McCarney, of course, is Iowa State’s football coach. In addition to doing a pretty fair job in recent years with the X’s and O’s part of major-college coaching, he’s one of the best at giving motivational speeches.

Oh, OK, so maybe his players weren’t paying much attention when McCarney tried to tell them that Connecticut was a dangerous team prior to the regular-season finale in the 2002 season.

You know how it goes with guys aged 19, 20 and 21. They don’t always listen when they’re supposed to be listening.

I guess McCarney couldn’t convince his Cyclones that UConn The Basketball School could play football. Whatever, Iowa State lost that game, 37-20, then also lost the next game—against Boise State in the Humanitarian Bowl, 34-16.

That gave Iowa State six losses in its last seven games, turning the season sour after a promising 6-1 start.

But enough of that 2002 rehash. In the event you didn’t realize it, we had a short winter.

It’s time for spring practice to start. It begins Wednesday for Iowa State and ends with the spring game April 19.

As usual, McCarney is finding a dream to hang onto as he counts down the hours until Wednesday.

"We’ve brought respect to our program," he said. "Now we want to be in a position where we can make a run at the Big 12 Conference championship every year, where we’re a team that has a shot to be in the race.

"We’ve finished third in the North Division of the Big 12 three years in a row. Now we have to figure out what it’s going to take to make the next step and make a run at the championship game—where we don’t have to be satisfied watching two other teams play in it.

"We’ve already done a lot of things people said we couldn’t do and a lot of things some people didn’t want us to do. Those things make you feel good, but then there’s that next step—going after the championship."

Anyone who has been on Mars or Jupiter probably thinks Iowa State is still supposed to be 1-10 or 2-9 and changing coaches regularly.

But those days may be over. At least McCarney is doing everything he can to make sure they’re over.

Iowa State has gone to three consecutive bowl games for the first time in history, and has had winning regular-season records in all three of those seasons. With a 37-29 victory over Pittsburgh in the Insight.com Bowl in 2000, the Cyclones finished 9-3. With a 14-13 loss to Alabama in the Independence Bowl in 2001, they finished 7-5.

The downbeat finish in 2002, thanks in part to a schedule that saw Iowa State play at—and lose to—Big 12 powers Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas State and Colorado in a five-week period—was instrumental in leaving the final 2002 record at 7-7.

"The schedule was ludicrous in terms of where we had to play those teams," McCarney said. "It was a fitting finish, having to play Boise State, the No. 12-ranked team in the only bowl game that’s played where the home team hosts it."

Still, the Cyclones had some major accomplishments last season. They beat Iowa for the fifth consecutive time, 36-31, and rolled past Nebraska, 36-14, when it was ranked No. 20.

It was Iowa State’s first victory over the Cornhuskers since 1992 and the largest margin of victory in the series by the Cyclones since 1899. It also was Iowa State’s first victory over a ranked opponent since 1993.

The victory over Iowa was the only one suffered by the Hawkeyes during the regular season while winning a school-record 11 games.

On Oct. 13, after a 21-17 victory over Texas Tech, the Cyclones were No. 9 in the Associated Press poll—their highest ranking in history.

"The schedule doesn’t look like it’s going to be a whole lot easier," McCarney said. "But, from the fans’ standpoint, they have to love the home schedule with five bowl teams coming in here out of the seven teams we play. Four of those were in the top 10 last year."

Indeed, it’s the best home schedule Iowa State has ever had. It will be a shame if all, or most, of the home games aren’t sold out.

The Cyclones still must play the Big 12 big boys that beat them on the road last season-- Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas State and Colorado—but at least this time they’ll meet them at Jack Trice Stadium.

"It’s just an amazingly challenging schedule whether you’re home or away," McCarney said. "Then you look at Northern Illinois (the road opponent Sept. 27), which had a fantastic season last year. They took Wisconsin to the last play of the game."

Then there are teams such as Nebraska, Missouri, Texas Tech and Kansas, all of which Iowa State must play on the road.

"I’m sure Nebraska can’t wait to get us back in Lincoln next season," McCarney said. "Missouri is one of the most improved teams in our conference, and we have to do down there to play. We know Kansas will be improved and Texas Tech is another team that played in a bowl game last year."

The schedule opens Aug. 30 with a night game against Northern Iowa at Jack Trice Stadium.

"Chris Love (Wallace’s backup in 2002) goes into spring practice as the No. 1 quarterback," McCarney said. "We redshirted three kids—Waye Terry, Austin Flynn and Kyle Van Winkle.

"So it’s a four-man race, as wide-open as it’s been since Sage Rosenfels and Derrick Walker were going after the job following Todd Bandauer’s graduation."

"Somebody’s got to come through. It’s going to be hard for anybody to be as effective as Seneca was, but somebody has to be the guy we can count on."

McCarney said Love "is not the type of athlete Wallace was. He’s a more athletic Bandauer. He’s got good height, a good arm, a nice touch on the ball. We’ll still run our option offense with him, but he doesn’t run like Seneca—and there aren’t many on this team or any other teams who do."

My advice to fans is to keep an eye on Flynn, a 6-1, 185-pounder from Deer Park, Texas.

He could be the guy.

"Flynn is maybe the best all-around athlete of the quarterbacks coming back. Our scout team defense will tell you he’s a talented guy."

The production at running back was disappointing last season.

"We were very average at best, which was unusual for us," McCarney said. "We broke the string of 1,000-yard rushers we had going."

Consequently, much is expected from redshirt freshman Stevie Hicks, who McCarney says "will be right in the thick of the competition. He’s at 212 pounds, he’s got power, he’s got speed. He doesn’t know how good he can be. He can be tremendous, but he hasn’t done it yet.

"He’s got to learn the offense, he’s got to learn to not make mental errors, he’s got to be a real good blocker and he’s got to make things happen."

Coordinator John Skladany said the defense "should be better than last year. We improved in a lot of ways last season, and three of our front four are returning.

A key returnee is Jordan Carstens, a 305-pounder whom Skladany calls "one of the better defensive linemen in college football. He’s already proven that. He’ll get better, God willing, if he stays healthy.

"He should be up for every award that’s out there for defensive linemen. He’s got it all."

IOWA STATE’S SCHEDULE