Iowa State vs. Texas Preview: We Should Beat Texas, Probably

Texas is, quite frankly, a natural villain to pretty much everyone else in the Big 12. It seems like every year there is some version of controversy over opposing fans (and sometimes players) using the “horns down” hand symbol to mock the Longhorns. (If you are unfamiliar, Texas’s signature hand-signal includes putting a person’s index finger and pinkie in the air to make the hand look like it has horns.) Everything is bigger in Texas, including the whining. 

Texas has the money, resources and recruiting base to make a lot of other schools jealous. Texas is a national brand name and is perceived to get the benefit of the doubt in most situations because of it. For example, in 2014 TCU and Baylor both finished 11-1 in the regular season, and both missed the College Football Playoff. There’s little doubt an 11-1 Texas team would have been in.

During the offseason leading up to 2021, Texas and Oklahoma decided to join the SEC Conference and leave their Big 12 brethren in a poor spot. While there was definitely ill-will toward Oklahoma for the decision, the majority of vitriol was aimed at Texas. For years it had seemed Texas got what Texas wanted. When the Longhorns had threatened to leave in prior years, others in the conference did whatever they could to keep Texas around (including allowing unequal revenue sharing that would benefit Texas and allowing Texas to show games on its own television network.) After all that, Texas still decided to chase more dollars at the expense of schools like Iowa State.

Perception matters in college football, more than any other sport in the country. Those who are perceived to be good get ranked higher. Programs that are perceived to be prestigious tend to draw the better coaches (and often have higher budgets to pay those coaches’ salaries). Programs that are perceived to be better have an easier time in recruiting. By design, the rich have an easier path to getting richer. Schools like Iowa State, Iowa, Wisconsin and Kansas State have shown it is possible to have various levels of success without being a “blue blood,” but schools like Texas, Oklahoma, Ohio State, Michigan, Alabama, USC, Notre Dame and others consistently have a leg-up if they are able to capitalize on it. 

Texas has lived off perception. The Longhorns have not won a Big 12 Championship since 2009 and have not won a National Championship since 2005. Texas has only played in one New Year’s Six bowl game since 2009, and has been a mediocre program for much of that time period, especially compared to most of the other schools I listed above. The on-field performance has not matched the program expectations, but when it comes to television time slots and conference realignment, the Longhorns are still the darlings. 

I’m sure that Texas fans do not appreciate how often the Longhorns have lost to teams like Iowa State in the last decade-plus.

It wasn’t always this way. Iowa State started off 0-7 in its history vs. Texas. I remember in my junior year of college in 2007, as a member of the Cyclone Marching Band, Iowa State hosted Texas in a midseason game. The Cyclones were 1-5 entering the game under first-year head coach Gene Chizik, who had joined the Cyclones after working as an assistant coach at Texas. For some reason, I talked myself into thinking The Cyclones would have a chance. Chizik knows the players and coaches on the other side, I thought. That must give him an advantage.

I quickly gave up any hope of that notion being true when Texas star quarterback Colt McCoy found Jordan Shipley on a fifty-eight-yard touchdown pass on the Longhorns’ first play from scrimmage to make it 7-0. Texas led 28-3 at halftime, and poured it on even more in the second half in a 56-3 victory. I sometimes tell people that part of the marching band experience is that I had to stay to the very end of the game, no matter how bad it was. Usually when I say that, I’m thinking of that Texas game. It wouldn’t surprise me if the stadium was eighty percent empty in the second half that day.

The day my perception of Texas began to change was in 2010.

Heading into the game, I thought Iowa State had no chance. The Cyclones were 3-4 and coming off of a noncompetitive 52-0 loss at Oklahoma. Their reward was to play at Texas. The Longhorns were 4-2, but had just come off a win on the road at fifth-ranked Nebraska and the year before had played in the National Championship game. There was still a mystique about the Longhorns, a feeling that the Cyclones could not possibly compete with them. 

I was not amped up for this game. I watched by myself in my apartment in Des Moines, and was expecting it to go south quickly.

