Iowa State is the lone college program ranked in the top ten in football, men’s basketball, and women’s basketball in the AP polls.
The preseason AP Poll for both men’s and women’s basketball went live this week with the college hoops season getting underway in less than three weeks.
With both polls live, and of course the football poll chugging along as Week 8 draws near, there is one team that is ranked inside the top ten in all three polls: the Iowa State Cyclones.
Iowa State moved up to No. 9 in the football poll after going on the road and taking down West Virginia on Saturday, moving to 6-0 on the year and a perfect 3-0 in Big 12 play. The Cyclones have a favorable remaining schedule, only facing one ranked team in Kansas State and not until November 30th, and could realistically be in the 12-team College Football Playoff at this rate.
T.J. Otzelberger’s program is ranked No. 5 after going 29-8 and 13-5 in conference play last year, earning a two seed and advancing to the Sweet 16 before losing to Illinois. The Cyclones retained most of their core this offseason, including guards Tamin Lipsey and Keshon Gilbert and forward Milan Momcilovic, and should compete for a Big 12 title and another deep run in March.
Lastly, the women’s team came in at No. 8 overall, first among Big 12 programs. The Cyclones finished sixth in the Big 12 last year with a 21-12 overall record, earning a No. 7 seed and losing to Cameron Brink and Stanford in the second round.
Few programs can boast about having even two elite programs out of these three, and for fans in Ames a potentially all-time great sports season is already underway.
The football team hosts Central Florida on Saturday at 7:30 PM ET, while the men’s team will open up against Mississippi Valley State on November 4th and the women’s team the same day against Chicago State.
The Big 12 had ANOTHER exciting week of college football. BYU and Iowa State lead the way, but where did Colorado fall after a tough loss to Kansas State?
It would be hard for the Big 12 conference to fit more excitement into a five-game slate than they did last weekend. In a weekend that was set to be dominated by rivalries in the SEC and Big Ten, Big 12 football still seemed to dominate the headlines.
You had ranked teams falling apart (sorry, Utah Utes), last-minute comeback heroics (shouts to the Kansas State Wildcats), and dominant efforts from College Football Playoff caliber teams (Iowa State Cyclones and BYU Cougars… We see you).
The Big 12 did have six teams on byes this week, but that didn’t stop some of them from moving in our power rankings. Further, the top of the conference appears up for grabs… while the bottom continues to be more or less the same week to week. While that’s up for some programs to figure out, the “truck stop conference” appears to be doing anything besides stopping.
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No. 1 – BYU Cougars
Dominant defense, strong specialists, and an offense capable of getting the job done. BYU gets to boast a lot of things after getting to 6-0 over the weekend with a convincing win over the Arizona Wildcats. Provo, Utah, continues to look like one of the toughest places to play in America.
No. 2 – Iowa State Cyclones
Iowa State went halfway across the country to Morgantown, West Virginia, and beat the West Virginia Mountaineers into the “should we fire our coach?” conversation. ISU continues to impress with their explosive receiving core and dominant defensive backs. It’s hard to pick a team more built for modern football.
No. 3 – Kansas State Wildcats
Quarterback Avery Johnson may have had the best play of the weekend with his game-winning 50-yard touchdown pass over the Colorado Buffaloes. Johnson was held in check as a runner, but the rest of the Wildcats added over 200 yards rushing to make up for his -15. KSU continues to dominate Big 12 play since dropping their game to BYU. Thankfully for one fan in particular.
No. 4 – Texas Tech Red Raiders
Had the Red Raiders not lost so badly to the Washington State Cougars in the non-conference, it would be easy to rank Tech even higher. Tech comes out of the bye unscathed, but their in-conference strength of schedule is questionable. Narrowly beating the Cincinnati Bearcats and Arizona Wildcats hasn’t aged well, but beating the Arizona State Sun Devils in Lubbock looks better each week. Tech has similarly weak opponents the next two weeks, but if they can scare Iowa State later this month they may have a shot to climb.
No. 5 – Arizona State Sun Devils
ASU climbs the highest this week. Last week’s 8th-place team leaps into the top half of the conference after knocking off what’s left of quarterback Cam Rising and the Utah Utes. While that game may tell us more about Utah, it’s hard to ignore Arizona State’s 5-1 record. That, and they have a running back with the best running back name in college football: Cam Skattebo.
