After winning seven straight to start the season, the Cyclones have lost two in a row and now face an uphill battle to advance to the Big 12 championship game

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — “Unacceptable.”

That unwelcome remark was a recurring theme for Iowa State senior captain and safety Beau Freyler following the No. 17 Cyclones’ demoralizing 45-36 loss to Kansas on Saturday at Arrowhead Stadium.

ISU (7-2, 4-2) couldn’t stop the formerly snake-bitten Jayhawks (3-6, 2-4) until late in the game — and that’s worrisome for a devastated team that once watched it go. High hopes of reaching the Big 12 championship game are heading towards the pie-in-the-sky area.

“What we did today is unacceptable,” Freyler said. “We must have the humility to look at our mistakes, look at the weaknesses of ourselves individually and collectively, and get back to work.”

Of course, that’s all the Hurricanes can do after suffering their second straight loss. The same problems — ill-timed penalties, failures to execute at key moments — have plagued ISU once again, but a potential get-well game is on the horizon next Saturday night when Cincinnati (5-4, 3-3) comes to Jack Trice Stadium .

“There will not be the slightest hesitation in the locker room,” said Freyler, who competed six times. “I can tell you this. Myself and the leadership will hold everyone accountable for this. No worries, no excuses, no complaints, because we are what we put into that movie.

“So we’ll get back to work and get better.”

This is another ongoing issue in recent weeks. Down several starters on defense due to injuries, the Cyclones struggled to play with the “detail and precision” needed to turn a historic 7-0 start in November into something even greater.

ISU fell behind by 25 points on Saturday, and despite a late second-half surge that cut that deficit to 10 points with 11 minutes left, victory seemed out of reach as the Jayhawks scored at will on six consecutive possessions.

It remains unclear how much of those recent deficiencies can be fully addressed in the final three regular season games, but the Cyclones are determined to “get better” even though they are unlikely to compete for the conference crown.

“I think we’ll find out,” said ISU head coach Matt Campbell, whose team qualified for the seventh bowl in the last eight seasons. “You can sit here on Saturday night and say whatever you want, but what about next Saturday? I definitely don’t think our children will give up. I think our kids have continued to climb, and what I love about our kids is that we have great character.

“We’ve got great leadership. We’ve got great coaching, but the truth is, who are you when things aren’t going well? And we’re going to learn. I think our kids come out ready to play, but you still have to be able to do it better with detail and precision against a team like this.”

Part of that formula will depend on the health of Campbell’s players. They’ve been playing with their second, third and fourth line defensemen for most of the season due to injury. The secondary is broken. The defensive line fell behind on a kickoff. Every Hurricane should look in the mirror and ask what more they can do? So how can they help others do the same with positive reinforcement?

Doing so fueled ISU’s 7-0 start, and regaining that perspective could help it record its first 10 (or more) win season ever. Even though the path to the league title has narrowed significantly, that goal remains entirely achievable.

“It’s hard to go back with all the effort you put in to get to 7-0 and then two losses like that,” said quarterback Rocco Becht, who threw for a season-high 383 yards and three touchdowns. loss. “But we have a group of leaders in our locker room who are resilient and will put this aside.

“We’re going to focus every day, work the next day and move on to the next game and focus on each game and go from there.”

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