Tag: Cy-Hawk Trophy

A look at where the CBS Sports 133 rankings place the Hawkeyes, Cyclones

Ahead of the annual Cy-Hawk date, CBS Sports released its national ranking for each in its CBS Sports 133 rankings.

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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Seth Anderson embraces Cy-Hawk rivalry ahead of first meeting

Iowa wide receiver Seth Anderson is embracing the Cy-Hawk rivalry ahead of his first career appearance in it.

Seth Anderson may have just recently acquainted himself with Iowa football, but he’s already embracing one of the Hawkeyes’ biggest rivalries.

Anderson isn’t your typical Iowa homegrown recruit. He didn’t grow up in the Hawkeye State around the big Cy-Hawk rivalry. A Georgia native, the sophomore actually spent his first year at Charleston Southern.

He doesn’t have any previous connections to the battle between Iowa and Iowa State. Anderson’s teammates have gotten him up to speed on the rivalry.

“I heard it’s a big deal, you know, I heard we don’t have our trophy, so we’re going to work to get that back this week for sure. So yeah, it’s going to be good,” Anderson said.

Looking ahead to his first battle for the Cy-Hawk Trophy, the son of NFL wide receiver Flipper Anderson is already having some fun.

“I heard it’s going to be pretty toxic, a pretty toxic environment,” commented Anderson with his signature smile about Jack Trice stadium during a recent media availability. “It’s going to be loud and you live for that, so it’s going to be fun.”

Anderson experienced a heated college rivalry his first season at Charleston Southern. He very nonchalantly stated that ECU fans hurled cans at him and his teammates. Of course, that didn’t seem to faze Anderson one bit.

When asked what he’s seen on film from Iowa State, Anderson delivered the real fireworks.

“A lot of opportunity,” Anderson said.

In what way?

“In a good way,” Anderson responded with a smile.

It drew a chuckle from the media in attendance and adds a little trash talk into the equation for the contest this weekend.

Anderson started at wide receiver in the season debut against Utah State last week. He caught two passes for 41 yards, including the first Hawkeye touchdown of the season on a 36-yard reception from quarterback Cade McNamara.

“A lot of improvements to be made. It’s only up from here. You know, it was Week 1, so it’s a good start I think,” Anderson said of his first appearance in the black and gold.

Anderson and the Hawkeye offense will look to carry the momentum from the win into Saturday when they play rival Iowa State at 2:30 p.m. on Fox.

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Tory Taylor pokes fun at Iowa State fans ahead of Cy-Hawk clash

Insert sarcasm. Tory Taylor can’t wait to see the “humble” and “modest” Iowa State fans again this weekend.

Few Iowa Hawkeyes can give as good of a glimpse into the feeling of playing at Jack Trice Stadium as punter Tory Taylor. The most popular punter in America had some fun with the Iowa State fanbase ahead of the Hawkeyes’ clash with the Cyclones on Saturday.

“Well I can really just remember I guess how humble and modest their fans are out there,” Taylor commented, his thick Australian accent struggling to mask the sarcasm in his voice. “It’s a pretty nice place to play. It’s not like there’s 8-year-olds hanging over the fence, giving you the rude finger or anything like that. So yeah, excited to go back there and enjoy such a pleasant environment.”

It should be noted that while mostly deadpan through that entire statement, a smile did start to break through at the very end. With some fun out of the way, Taylor spoke candidly about what the upcoming contest means to him.

“All jokes aside, it’s probably my favorite game of the year. My favorite game that I’ve probably ever played was at Iowa State a couple of years ago. It was obviously a big matchup, which it is every year. Every game is pretty big, but, yeah, that was a fun game.

“I’m very excited. Just looking forward to going back out there, because didn’t really have that good of a game this past weekend, so looking to rectify a few things,” Taylor said.

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Iowa Hawkeyes, Iowa State Cyclones extend Cy-Hawk rivarly through 2027

Amidst conference realignment, some rivalries are falling to the wayside. Iowa and Iowa State aren’t letting the Cy-Hawk Series disappear.

College football is experiencing an ever-changing landscape more than ever seen before. There is constant conference realignments, shuffling of teams within conferences, and an unfortunate byproduct of that is old rivalries being kicked off of schedules.

The Iowa Hawkeyes and the Iowa State Cyclones play for the Cy-Hawk Trophy each year in their in-state rivalry. They inked a new deal today that made sure that game and rivalry isn’t going anywhere. The Hawkeyes and Cyclones have signed an extension locking in the Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series through the 2027 season.

The Cy-Hawk rivalry game has been played every season since 1977, aside from the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season. Iowa leads the all-time series by a tally of 46-23, exactly doubling up on the Cyclones.

The Cyclones won the trophy back this season in a 10-7 game. That was the Cyclones’ first win since 2014 as Iowa was riding a winning streak of six games.

There was some speculation as to what the additions of USC and UCLA to the Big Ten may do to this rivalry as the conference expanding could entice adding another conference game. The two programs seemed very keen on getting out in front of any risk of losing this rivalry to realignment.

With this contract through 2027, there are a guaranteed five more Cy-Hawk games coming up as the two teams battle for bragging rights in the state of Iowa.

