"My kids have earned the right to play in this game,’’ Cyclone Coach Dan McCarney said Monday. "We know we’ll be major underdogs, but we’ve been in a lot of situations like that before.

"We’re honored to be going down there to Kansas City and representing Iowa State University, the state of Iowa and the Big 12 Conference.

"But we’re not going down there looking to get autographs from the Florida State players. We’re going there to try to win a game.’’

McCarney made his comments while being interviewed by Larry Morgan and me on the morning show on all-sports radio station KXTK.

Florida State is favored by more than three touchdowns to beat Iowa State at Arrowhead Stadium. However, McCarney said it’s projected that between 30,000 and 40,000 Iowa State fans will attend the game, and he hopes that helps his team.

"I’m hoping the atmosphere will be what it was at the Insight.com Bowl (two seasons ago when nearly 30,000 Cyclone fans were among a crowd of 41,813 in Phoenix),’’ he said. "That was clearly an Iowa State crowd.

"We’re looking for any edge in the game at Kansas City, and my kids are excited about the game. They get to go into one of the great stadiums in all of professional athletics before a home crowd on national TV.’’

McCarney feels his team is ready to play well against a Florida State team that Coach Bobby Bowden hopes can compete for the national championship.

"We had a great, real productive preseason camp,’’ McCarney said. "There’s no question we’ve improved over spring practice. I love the attitude of our team. I can honestly say the players have come ready to practice every day.’’

"But it’s still a concern, especially because of the injury to guard Luke Vander Sanden,’’ McCarney said. "He was one of the top three offensive linemen on this team. He not only was a starting guard, but also our backup center. After Zach Butler graduates, he could be our starting center.

"We had a mock game under the lights Saturday night where our No. 1 and No. 2 players went against what we anticipate seeing against Florida State, and I liked the way our offensive line played. There were very few mental errors.’’

McCarney said Bob Montgomery will start at Vander Sanden’s right guard spot Saturday night. DeWayne Johnson will be the left guard, Butler the center, Casey Shelton the left tackle and Cale Stubbe the right tackle.

McCarney said JaMaine Billups, who was moved from No. 3 tailback to strong safety just before practice began, will get extensive playing time with the defense against Florida State.

"He’s our No. 2 strong safety, and has made major strides,’’ McCarney said. "It’s been a natural move for him. But you don’t just jump out there and play in the secondary no more than you jump out there and play quarterback or wide receiver and become an all-Big 12 candidate in the first couple of weeks.’’

Michael Wagner has retained his starting tailback job. He has a slight edge over Hiawatha Rutland, who was No. 1 coming into two-a-days.

McCarney said he still hopes to redshirt freshman running back Stevie Hicks.

"There’s been awful lot to learn at this level,’’ he explained. It’s taken some time. There’s no question he’s a real quality player, and it was obvious from the first day he practiced why so many teams were recruiting Stevie. There’s no doubt he’s going to be a special player for Iowa State.

"He’s definitely our starting fullback, but I want to make sure he can handle both (offensive and defensive) jobs physically and mentally,’’ McCarney said. "He’s playing a No. 2 linebacker position, but I hope it doesn’t affect his play at fullback. He’s the best fullback on our campus.’’

McCarney said quarterback Seneca Wallace "is playing with tremendous confidence. He has a great grasp of the offense, but he’ll be only as good as his supporting cast—which means the offensive line, wide receivers, tight ends and running backs.’’

McCarney said he feels better than he did a year ago about Wallace’s backup if Wallace should get hurt.

"You can’t lay awake at night worrying about injuries,’’ McCarney said. "God willing, he’ll stay healthy like he did last year. But (if Wallace should be injured), we feel 200 times better about the backup, Cris Love. Last year at this time, Love frankly wasn’t ready to play at this level. But he’s made major strides.’’

"Being that he’s a recruited athlete right now, we’re not allowed to talk about him. That’s up in the air. I’ve got 88 guys here right now that I’m dealing with, and I’m more worried about where they line up than anything else.

"If things (involving Sapp) transpire in the future, I’ll make that decision when the time comes.’’

Sapp, a defensive back who started all 12 of Iowa’s games last season, was dismissed from the squad by Hawkeye Coach Kirk Ferentz just before practice began.

[It was a pleasure for me to be invited to sit in as a guest co-host on the 6 a.m.-to-9 a.m. KXTK radio show Monday at the Cub Club with class act Larry Morgan. Morgan made it a very smooth, fast-moving three hours. Listeners will be able to hear Morgan on the morning show until the end of this month, then the station ceases having an all-sports format. The versatile Morgan will be the play-by-play announcer on three of the first four Iowa football telecasts this season, and later will do his usual large number of Hawkeye men’s basketball telecasts, and likely will again be the radio announcer for Drake’s women’s games].