Kansas riding high after ending long skid

 By Rob Gray

 Correspondent

 AMES - Victory-starved fans rushing the field.

The banishment of long-standing, loss-based demons.

Iowa State football coach Paul Rhoads has been there, done that - and fully knows what Kansas finally ending a 27-game Big 12 losing streak by beating West Virginia 31-19 Saturday can mean in terms of the program's collective psyche.

“You start playing better than you have because you've got confidence,” said Rhoads, whose beleaguered Cyclones (1-9, 0-7) play host to the suddenly buoyant Jayhawks (3-7, 1-6) at 7 p.m. Saturday at Jack Trice Stadium.

Rhoads has both seen and help make that happen - and it didn't take long.

In his third game as the Cyclones' coach in 2009, he ended a 17-game road losing skid, and later in his rookie season, he snapped an 11-game conference win drought.

And after beating the odds to reach bowl games three times in his first four seasons, misery has come full circle.

ISU's in the midst of an eight-game Big 12 skid and enters Saturday's Fox Sports 1-televised home finale on a seven-game winless streak at Jack Trice Stadium.

Rhoads said effort hasn't dwindled among his players, though execution - including while being outscored 38-0 in the second half of Saturday's 48-10 loss at Oklahoma - has varied widely throughout the season.

“I stand in front of you feeling good today because I think we got confidence coming out of the Oklahoma game; even in the loss I think we got confidence,” Rhoads added. “Not enough to match what Kansas's will be, with the elation that went along with that victory, but hopefully enough to propel us into a good week of practice and taking the field with the mindset to overcome whatever adversity is going to come our way because it's going to. It's a football game.”

Kansas coach Charlie Weis tried to describe that sense of “elation” during Monday's Big 12 coaches teleconference.

It translated mostly to relief.

“When guys get used to losing, no matter how hard you play, if nothing good happens to you, it wears on you,” Weis said. “It was a big psychological lift.”

So the Jayhawks are riding high and ISU's mired at ground level.

Nonetheless, the Cyclones stood as six-point favorites as of Monday afternoon.

Kansas has lost 20 consecutive Big 12 road games, along with 23 straight away from Lawrence overall.

“It's going to be a tough game against a tough opponent,” Weis said of heading to Ames.

Rhoads echoed that sentiment, singling out Jayhawks' veteran tailback James Sims as “a good football player.”

“We've always felt that,” Rhoads said. “Seeing him have such an explosive game (211 yards, three touchdowns against West Virginia) is not encouraging, not exciting to us. I'll throw in the quarterback (freshman Montell Cozart), who I saw first on television earlier this year when they started giving him some snaps and said, ‘Oh, boy, that guy just needs some time and he's really going to add to their offense.' And he's getting to that point now. For a defense that just played horribly against the run in the second half - horribly - that's very concerning for us going into this game.”

ISU gave up 349 yards on the ground to the Sooners in the final 30 minutes Saturday after allowing just 66 yards in the first half.

So “concerning” is right.

“We're going to have to stop the run,” Cyclone senior safety Jacques Washington said. “Obviously, we say that every week, but we've got to stop the run really this week.”