I was pleasantly surprised when Iowa State quarterback Austen Arnaud found Darius Reynolds for an eighteen-yard touchdown midway through the first quarter to give Iowa State a 7-0 lead, and started to feel a little bit of shock when Alexander Robinson rushed for a one-yard touchdown in the second quarter to give Iowa State a 14-3 lead. Iowa State held off a potential Texas touchdown drive when Michael O’Connell intercepted a pass in the endzone, and Texas missed a field goal late in the second quarter. Maybe this could be our day.

Still, I didn’t think Iowa State was going to win. Not really. I expected Texas to make a few halftime adjustments and impose their will in the third quarter. 

Instead, Arnaud and Robinson led Iowa State on an eighty-nine-yard touchdown drive midway through the third quarter, capped by a pass to Josh Lenz in the back of the endzone to make the score 21-6. Now I was starting to change my mind. Iowa State was controlling the game. Texas’ next drive ended with an interception by Iowa State’s Jeremy Reeves, and a little while later Iowa State’s Jacob Lattimer recovered a fumble at the Texas forty-yard-line.

I’m pretty sure at this point, I was audibly cheering, even though I was all by myself. I know that when Robinson broke free for a twenty-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter that I was jumping up and down pumping my fist. Iowa State was up 28-6, and it had turned into a blowout.

It couldn’t be easy. Texas marched down the field for an eighty-yard touchdown drive to make it 28-14. Iowa State ended another threat when Leonard Johnson intercepted the ball at the seven-yard line. With just more than three minutes to go in the game, Texas scored again to make it 28-21. The Longhorns were finally making the run that I had feared all day.

When they got the ball back with just more than a minute left, I was a ball of nerves. Lattimer forced a big sack on first down, and Texas eventually faced a fourth-and-fifteen from its own five-yard line. If any team could still find a way to lose this, it would be Iowa State, I couldn’t help but think. Instead, the Cyclones forced an incomplete pass to wrap up the win. I called my friend Chris. “I can’t believe it!!” 

For Iowa State, it was regarded as one of the biggest wins in school history. After the game, word spread that there would be a welcome party for the team in Ames when their flight arrived home. Of course I was going to be there for that! I drove to Ames and joined hundreds of other Cyclone fans for what turned into a mini-pep rally. Rhoads spoke, players spoke, and fans cheered. Some people thought it was overkill, perhaps even a sign that Iowa State was not a big-time program. At the time, I didn’t care. I thought it was a sign of how strong our fanbase was that we would show up for an event like that. Our fanbase experience was intimate enough to warrant it. Even though the program has had a lot more success since then, and even though I can’t imagine a pep rally like that happening today, the elements that led to that celebration are the same elements that make it special to be an Iowa State fan even in the bad years. We care, a lot, and we’ll go out of our way to show our support.

If you are wondering how Texas felt about the loss: “It’s bad for the program,” one player told media after the game, in a quote dripping with arrogance. “They beat us today, but we just shouldn't lose to certain teams here at Texas.” 

I’ve never forgotten that quote. It says everything about the place each of these programs have, or are perceived to have, in the hierarchy of college football. 

A few years later, it was Rhoads’ turn to have postgame comments I would never forget. 

In 2013, after Iowa State got off to its first poor start of the Rhoads era, the Cyclones welcomed Texas to Jack Trice Stadium for a Thursday evening matchup. Iowa State was 1-2, and Texas was 2-2 entering the matchup. I know Iowa State’s fanbase was antsy about the poor start to the season, and I imagine Texas fans were more than a little upset. The Cyclones came out and went toe-to-toe with Texas in a back-and-forth game. I remember feeling like if we can just win, Rhoads will have turned this season around, just as he had done so successfully in multiple seasons in the past. 

The Jack Trice crowd was electric after Sam Richardson found Quenton Bundrage for a 97-yard touchdown pass midway through the third quarter to give the Cyclones a 20-17 lead. Early in the fourth, Aaron Wimberly broke through for a 20-yard run to give Iowa State a 27-24 lead. My seat at the time was in the south endzone, and it felt like Wimberly was running right at me as he broke the goal line for the score. I yelled as loud as I could and threw my hands in the air. 