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5 keys to success for the Iowa Hawkeyes against Iowa State

Ahead of the Cy-Hawk rivalry, let’s take a look at five keys to success that can propel the Iowa Hawkeyes to a victory over Iowa State.

The Cy-Hawk rivarly is upon us and kickoff is rapidly approaching. For the first time since 2018, the matchup returns to Kinnick Stadium and the Iowa Hawkeyes hosting after a brief hiatus of traveling to Iowa State and other circumstances.

The Iowa offense is looking to improve on their previous showing and in doing that have been very effective at ignoring the outside noise. They are focused on what happens internally.

The Iowa State Cyclones come into town off of an impressive offensive performance in their opener while their defense is still in the process of growing and gelling into one unit, although they have some serious talent.

The Hawkeyes can win this game with contributions from all three units and all will be called upon at some point. With the Cy-Hawk set to kick off at 3 p.m, CST this afternoon, let’s go into the weekend the right way and look at five keys to success for the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Iowa Hawkeyes facing Cyclones quarterback Hunter Dekkers fresh off stellar debut

Cyclones quarterback Hunter Dekkers impressed in his debut, giving hope to Iowa State fans. He faces his first big test in Iowa.

Much has been made over the past week about the Hawkeyes’ inability to move the ball through the air against FCS opponent South Dakota State, but their upcoming opponent and rival Iowa State had zero problems in week one.

Sophomore quarterback Hunter Dekkers was one of 20 quarterback debuts featured by Athlon Sports after week one. In the first week of the Dekkers era at Iowa State, the Hawarden, Iowa, native diced up FCS foe Southeast Missouri State in a 42-10 victory.

Athlon Sports’ Steven Lassan wrote this of Dekkers starting debut.

Filling the void left behind by Brock Purdy isn’t easy, but the Hunter Dekkers era in Ames is off to a fast start. The Iowa native was nearly flawless in Iowa State’s 42-10 victory over FCS Southeast Missouri State, completing 25 of 31 throws for 293 yards and four scores. Dekkers also added 11 rushing yards and ranked third among Big 12 signal-callers in quarterback rating (196.2). – Lassan, Athlon Sports.

A lot of those in the media have talked about the pressure on Dekkers’ shoulders coming in to replace four-year starter Brock Purdy, almost to the point where his upside for the Cyclones gets lost in the shuffle. Purdy, now with the San Francisco 49ers, was a respectable quarterback, but wasn’t anything spectacular. He was a good college quarterback, and had his moment, but not one who would consistently take over in the big games. You knew what you were getting in Purdy, and he never reached the heights of his sophomore year again.

With Dekkers, the hope around Ames is that he can elevate the Cyclones to another level. They’ve finished inside the top 25 once in the past six years under Matt Campbell, finishing ninth in 2020. That’s the level the Cyclones want to get back to. Every other year they’ve been a mediocre team in the Big 12, finishing right around .500 in the conference.

The hope is that Dekkers can bring them back to that level, and while it was against an FCS opponent, he impressed in week one. He looked decisive, took what the defense gave him, but still was able to hit the deep ball. Week two in Kinnick against one of the strongest defenses in the nation will be the true test for the young lefty.

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‘He’s done a lot of good things for us’: Kirk Ferentz backing Spencer Petras heading into week 2

Don’t expect any quarterback changes heading into week two. Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz remains confident in Spencer Petras moving forward.

Week one was a struggle for Iowa on offense. That much is clear as day to anyone who watched the game or just looked at the box score. Against South Dakota State, the Hawkeyes only mustered 166 total yards, just 109 of which came through the air.

It was a rough Saturday for senior quarterback Spencer Petras, throwing a pick and finishing with a 1.1 QBR. Head coach Kirk Ferentz, though, has shot down the mounting pressure to replace Petras at quarterback and give it a go with Alex Padilla or even Joey Labas in the battle for the Cy-Hawk Trophy, instead placing the focus on team execution.

“Yeah, I think it is full-fledged. In my mind it is, and every player builds a resume when they’re here through the way they practice and when they play. We see more practice than we do game competition.

“But I think he’s done a lot of good things for us, and he did some good things Saturday. Some things he could have done better. I think overall right now, I think our biggest challenge is just a little bit like last year, is just team execution right now, and I want to give him a fair assessment just like I would anybody that’s in there,” Ferentz said

Ferentz has been adamant ever since the 7-3 win over South Dakota State went final that Petras is the still the team’s starting quarterback moving forward this season. After the game, Ferentz stated that he doesn’t anticipate any changes at this point, and once again called on the entire team to get better, including the subject of debate.

The Hawkeye head coach’s words have so far been backed by his actions, Petras pretty much exclusively working with the first-team in practice. It should be noted though that while Padilla is working with the twos, he sees the same exact plays that Petras and the first team are working with.

“Not a lot. We’re running the same plays both groups — I imagine most people do this. Pro football is a little different, but we tend to work two offenses during the course of a practice.

“The twos get a lot of reps. Not as many as the ones, but they get a lot of reps. Alex is running the same stuff that Spencer is,” Ferentz said.

We’ll see if Ferentz’s confidence in his quarterback is well founded in Saturday’s clash against rival Iowa State.

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