. 'Our guys know that, they know exactly that. They know they're going to have to play their best to have an opportunity to match up to compete.”

While the Cyclones will be on full alert about the Horned Frogs' plan, TCU Coach Gary Patterson said he doesn't give much thought to the idea of 'style points.”

'I didn't think about style points at Texas, I haven't thought about them anywhere along the line,” Patterson said. 'We're going to try to win the football game, that's the most important thing you can't do anything more than that.”

Regardless if there are style points or not Saturday, ISU players realize the opportunity of playing in a game that can affect the national championship. Although they don't necessarily think of Saturday's game as similar to that of the 2011 upset of then No. 2 Oklahoma State, they know it will be an important game.

'Their end goal is to get to the national championship, ours is to finish the right way because we know this is our last one,” said center Tom Farniok. 'It gives you a sense of no holding back mentality because it truly is the end.”

'What the hell, it's the No. 3 team in the nation, who really cares,” said quarterback Sam Richardson. 'It'll be really fun. We're 2-9 so obviously we don't have anything to lose and they have pretty much everything to lose, so it'll be a fun one to lay it all on the table.”

For there to be any hope of an upset, Rhoads knows he has to get his players to buy in to the mentality of not taking a play off. In fact, the Cyclones will have to do a bit more than play just a decent game.

'You've got to get some breaks whether it be turnovers, big plays, drops, things of that nature,” Rhoads said. 'A lot has to go right and the attitude has to remain for the entire outcome.”

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