No. 6 – Cincinnati Bearcats
Last weekend’s narrow win in Orlando over the UCF Knights may ultimately tell us more about UCF, Gus Malzahn, and whatever the situation is with KJ Jefferson… but for now, Cincy is 4-2 and their two losses are to an undefeated Pitt Panthers team and those darned Red Raiders. When he’s “right,” quarterback Brendan Sorsby is a talented gunslinger and Corey Kiner is a strong back.
No. 7 – Colorado Buffaloes
Coach Deion “Prime” Sanders, his son and quarterback Shedeur Sanders, and wide receiver cornerback Travis Hunter make for a star-studded team… but the Buffs continue to flirt with the bad type of destiny as they continue to play these close finishes. Colorado thought they had a huge win over KSU with just under three minutes left…Now, they look ahead to get on track with Arizona.
No. 8 – Arizona Wildcats
Arizona’s win over Utah is looking less impressive, and while their loss to BYU isn’t disqualifying… it wasn’t pretty. Big Noon Kickoff and the crowd it brought created a challenging environment, but quarterback Noah Fifita needed to show America something in this one.
No. 9 – Utah Utes
The Utes will want to blame the Friday night collapse to Arizona State on the “first-game-back-rust” of Cam Rising, but truthfully they were outplayed as an entire offense. The biggest thing keeping Utah from a precipitous fall is that, if Rising were to return to form, they have some potential big wins on their schedule. Until they hit those marks, they continue to trend down.
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No. 10 West Virginia Mountaineers
West Virginia with the rare “climbs a spot in a loss,” but that is really more a function of teams ahead of them falling. WVU has three losses to three teams who may all end up in the College Football Playoff (and are all ranked in the AP top 10 right now), but at some point they’re going to have to beat the good teams put in front of them. WVU could shoot up the rankings if they finish 9-3, but they face another ranked opponent next weekend in Kansas State.
No. 11 – Oklahoma State Cowboys
OSU manages to “climb a spot without playing,” which is really hard for a team that is 0-3 in conference to pull off. But it’s hard to “get worse” in a week you don’t play, and we have to assume they’re working on their quarterback issues in the bye week, right? A return to Arlington for the Big 12 title game is out of reach… but is a good bowl game?
No. 12 – Houston Cougars
The Coogs are still riding high off of a win over TCU more than a week ago, and head to Arrowhead stadium looking to build on an actual “winning streak.” Unlike other teams in this part of the Power Rankings, it appears they may have found a quarterback in Zeon Chriss. If they can ride the dual threat of Chriss into a few more Big 12 wins, who’s to say they can’t shock the world and make a bowl game?
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No. 13 – TCU Horned Frogs
TCU is another team that couldn’t get worse if they weren’t playing, but they are hoping to take advantage of a down Utah team this weekend. TCU blew a late one to UCF and beat the Kansas Jayhawks. While that makes it weird to put them ahead of UCF… It’s a function of what we’ve seen on the field most recently.
No. 14 – UCF Knights
I get it- it’s weird to see UCF fall below a team they beat. But UCF is spiraling, and positively worse than they were a few weeks ago. They have major questions at quarterback, a prominent media voice asking for a new coach, and two games coming up they absolutely will not win. The Bounce House is a tough place to play, but it’s hard to feel good about what’s happening in Orlando.
No. 15 – Baylor Bears
The bye week didn’t change anyone’s mind on head coach Dave Aranda. I’m sure they’re going to have a great Tuesday practice, but until they have a good game, they’re going to sit at the bottom of the power rankings. It feels impossible that they head into Lubbock and compete, let alone win, right?
No. 16 – Kansas Jayhawks
Still can’t be ranked higher than last in an FBS conference until you beat an FBS team.
Oklahoma Sooners favored to land four-star center Kai Rogers.
Porter Moser and the Oklahoma Sooners had one heck of a summer. The Sooners landed not one but two recruits.
Ultra-talented wing playmaker Alec Blair was the first to come aboard; the top 50 prospect pledged to the Sooners in July. Hailing from Denmark with a skill set that closely resembles many modern big men, Andreas Holst committed in mid-September.
As the calendar turns to October, recruiting for the class of 2025 is heating up. Senior seasons are approaching and the early signing period is right around the corner.
Oklahoma is not done for 2025. That was made abundantly clear on Sunday when national recruiting analyst Jamie Shaw of On3 dropped a prediction favoring the Sooners to land 6-foot-10 big man Kai Rogers.
