Rhoads will stick with Barnett at QB

AMES - Iowa State football coach Paul Rhoads told the media Saturday Jared Barnett will almost certainly be his starting quarterback this weekend at Texas Tech.

That's news to the red-shirt freshman playcaller.

“We're just coming off a loss and there's a lot of things we have to improve on,” said Barnett, who totaled 244 yards passing and rushing while taking snaps in most of Saturday's 33-17 loss to Texas A&M. “I'm sure we'll discuss this later on in the week.”

The Cyclones have lost four straight games to open Big 12 Conference play and Barnett rose to the starting slot after recent struggles by once-magical Steele Jantz, who threw another early pick Saturday and went 0-for-4 on three possessions before being pulled.

“I think he's OK,” Barnett said of Jantz, a junior college transfer. “He knew he wasn't performing very well. He told me I did a good job and I need to keep working, which is right. Very supportive.”

Jantz has turned the ball over at least once in each game this season, but attained hero status with a four-touchdown effort in a 44-41 triple-overtime win over Iowa.

Now it's Barnett's turn to turn heads.

“(He's) a pretty good quarterback for a freshman,” said A&M linebacker Sean Porter, who notched a team-best seven solo tackles. “They were out there doing some good thing. We got to him as much as we needed to to win.”

Barnett and the Cyclones (3-4, 0-4) said in order to arrest the four-game slide, they need to be crisper and more precise.

Two glaring dropped passes hurt ISU: Leading receiver Darius Reynolds failed to corral one potential first down pass in the first half and Aaron Horne flubbed an on-the-numbers throw at the Aggies' 30-yard line shortly before halftime.

“We had opportunities to get first downs, we had opportunities to convert potential bigger plays,” Rhoads said. “We had a chance there at the end of the first half to be in the position to go grab us a field goal or even a touchdown and change the momentum going into halftime. I thought (drops) were very key today.”

Key this Saturday: exceeding Saturday's effort in every facet of the game. The Red Raiders (5-2, 2-2) are coming off a stunning, 41-38, road win over No. 3 Oklahoma.

And if Barnett is to fare better against Tech than Heisman Trophy contender Landry Jones, he'll have to mature quickly.

“I think he did a lot of good things,” Rhoads said of Barnett. “There are things he missed, I'm sure. There are things he accomplished that we haven't been accomplishing. I think overall he played pretty well against a defense that was hard to read and can give you a lot of fits with the different pressures that they bring.”

Barnett was sacked once by an A&M defense that entered the game leading the nation in that category (4.3 per game). He drew high marks from foes and teammates alike.

“He did give us a little spark,” said Cyclone wide receiver Josh Lenz, who scored career highs in catches (eight) and receiving yards (117). “That's what we needed and it helped. In the end, it wasn't enough.”