Stopping McNutt won't be an easy task

Iowa State football coach Paul Rhoads didn't blink.

Question: How do you stop Iowa split end and likely 2011 NFL Draft pick Marvin McNutt?

"I don't think you do," Rhoads answered. "We've got small corners (Leonard Johnson and Jeremy Reeves). Sometimes I step over on the practice field and I don't realize they were there. So they're going to have a big challenge. You saw what he did (against Tennessee Tech) in that ESPN highlight reel last Saturday and he's very capable of doing that again this Saturday, so those guys have got to play big - meaning they've got to have great position, they've got to vertically explode when they get balls like that thrown their way and they've got to have some pride about them and their work."

Those guys, Johnson and Reeves, stand 5-10 and 5-7, respectively.

McNutt's a 6-4, 215 pounder slated to be drafted in the fifth round next spring by NFLDraftScout.com.

Johnson, a four-year starter, is a projected third-round pick.

"I think it will be a good matchup," said Johnson, who recorded a pass breakup in last week's 20-19 win over Northern Iowa. "I've been watching him closely, man. He knows how to use his body to give him an advantage on smaller corners or less physical corners, so my thing is just come in and stay confident, trust in my technique and play good defense."

McNutt caught six passes for 140 yards and two touchdowns in Iowa's season opener. He notched two catches for 75 yards and a touchdown in last season's 35-7 win over the Cyclones.

"He's an elite athlete," said ISU linebacker and leading tackler Jake Knott. "He's big, he's strong and he's got great hands. When you've got all those factors working against you as a defense, you've got to be able to contain that type of receiver if you want a chance at winning the game."

Johnson looks forward to the challenge.

"He's going to make a play or two," Johnson said. "It's just coming back and countering off that and making more plays than he makes. At the same time, it's playing within the defense, too."

It's also about feeding off the home crowd.

McNutt - who is three touchdown catches from tying the Hawkeyes' career mark - recalls the sights and sounds of his first trip to Jack Trice Stadium in 2009 vividly. Mostly the sounds.

"You could play in a parking lot and there would still be a lot of people out there yelling and screaming," McNutt said. "It's a tradition you love to be part of."

ISU running back Jeff Woody's gone from walk-on red-shirt to scholarship player in his three seasons in Ames.

Preparing to play Iowa's still exciting, but it no longer makes him woozy.

"Last year, going to Kinnick (Stadium) and actually participating in the rivalry, my head was spinning," Woody said. "It's one of those things, you know, where in the movies they have that montage with just the camera whipping around? That's basically what it was. It's hard to focus on that. This time around, it really is just another game.

"I understand that there's a game plan. There's plays you have to execute exactly how you practice (them) and it's not any different than any other game."

ISU offensive coordinator Tom Herman described two of quarterback Steele Jantz's three interceptions against Northern Iowa "stuff you learn as a second-grader playing quarterback."

But Jantz's performance in the final 4:30 of the comeback win - which included a dazzling off-balance 26-yard touchdown pass to Josh Lenz - evoked a different reaction.

"The kid's a winner," Herman said. "There's not a lot of guys who could have had the first three quarters he had in his first college football game that would come out and have the last two drives that he had to win the football game."

Jantz said he felt more comfortable once the pressure level spiked.

"I was able to settle down a bit, especially toward the end when we knew we had to win," he said.