Rogers is a bit of a throwback player in today’s modern basketball world: He wins and dominates from the post. He’s not a stretch four or a stretch five but a true center who scores frequently with his back to the basket, using soft hands and hooks to score over defenders. He’s also unafraid of turning and facing defenses to attack them off the dribble. He can afford to continue to get stronger and play with more intensity more consistently. He has a high ceiling that can be reached with more experience and finding a collegiate team with which he can grow.
Oklahoma hosted Rogers and his family on an official visit over the summer, and the Sooners have made him a priority since. The only competition Oklahoma has to worry about is former Big 12 foe Iowa State. The Cyclones have a history of landing basketball talent from Wisconsin.
Oklahoma nor Iowa State will not have to wait much longer as the consensus four-star recruit plans to announce his decision on Nov. 6. As it stands, the Sooners are gaining momentum. Landing Rogers would vault the Sooners from the No. 44 recruiting class in the country into the top 20 at No. 16.
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ESPN included Iowa’s 20-19 loss versus Iowa State among its top five college football games of Week 2.
Being on the wrong end of a college football thriller is the stuff of nightmares for diehard fans.
Unfortunately, that’s the case for the Iowa Hawkeyes after their 20-19 rivalry loss against Iowa State. Though this is indeed a game that Hawkeye fans will remember for some time, it’s not one they will remember fondly for the right reasons.
Still, for Iowa State fans or neutral observers, it was one of the best games of Week 2.
ESPN recognized as much. ESPN’s Bill Connelly ranked the Cy-Hawk game as its No. 4 best game in Week 2 of the 2024 college football season.
This was shaping up to be about the most Iowa win imaginable. The Hawkeyes got a lovely early touchdown run from Kaleb Johnson, picked off a pass to set up a field goal and allowed only 101 total yards in the first half. The Hawkeyes led 13-0 at halftime, and that can feel all but insurmountable at Kinnick Stadium.
Second-half yardage: ISU 258, Iowa 107. The Cyclones scored twice in the third quarter, Iowa punted on five straight possessions, and Kyle Konrady nailed fourth-quarter field goals of 46 and 54 yards to finish a 13-point comeback that felt more like a 31-pointer.
I’m not sure what this means for either team — ISU’s path to the CFP was going to primarily come from contending in the Big 12, and Iowa was only going to be a contender if the offense really was improved over last year’s. But the Hawkeye attack vanished when it mattered, and they’ve now lost two of three to their in-state rivals. – Connelly, ESPN.
Is there still a path to the College Football Playoff for Iowa? Yes, it still exists. But, it definitely got dicier and will require significant improvement by the Hawkeyes.
Iowa needs to pass the eye test as the season rolls along and can’t afford to lose anywhere else except at Ohio State. That might still leave the Hawkeyes squarely on the bubble.
So, it was a damaging loss for Iowa on multiple levels. Not fun to be on the wrong end of a classic finish and not good for the longterm outlook of what the ceiling may be for this 2024 season.
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Entering the Iowa State contest, Iowa was 72-2 when leading by eight points or more at any point in a game.
Perhaps the No. 1 reason why Saturday’s 20-19 loss versus Iowa State felt so shocking for Iowa football was because it simply rarely ever happens.
Dating back to the start of the 2015 season, the Hawkeyes owned a 72-2 record in contests where Iowa led by eight points or more at any point in the game.
At least for one Saturday, that bit of history didn’t hold up in Iowa’s favor. Iowa State bucked the trend, marching for a game-winning 54-yard field goal off the foot of Kyle Konrardy with just 34 seconds remaining and no timeouts to put the finishing touches on the Cy-Hawk victory.
The Hawkeyes led Iowa State 13-0 at halftime and 19-7 with 4:47 remaining in the third quarter following junior running back Kaleb Johnson’s 3-yard rushing score.
After the loss, Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz was asked what was different this time around with a lead of eight points or more and if the game felt any different as it was going along.
“Well, no, not really. Like I said, they got their first touchdown and I was really happy with the way we responded. We took it, whatever it was, 79 yards I guess, for a touchdown drive. So that’s what you’re looking for. Things are going to happen. I mean, we’re playing good teams, so they’re going to have plays, too, and make plays, so that response was really good. Then we weren’t good enough the rest of the way to respond or continue to respond the way you need to.
“Even our last possession, if you can get one more first down, now it’s never an issue of punting down there. Just little things like that that we’ll see all those tomorrow and talk about all those tomorrow.