Iowa State had a chance to put the game away as the clock ticked under four minutes, making it all the way to the Texas 4-yard line. Iowa State instead had to settle for a field goal and 30-24 lead, setting up Texas for one more chance to score a touchdown and win.

The crowd got antsy as the Longhorns marched down the field. Texas lined up for a first-and-goal play from the 1-yard line with less than a minute to play. Just as I and probably most other fans in the stadium had given up hope, Texas ran the ball, got stuffed, and Iowa State’s Jeremiah George emerged from the pile with the football. The crowd went from quiet and dejected to a feeling of pandemonium. We just won!! Slowly we started to realize that the ref had blown the play dead. As officials reviewed the play, we watched the replay on the video board. It looked clearly to be Iowa State’s football. The refs didn’t see it that way. The play stood for Texas.

The angriest I have ever experienced a stadium was earlier in 2013 when the Iowa State men’s basketball team lost an overtime game to the Kansas Jayhawks. ISU’s Georges Niang had appeared to take a charge in the final seconds that would have given Iowa State the win. Instead, there was no call and a few seconds later Niang was called for a foul himself. Hilton Coliseum went to a negative place that night. The second-angriest I stadium I have ever experienced was that Thursday night in 2013 in Jack Trice Stadium. 

The crowd booed, and booed some more as Texas scored to take a 31-30 lead. After Iowa State threw an interception to end the game, I’m pretty sure there were more boos. It seemed like these calls always went against Iowa State, and it seemed like teams like Texas would get all the breaks. (How eerily similar this game was to Iowa State’s 2021 game between Iowa State and West Virginia. Sigh.)

After the game, Rhoads didn’t hold back in his postgame press conference. 

"To make a play on the 1-yard line with our backs against the wall...and have it taken away from them, that's hard to express. You don't just put an arm around a guy and tell him it's OK when that happens to him," he told reporters. As he talked, his voice steadily raised. 

A little later he said, "We're the least penalized team in the league coming into this game. There sure seemed to be a lot of hankies out there," clearly feeling like his team drew the short straw all night long.

Rhoads stood up for his team. He expressed the anger that Cyclone fans were feeling. A lot of coaches (including current head coach Matt Campbell) shy away from blaming officials for a loss. Rhoads embraced it. At the time, I loved it.

Two years later, he again made some memorable postgame remarks. Iowa State beat a 3-4 Texas team 24-0 in 2015, in a game that at the time felt like could be a turning point for Rhoads to save his job at Iowa State. After the game, Rhoads told reporters “I don’t know how this comes across. But, I’ll say this anyway. We shouldn’t beat Texas probably. We shouldn’t beat Texas probably. Every kid that they recruit, if I go recruit them, I’m not going to get them. I’m not going to get them. OK? But, we did and we have twice because the program’s moving in the right direction.”

Again, at the time I agreed with him. I appreciated Iowa State taking on the bully and winning. I appreciated Iowa State doing more with less. 

Looking back, I firmly believe that I limited myself in the idea of what Iowa State football could be. I was happy just to see the team get a win against a poor Longhorn team. I was happy conceding Iowa State shouldn’t be able to compete with Texas. 

I still appreciate the wins in 2010 and 2015, but I no longer believe Iowa State’s ceiling is as low as I thought it was at those points. And I no longer believe Iowa State shouldn’t beat Texas. 

It took coach Matt Campbell awhile to prove that Iowa State could beat Texas when he got hired. 2016 was a lost year in terms of wins and losses for the Cyclones, so a loss at Texas was more-or-less expected. In 2017, Texas came to Jack Trice Stadium for an early-season Thursday night showdown. Iowa State was 2-1 with an overtime loss to Iowa, and I was still trying to decide if I believed  this Cyclone team could compete for a bowl game. I felt worse after Texas controlled the game in a frustrating 17-7 win for the Longhorns. Looking back, it’s the last time I did not feel confident in Iowa State’s trajectory under Campbell; the Cyclones upset Oklahoma the next week en route to an 8-5 season.

In 2018, Iowa State played one of the most anticipated games in school history in a late-season trip to Austin. The winner of the game would essentially earn a spot in the Big 12 Championship game two weeks later, something Iowa State’s program had never done at the time. I watched with my wife Paige and Chris as West Virginia lost in the final minute against Oklahoma State, which was the one domino the Cyclones needed to clear their path to the title game. If they could beat Texas, of course.

