FACTS & STATS: Site: Folsom Stadium (51,748) -- Boulder, Colorado. Television: Versus. Home Record: ISU 2-3, Colorado 3-1. Away Record: ISU 0-4, Colorado 0-4. Neutral Record: ISU 0-0, Colorado 1-0. Conference Record: ISU 0-5, Colorado 1-4. Series Record: Colorado leads, 47-14-1.

GAME NOTES: The Iowa State Cyclones shoot for their first Big 12 Conference win of the season once more as they contend with the Colorado Buffaloes at Folsom Stadium in Boulder this weekend. The Cyclones, who have meetings with Missouri and Kansas State left on the schedule following this weekend's bout, have lost seven in a row since beating both South Dakota State and Kent State to open the 2008 campaign. Most recently, ISU was taken down by nationally- ranked Oklahoma State in Stillwater last Saturday, by a final of 59-17. In each of the last six games the Cyclones have surrendered at least 34 points. As for the Buffaloes, they've gone from winning three straight to open the year to posting just a single victory in the last six games. Last Saturday, the team was defeated by Texas A&M in College Station by a score of 24-17, marking the team's second consecutive loss. With the defeat the Buffs are now only 1-4 in league play and tied with Kansas State for fourth in the Big 12 North, while the Cyclones are 0-5 and dead last in the division. Colorado leads the all-time series with the Cyclones by a count of 47-14-1, but ISU has taken two of the last three encounters, including a 31-28 meeting last season in Ames.

Leonard Johnson established a new FBS record with 319 return yards for the Cyclones on Saturday, but that was more or less due to the fact that the Iowa State defense allowed OSU to score so many times and then kick off. Offensively, Alexander Robinson was credited with 68 yards and a touchdown on 15 rushing attempts, while Austen Arnaud converted 20-of-35 passes for 240 yards, one TD and a pair of picks. Arnaud, who is second on the team with his 237 yards rushing and is first with five of their 14 running scores over the course of nine games, has completed almost 60 percent of his pass attempts for 201.2 ypg. In a conference that is used to seeing huge numbers on the offensive side of the ball, the Cyclones fall far short of expectations, ranking ninth in the league with 132.3 ypg on the ground and 10th in the Big 12 with only 219.8 ypg through the air. Altogether, Iowa State is one of the weakest offensive threats in the conference with just 25.6 ppg, which ranks the group 11th in the league and 63rd in the nation this week.

Even though the ISU defense was on the field for barely 24 minutes, the unit still found a way to surrender 419 yards through the air and five touchdowns, with all of the scores coming from Zac Robinson. Perhaps most disturbing, aside from giving up an unsightly 263 yards rushing, was that the secondary did little to lock down Dez Bryant who grabbed nine passes for 171 yards and four touchdowns for the Cowboys. James Smith led the visitors with his seven tackles and was credited with a fumble recovery, while Fred Garrin picked off a pass for the visitors in the lopsided loss. After getting beaten up by Oklahoma State, it is easy to see why the Cyclones are last in the Big 12 and 116th in the nation in pass efficiency defense with a ranking of 167.21 at the moment. The secondary is permitting opponents 271 ypg which, while it is not the worst in the conference (10th), it does represent the 111th position on the national charts this week. Christopher Lyle and Kurtis Taylor have combined for nine sacks, which means the rest of the roster has a collective five sacks.

Quarterbacks Cody Hawkins and Tyler Hansen combined to complete 18-of-34 passes for 198 yards, but the pair was intercepted three times in the seven- point loss to Texas A&M. In addition to his passing, Hansen also ran for a team-best 86 yards on 16 carries as well. Colorado controlled the ball for the majority of the game, generated almost 400 yards in offense, but converted just 5-of-16 on third down. Hawkins, the son of head coach Dan Hawkins, has taken the majority of the snaps for the program this season, but he hasn't really played well enough against the elite teams in the Big 12 to give the squad a chance to win on a regular basis. At this point the squad ranks 95th in the nation and last in the conference in passing with a mere 181.6 ypg which, when compared to the rest of the league is virtually nothing. Throw in another 130.1 ypg on the ground (79th) and the Buffaloes are struggling to come up with 311.7 ypg, a number that has the squad placing last in the Big 12 again. Posting a mere 18.4 ppg (107th) simply won't get it done in one of the highest scoring leagues in the country.

With turnovers playing a huge part in the outcome last weekend, Colorado forced just two fumbles and managed to recovery only one in the loss to A&M. The Buffaloes did well to limit the home team to less than three yards per rushing attempt, but after recovering a fumble on the Aggies first possession there were no more signature plays by the Colorado defense to speak of. George Hypolite did his best to keep the Buffs in the mix by making four of his seven stops behind the line of scrimmage, including two against the quarterback. Were it not for the team's 58-0 loss to Missouri a few weeks back perhaps its 28.6 ppg allowed wouldn't be so bad, but there's no getting around that at the moment. Jeff Smart's 8.9 tackles per game after nine outings has him ranked in a tie for fourth best in the Big 12 Conference this week.

As much as Iowa State has been ailing on defense this season, this might be the right time to catch the Buffaloes, a team that isn't exactly hitting on all cylinders.

Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Iowa State 20, Colorado 17

Saturday, November 8th, 1:30 p.m. (et).