“Typically when you lose a game, that’s the way it goes. There’s certain things you can point to that are going to make a big difference. Sometimes those things get disguised or masked a little bit when you win games, but that’s really the difference in a game. Making them chunk it instead of, going 10 plays instead of one or two plays, that type of thing,” Ferentz said.
Iowa did surrender a 75-yard touchdown grab to Iowa State senior wide receiver Jaylin Noel right after Johnson’s touchdown run. On its game-winning drive, Noel’s 30-yard reception was another killer.
Iowa returns to action on Saturday as it hosts Troy at 3 p.m. CT on FS1.
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The Big 12 Conference sees five teams in the Top 25 of the Associated Press Poll following Week 2.
The latest AP poll is out following Week Two of the College Football season. Once again, the Big 12 has five teams from the conference in the poll. This time, there is a new team in the rankings.
Out went the Kansas Jayhawks. Following their road loss at Illinois, the Jayhawks dropped out, along with Iowa, Georgia Tech, and North Carolina State.
Into the Top 25 is the Iowa State Cyclones. The Cyclones went to Iowa City and knocked out rival Iowa in the annual CyHawk game. The Cyclones are now 21st in the rankings, ahead of Clemson, Nebraska, Boston College, and Northern Illinois.
The Big 12 sees a trio of teams in a row. The first Big 12 team in the rankings is the Utah Utes at No. 12, followed by Oklahoma State and Kansas State. The final team from the Big 12 is the Arizona Wildcats. They come in at 20th, just ahead of Iowa State.
Despite shutting out the Cyclones in the first half and leading 13-0 at halftime, the Hawkeyes’ disappointing second-half performance left onlookers with plenty of questions.
One of those was Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz’s decision to opt for a two-point conversion try.
After Iowa State scored its first touchdown of the day with a 3-yard touchdown grab from senior Jayden Higgins with 8:48 left in the third quarter, Iowa responded with a 7-play, 79-yard drive that ended with a 3-yard touchdown run from junior running back Kaleb Johnson.
With the Hawkeyes leading 19-7 after Johnson’s touchdown plunge and 4:47 remaining in the third quarter, Ferentz and Iowa opted to try for a two-point conversion to potentially extend the Hawkeyes’ lead to 21-7.
The two-point try failed as graduate quarterback Cade McNamara couldn’t connect with freshman wide receiver Reece Vander Zee in the corner of the end zone.
Afterwards, Ferentz was asked about his decision to try for the two-point conversion.
“Yeah, I mean, I think maybe the debate would be is it too early, that type of thing. That put us at 19-7. I thought it gave us our best chance to win the football game, and to me the bigger issue is us not at least getting one touchdown out of those two field goal opportunities. We had the ball down inside there close. That’s obviously an area we’re going to have to improve on,” Ferentz said.
The logic for attempting the two-point conversion try makes sense. Convert the two-point try and Iowa State would have needed a pair of touchdowns and extra points to tie the football game.
Instead, Iowa State redshirt freshman kicker Kyle Konrardy’s 54-yard field goal wound up as the game-winner instead of representing a potential game-tying field goal try if the Hawkeyes had elected for a PAT try earlier.
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There was some good, some bad, and some ugly for the Big 12 Football conference on Saturday.
It was quite an interesting Week 2 of college football in the Big 12. There were some wacky results and wild finishes. In the end, there was some good, some bad, and some ugly. Let’s take a look at those:
The Good
Iowa State going on the road and beating the 21st-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes is a big-time “good” for the conference. The Cyclones used a field goal in the final seconds of the game to secure the win. Rocco Becht threw for 272 yards and two touchdowns while the Cyclones’ defense was strong as well, holding Iowa to just 99 passing yards in the game.
Utah was really good in the first quarter of the 23-12 win over the Baylor Bears. The problem was they didn’t score any more points on offense following that. The biggest reason for that is the loss of quarterback Cam Rising to injury during the game. Utah will now await the status of their signal caller, although early reports indicate the injury is not that serious. Micah Bernard was strong on the ground with 118 yards in the game.
The Bad
The Kansas Jayhawks being unable to go on the road and beat Illinois is part of the bad. Kansas came into the game ranked 19th in the nation, and were the favorites at a Big Ten team projected near the bottom of the standings. Jalon Daniels was bad, with four turnovers in the game. The offensive play calling was bad, not giving Devin Neal more than 14 carries while averaging over seven yards per carry.