Star running back David Montgomery was suspended for the first half after throwing a punch at a Baylor defender the week before (after getting illegally driven into the bench several yards out of bounds). It was a blow to Iowa State, as Montgomery was a key part of the Cyclones’ offense. The game just never felt right. The Cyclone offense could never seem to get into a rhythm, and that night Texas did look like the big bad bully that it expects to be. Iowa State scored a touchdown late to make what was a 24-3 deficit look more respectable at 24-10. However, that night Rhoads’ words seemed to ring true. “We shouldn’t beat Texas probably.” It was one of the more disheartening games I had ever watched. It felt like Iowa State was still a long way away.

Ironically, in 2019, the Cyclones’ Big 12 title hopes had been dashed the week before in a close loss at Oklahoma when Iowa State hosted Texas in November. This time, though, Iowa State looked every bit like it belonged on the same field, taking control of the game early. If anything, it was frustrating when the Cyclones couldn’t put the Longhorns away and somehow found themselves trailing 21-20 late.

Iowa State needed a field goal to win when they took the ball at their own 18-yard line with 3 minutes remaining. Purdy got things going with a 15-yard pass to Deshaunte Jones followed by a 22-yard pass to La’Michael Pettway. A pass interference penalty moved the ball to the Texas 30. Iowa State was moving in on field goal range.

The Cyclones faced a 4th-and-5 from the 25. With over two minutes left, even a field goal would give Texas the ball back with a chance to win. Until… a Longhorn defender jumped offsides to give Iowa State the first down. Cyclone players pumped their fists in celebration. The game was now in Iowa State’s hands. Iowa State ran three more plays, took the clock down to four seconds, and sent Connor Assalley out for a field goal attempt.

Assalley lined up for the kick. I felt a little bit sick as I thought about how many times I had seen the Cyclones lose this type of game or miss a big field goal in an important moment. For most seats in the stadium, it’s difficult to tell whether a kick is good until the referee makes a signal. It may be long enough, but it’s nearly impossible to tell whether the kick split the uprights or was pushed to one side or the other. This time, I knew it was good as soon as I saw the fans in the Sukup End Zone Club begin to put their hands in the air. The refs followed by signaling that the kick was good, and I cheered as the Iowa State team ran on the field to celebrate. “Sweet Caroline” blasted on the stadium speakers, followed by the “Juicy Wiggle.” 

Some people around me had begun to file out, but I stood there trying to soak in every moment, jumping up and down with my fist in the air as Juicy Wiggle played. “I’ve seen Iowa State lose this game enough times that I’m going to enjoy this!” I declared to some of my seatmates who were also sticking around. Little did I know what was about to happen in the world as we headed toward 2020.

The 2020 game set up to be a lot like the 2018 game. The winner would essentially earn its spot in the Big 12 Championship game. It was fitting in many ways that Iowa State had to overcome mighty Texas to take this next step as a program. 

The game was the day after Thanksgiving on Black Friday. Normally for a game of this magnitude I would have watched with Chris or my dad, or gone to a sports bar. Given the ongoing pandemic, I watched at home with Paige. 

Texas jumped out to a 10-0 lead before Iowa State scored on a 35-yard pass from Brock Purdy to Sean Shaw Jr. to make it 10-7. Texas added a field goal to go up 13-7 before Iowa State put together a 15-play drive that at one point took the Cyclones all the way to the 2-yard line. Unfortunately, they had to settle for a field goal to make it 13-10. It felt like a missed opportunity. Adding to my stress level in the game, during the second quarter we had a pest control person come to our house. I had the game recorded and paused it for around 30 minutes. This meant I had to totally ignore my phone as my text message chain continued converse. I was feeling highly anxious knowing that everyone else in my texting group was ahead of me. What do they know that I don't yet know???

It was an intense game that stayed in the Longhorns' favor most of the way. Texas scored on its first drive of the second half to go up 20-10. Iowa State then drove all the way to the Texas 5-yard line before again being forced to settle for a field goal to make it 20-13, followed by a kickoff return to midfield for Texas. 

