Iowa State vs. Kansas Preview: A Must-Win Against a Long-time Conference Foe
There have been some memorable moments for Iowa State against Kansas over the years. Some of my favorites include the 2015 game when ESPN’s College GameDay came to Hilton Coliseum to witness a Cyclone win over the Jayhawks. Later that season, Iowa State defeated Kansas for the Big 12 Tournament title in Kansas City. Then, there was the time in 2017 when Deonte Burton hit a shot in transition from near halfcourt and Donavan Jackson made a three-pointer from the corner to give Iowa State a season-changing win and make Allen Fieldhouse “just another gym.” Oh, and the 2019 Big 12 Tournament title win against the Jayhawks was also pretty sweet. I also remember Iowa State winning five in a row against Kansas between 1999 and 2001. And a lot of fans fondly remember Iowa State knocking off Kansas in the final Big Eight tournament in 1996.
Wait a second.
Those were men’s basketball-related memories. This is a book about football.
I joke, because for one, I enjoy thinking about those memories, and more importantly for the purposes of this story, the Iowa State vs. Kansas men’s basketball series has been more of a rivalry, and more relevant, than the football series, at least during my time as a fan dating back to the mid-1990s.
Kansas has typically not been good at football, and in the last decade has been very poor. Iowa State has had some good years and bad years in that time. Every game these two teams have played since 2010 has felt like a reprieve for the Cyclones, an almost automatic win. Some years it ended up being the difference between bowl eligibility and staying at home. Some years, it ended up being one of only three wins in the entire season, a battle to avoid last place in the Big 12. Most years for ISU head coach Matt Campbell, it has served as a “get things right” game to work out any kinks in the middle of the season during a nice boring win. And when the Cyclones have a closer-than-expected game (2019), or lose (2014), it stands out as a blip on the radar.
It was a different story in the late 2000s as Kansas had things rolling while Iowa State was in a poor stretch. Over the last twenty-years or so, the teams have rarely been good at the same time.
Then again, the game to me that most epitomizes the awesomeness of being an Iowa State fan was in an otherwise meaningless late-season game in 2013.
It was Senior Night in Ames. The Cyclones were 1-9 coming into the game. Kansas was 3-7. And it was a night game. In November. On the final Saturday before Thanksgiving. It was literally the coldest game in Iowa State football history with a kickoff temperature of eight degrees.
As we were getting ready to drive to Ames that day, I couldn’t help but think to myself… why am I doing this? I was going to park myself in a frigid stadium to watch two teams with poor records in a game in which there seemed to be next to no excitement for the fans. I was imagining a mostly empty Jack Trice Stadium and a lethargic crowd.
Adding to that feeling of indifference, we elected not to tailgate that day, a rare choice for our group. Instead we decided to all meet up at a bar on Main Street in Ames for a few hours before the game.
As we pulled into the parking lot at the stadium a few minutes before the game, with layer upon layer of Cyclone gear piled over my body, I steeled myself for the cold I was about to experience. We began the short walk to the stadium, and discovered that at least someone had been tailgating. There was a mostly full twenty-four-pack of Bud Light sitting in the grass. My friend Chris decided to help himself. The beer was slushy. He instead poured it out, and it was literally frozen by the time it hit the ground. Did I mention it was cold?
We walked into the stadium just a few minutes after kickoff, and I realized… there were actually people in the stadium, excited to be there. I’m always bad at judging the size of a crowd, but I can say for a November game for two teams with losing records, it was a decent showing. And as the Cyclones ran for a first down, the ballcarrier (I believe it was Jeff Woody) breaking a couple tackles along the way, I realized something else: These people were excited to be here. From my seats in the south endzone (before it was renovated into the Sukup End Zone Club), I looked toward the east side of the stands and noticed people standing, putting their fists in the air and hollering as the play was ongoing. We collectively had two choices that evening. We could either bundle up and try to keep the cold out, or we could decide we wanted to be there, cheer like crazy and try to keep warm through movement and energy generation. I knew my choice. I stood and cheered the entire game.
The Cyclone players took the same positive energy approach. Kansas players, it became obvious, did not take that approach. The Cyclones took a 10-0 lead into the halftime locker room, and then poured it on with 17 third quarter points to go up 27-0.
Around this time, I started to get a little worried. Not about the game. The fact that my feet were uncomfortably cold. I didn’t exactly have the best insulation. I was wearing tennis shoes and two pairs of socks, hoping that would keep me warm enough. In reality, it was just cutting off my circulation. (I can feel my wife, Paige, rolling her eyes at me. We met a few years later, and she convinced me to buy warm boots and wool socks for these types of games.)
I thought about asking Chris if we could leave, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. We don’t leave games early. I needed to figure something out. I walked out of the stands in search of a solution, someplace I could go to warm up. And right there in front of me was my answer: The porta-potty. This was as good as it was going to get. I entered, and immediately felt the warm embrace of my new environment. My nose was running enough that I probably couldn’t smell anything anyway. I sat down, took one shoe off, and started massaging my foot. It was a slow relief over the next several minutes as my feeling gradually came back, and the pain from the cold subsided. I proceeded to the same process on the other foot. Twenty minutes later, I was ready to go back to the stands to awkwardly explain my long absence to the group.