The Arizona Wildcats went to the locker room at halftime trailing the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks 10-6. Fortunately for the home team, they scored 16 second-half points and won the game 22-10. But, a pretty bad performance for one of the teams projected to battle for a Big 12 title. After going insane in Week 1 with over 300 yards, Tetairoa McMillan was held to just two receptions and 11 yards in this game.
The Ugly
Talk about ugly? The Cincinnati Bearcats went into the fourth quarter of a big-time rivalry game against Pittsburgh leading 27-13. The Bearcats allowed the Panthers to score the final 22 points of the game, including 15 in the fourth quarter to win the game. The Bearcats have got to be wondering what in the world went on for them to lose that game. Brendan Sorsby was pretty strong in the win, which makes the rivalry loss even more ugly.
Colorado had an ugly performance on Saturday as Matt Rhule and the Nebraska Cornhuskers made quick and easy work of the Buffaloes in this one. Shedeur Sanders finished with 244 yards a touchdown and an interception but went for -30 yards in the game on the ground. Colorado is going to have to figure out if they are anything more than Sanders and Travis Hunter because right now, there are many questions about the squad.
Bad news for Iowa State football as linebacker Caleb Bacon is out indefinitely with a leg injury.
Matt Campbell and the Iowa State Cyclones got terrible news this week, as one of their top defensive threats was announced out indefinitely with an injury. Linebacker Caleb Bacon will miss this Saturday and many other games during the 2024 season.
Bacon had surgery on Sunday to repair a lower left leg injury. He hurt his leg in the first quarter of the win over North Dakota.
Bacon was second on the team a season ago with 60 tackles. While he will certainly miss time, the Cyclones are holding out hope that he can return this season. Matt Campbell, the Cyclones’ head coach, had this to say when asked about Bacon:
I do think he’ll be back at some point later this season, or have the opportunity to get back later in the season, based on recovery. Obviously, that’s a tough blow for Caleb, just because he’s done such a great job, but the great news is from what it could have been and what it was, there’s a lot of positivity around it, too.
Zachary Lovett and Jack Sadowsky V will pick up the slack for the Cyclones in the linebacker room. Iowa State has a big game this coming weekend, as they take on in-state rival Iowa on the road.
Iowa expects to square off against a confident and poised quarterback in Rocco Becht come Saturday.
Iowa expects to meet an experienced quarterback come Saturday in the annual Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series.
In his Tuesday press conference to preview the rivalry matchup, Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz shared his initial thoughts on the Iowa State Cyclones.
“Talking about Iowa State. They are a good football program and a good football team. I have a lot of admiration for their staff. They have a really good coaching staff. They’ve done a great job since Coach Campbell arrived. They have a veteran football team. They’ve recruited well, they coach their guys well, and each and every year there’s a good program and a good team.
“Look at the last six years, I think it’s a five-point whatever differential between the two teams, so I would expect the same thing Saturday. Another tough competitive hard-fought game. That’s what we’re looking at there,” Ferentz said.
That admiration from Ferentz extends to the Cyclones’ most important player, redshirt sophomore quarterback Rocco Becht.
“When I talked about them being a veteran team, veteran in the key parts, and that’s one of the positions I was referencing. He’s not an old guy, but he’s played enough now where I think he’s a very confident guy, very poised, and does a good job running their offense, and they’ve got a really talented group of receivers. Tight end Brahmer is a good receiver, so they have guys they can get the ball to, and I’m sure they will. He’s done a nice job leading their football team, and I’m guessing his best football is still ahead of him,” Ferentz said.
The 6-foot-1, 210 pound quarterback played and started all 13 games for the Cyclones in 2023. A product of Wiregrass Ranch High School in Wesley Chapel, Fla., Becht completed 63.5% of his passes, passed for 2,674 yards and 20 touchdowns a season ago.
In Iowa State’s 21-3 season-opening win against North Dakota, Becht finished 20-of-26 passing for 267 yards with two touchdown passes.
Iowa graduate CASH Sebastian Castro had one of the game’s biggest plays in the Cy-Hawk Series off Becht last year, though. Castro intercepted Becht’s second-quarter pass and raced 30 yards for a pick-six to put Iowa in front 17-0.
The Hawkeyes would go on to win 20-13. Iowa limited Becht to a 23-of-44 passing day with one touchdown against Castro’s interception. The Cyclones’ offense finished with 290 yards.
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