“We’re doing everything we can’t do if we want to win this game,” I lamented. Paige was too stressed to watch; she decided to take a nap.

The Cyclones forced a stop after the long kickoff return, and then caught a break when Texas tried to fake the punt, which was stopped three yards short of the first down line. Finally some momentum! Purdy connected on a 44-yard pass to Charlie Kolar to the Texas 13-yard line, before a holding penalty derailed the drive and forced another Assalley field goal to make it 20-16. 

Early in the fourth quarter, after fast-forwarding through halftime and commercials, I finally caught up and checked my messages. "Is Kyle OK?" one of them had asked? I assured them I was.

Texas put together a 13-play drive to begin the fourth, and decided to go for a 4th-and-2 from the 13 rather than kicking a field goal. Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger was stuffed for no gain. Iowa State had dodged another potential scoring drive. 

The Cyclones took the ball back and faced a 4th-and-3 from their own 42-yard line. With less than five minutes left and down by four points, I was (silently, in my head) yelling at them to go for it. I’m pretty sure I was not the only person who felt that way, but Campbell sent out the punting unit. He decided to “trust the process,” and apparently the process called for a punt in that situation. He looked like a genius a few minutes later. 

Iowa State forced a three-and-out to get the ball back. I felt an odd sense of calm as Iowa State took the ball back with 3:01 left. Hall began the drive with an 18-yard run. Purdy found Dylan Soehner for 22 yards, and then Kolar for 17 yards. Hall ran for 9, and then with just 1:25 to play took it the final 3 yards into the endzone for a touchdown. For the first time all day, Iowa State held the lead at 23-20.

Still, there was enough time left for Texas to get the game to overtime. Texas began to move down the field, converting a 3rd-and11 and then completing passes of 13 and 9 yards before Ehlinger ran for 7 more. Texas was at the Iowa State 36, in range for a field goal attempt. On a big play, ISU defender Latrell Bankston sacked Ehlinger for a loss of 4 yards, forcing a field goal attempt from the 40. Those extra 4 yards would loom large. 

With three seconds left, Texas' kicker lined up for the kick. Since I was watching on television, this time I could tell exactly where the ball was in relation to the goal posts. The kick sailed toward the uprights. It's going to be good. At the last second, it began to veer to the left and... NO GOOD! 

"YES!!" I yelled, waking up Paige in startling fashion. "We just won!" I told her as my voice cracked. 

Iowa State was going to the Big 12 Championship game. 

In rewatching the highlight later, I noticed a smattering of cheering as the kick went wide left. In the pandemic-limited crowd, there had still been a few Cyclone fans there to cheer. Wide Right Natty Light, a Cyclone fan site, put together a compilation of fan-submitted videos showing people cheering (and tearing up) at home as they watched the kick miss. It was an all-timer of a moment to be a Cyclone fan.

Heading into the 2021 game, this isn’t quite the game we thought it was going to be when the schedule came out. Iowa State is coming off a disappointing loss at West Virginia. Texas is 4-4 in head coach Steve Sarkisian’s first year. Still, this was a game fans circled since Texas announced it was leaving the conference.

When Kansas comes to Hilton Coliseum to play a men's basketball game, there's a little bit of dislike in the air. A little something extra. The feeling of trying to beat the program that is one of the most storied in the country. There is a similar feeling when Texas comes to Jack Trice Stadium for football. There will be some anger in the air on Saturday. Texas is always the enemy, but even more so now that it is defecting from the Big 12. This may be the final time we ever see the Longhorns at Jack Trice Stadium. The crowd will be charged. The "horns down" hand symbol will be prominent. 

For Iowa State, every game at this point is a de facto elimination game in terms of making it to the Big 12 Championship. The Cyclones need to win to keep that dream alive.

The beauty of college football is that some games are exciting no matter the records, no matter how the season finishes. Some games, because of their own circumstances and storylines, live on in fans’ minds. This game has the potential to do that. We really want to send Texas away with a loss.

It may have been true before that Iowa State shouldn't beat Texas. On Saturday, we'll see if there is still any truth to it.