As it turns out, I am beyond grateful I didn’t leave the game early. After Iowa State wrapped up a dominating 34-0 win, the players lined up on the perimeter of the field, right near the stands. Stadium staff opened the gates from the stands to the field so fans could go onto field level to greet the players. I had never seen this before. The players proceeded to walk around the entire field in a line, high-fiving the fans who were still around and thanking them for their support. I wasn’t about to miss this opportunity. We went down to field level. I clapped and cheered for my team. And there was Jeff Woody, the hero who had scored the game-winning touchdown against Oklahoma State two years before, a senior experiencing his last game at Jack Trice Stadium. I went in for the high-five and felt my gloved hand match his. I am five years older than him, but I felt like a kid high-fiving a childhood hero. “Go beat West Virginia” I tried to say, though I was having a difficult time actually saying coherent words due to the cold. I’d like to think he heard me though, because the next week the Cyclones did go beat West Virginia, but that’s a story for a different day.
In what could have been a day to forget, we decided to make it memorable.
How many Division I Power Five programs would have that kind of interaction between players and fans following a game? I’m willing to bet not many, and maybe only this one. That night, we were all in it together, and we were grateful for each other.
It’s another reminder that although this season hasn’t yet lived up to the special status we’ve all hoped for, Saturday’s game against Kansas presents another opportunity for us to gather and watch our favorite team at Jack Trice Stadium.
And we get to watch a historic matchup. As the conference realignment discussion started over the summer, I was sad at the thought of Iowa State and Kansas possibly being split up (and also had similar emotions about Kansas State and Oklahoma State). I’m nostalgic about the fact that Iowa State and Kansas have played more than one hundred times.
Kansas has a new coach this year with Lance Leipold, and there seems to be a lot of respect around the game for him. As much as in many ways I’d like Kansas to always be bad, it would also be fun to have this game not only be competitive, but have some importance placed on it within each team’s season. When Kansas comes to Hilton Coliseum for men’s basketball, the game is circled by Cyclone fans, and I’d guess at least some years Jayhawk fans feel the same way.
A perfect example of when this game did have significant meaning is the 2005 season. In a game most of us would love to forget, Iowa State entered the final weekend of the season on the road in Lawrence needing only to beat Kansas to earn its first ever spot in the Big 12 Championship game.
Many Iowa State fans remember watching the second half of this game as slow torture. The Cyclones led 14-3 at the half, and Kansas came back to tie the game twice before winning on a field goal in overtime. My memory is a little different. I was a freshman at Iowa State, and I was home for Thanksgiving break. I watched the first half before I went to a wedding during the second half. A member of the band, I knew if we won I’d get to take a road trip the next weekend to the Big 12 Championship in Houston. I felt confident. Iowa State had seemed to clearly be the better team in the first half. I was mentally planning my first trip with the band to see Iowa State play for a championship.
This was before the days of smartphones, so I had no way of monitoring the game in the second half. After the wedding, I called my dad to find out what happened. Looking back, I feel bad for him that he had to be the one to break the news to me. He knew I was going to be upset.
“So, am I going to Houston next weekend?”
“No. (Pause.) They lost.”
I heard his words but didn’t believe them. No way we lost that game.
“Are you serious?”
“I’m serious. I’m sorry bud. They lost in overtime.”
In writing this passage, I went back and watched highlights from that game from 2005. I had never actually watched the second half highlights. It struck me how much intensity was present in that game. Iowa State fans, as I remembered, traveled well to Lawrence as our team was playing for a division championship and a shot at a conference title game appearance. Kansas was playing for bowl eligibility, and the home crowd was very much into it. The game meant something. It would be fun to see more matchups like that in the future.
For this year, though, I hope it means a comfortable Iowa State win. I hope we get to see backups play a good portion of the second half.
Since Iowa State began the week as a thirty-three-point favorite, this projects to be the final game on the schedule that’s not stressful. At least, we hope it’s not stressful. Kansas did show the ability to keep it close two years ago.
After the unexpected and — quite frankly, deflating — 2-2 start to the season, this game is beyond a must-win for the Cyclones to keep hopes alive for a Big 12 Championship Game appearance.
This is a tough game in some ways for fans. There’s no way the excitement will be anywhere close to what it was for the first two home games of the season. That was true even before the subpar start to the season. Beyond that, there is almost nothing the team can do this week to make us feel better about the loss to Baylor. If they win big, that’s what they are supposed to do. If they win close, the heartburn levels among fans will not go down. If they lose — nope, I just can’t bring myself to consider that thought.
The Cyclones get a bye week after this game and then play a gauntlet of seven games in a row against most of the toughest teams on the schedule. Take care of business Saturday, and the Cyclones can be fresh going into mid-October, and we as a fan base can regroup with at least something positive to hang onto. My mindset, though, goes something like this: Enjoy the tailgate. We only get so many of these a year. Cheer loud for Iowa State to win. Don’t worry about the next seven games, or even the next game.
The old coaching cliche is “we are just going to take it one game at a time.” That’s how I’m choosing to experience the rest of this season, starting Saturday night. Enjoy the journey, don’t worry about the destination. Beat Kansas, and then I’ll worry about the next one.