A lot of rivalries often play closer games than records, analysis, and what the on-paper reports say. Those don’t account for the emotion and the extra juice rivalry games bring out of teams and coaches.
The Cy-Hawk game between the Iowa Hawkeyes and the Iowa State Cyclones is no different. Although Iowa is favored, it is not by much at all. While Vegas favors the Hawkeyes, ESPN leans the other way with their matchup predictor taking the Cyclones.
With both teams 1-0, they head into this matchup looking to start the season on a two-game run of wins. The Hawkeyes want to take back the rivalry while the Cyclones want to try and build a winning streak of their own.
As kickoff looms, CBS Sports has their rankings of these teams as well. Their CBS Sports 133 ranks every team in college football from one all the way to, you guessed it, 133.
While some other outlets such as the Associated Press and US LBM Coaches Poll don’t slot the Hawkeyes in their top 25 this week, CBS has followed suit with Hawkeyes coming in as the nation’s No. 26 team. This is a one-spot drop.
Although Iowa State went 1-0, their win came against an FCS program, the University of Northern Iowa. The Cyclones are a bit behind the Hawkeyes and sit as the No. 60 ranked team. This is just a one-spot climb for the Cyclones.
A win for the Hawkeyes could do wonders to get them ranked among the polls as it would be a road Power Five victory. Iowa State could use this win to catapult them up and continue their climb before conference play in the Big 12.
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