Iowa State was rolling, but there was still just a little bit of drama.

The Cyclones had jumped to a 38-0 lead at halftime. The near-sellout crowd at Jack Trice Stadium was enjoying every minute. When I wrote my preview for this game, I wrote that it would be difficult for fans to be truly satisfied no matter what happened. A big win was expected; anything less would cause worry.

I was wrong, at least speaking for myself. Even for a team favored to win by thirty-plus points, it was impressive to see Iowa State’s ability to take complete control of the game from the opening kick. The crowd showed up and cheered loud, despite a 2-2 start to the season that began with so much hype. It was a nearly picture-perfect fall night in Jack Trice Stadium. The team responded by scoring four touchdowns in the opening quarter and delivering the kind of dominant win that we had rarely seen at Iowa State even in the era of coach Matt Campbell.

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.

Perspective. It can be tough to keep in life sometimes, particularly when you really want something.

On Saturday in Waco, Texas, I was reminded of how important it is to keep perspective. Surrounded by hundreds of Iowa State fans tailgating at the Iowa State Club of Dallas/Fort Worth’s tailgate party, Iowa State Athletics Director Jamie Pollard said a few words to the crowd.

Pollard shared an anecdote about his experience at the Fiesta Bowl to cap the 2020 season. How for years he had dreamed of that experience and having thirty thousand-plus Cyclone fans in attendance to celebrate, but instead the stadium was nearly empty due to pandemic protocols. He reminded us that sometimes we as humans focus so much on the destination that we forget to enjoy the journey. The destination can be great, but may not live up to what you build it up to be in your mind. The journey is what makes the destination worthwhile.

Since we are just coming off a trip to Las Vegas, let me tell you a story about why I will never bet money on Cyclone football.

The year was 2013. I went on a trip to Las Vegas with my close friends for a bachelor party. Having never bet on sports, it was extra exciting to be there for a college football weekend to be able to place some small bets on a handful of games. We eagerly headed to the nearest sportsbook on Friday evening to check out the betting lines and make our picks.

That weekend, Iowa State was set to play at Baylor. The Cyclones had started the season poorly, and Baylor was a ranked team with an explosive offense. Still, when we saw the line of Baylor being favored by somewhere around thirty-five points, all of the Cyclone fans in our group felt irrationally overconfident. No way does Iowa State lose by more than thirty-five to Baylor. As we all placed our bet, one member of our group, a Hawkeye fan, saw an opportunity. “Wait, you guys are all betting on Iowa State to cover?” he asked. “Something isn’t right here. I’m taking Baylor.”

“What an incredible scene,” I said as I took in the sight of thousands of Cyclone fans on the walk back from Allegiant Stadium to the Las Vegas strip.

Iowa State had just defeated UNLV in convincing fashion. Iowa State fans outnumbered UNLV fans by a wide margin. Some estimates said twenty-five-to-thirty-thousand Cyclone fans made the trip to watch our team play in Las Vegas.

It was a jovial crowd walking out of the game after a 48-3 win by Iowa State. It felt like a get-right game after a disappointing start of the season. The feelings of the Iowa game had now fully worn off as we celebrated Cyclone fandom and our team, together, over a long weekend in the desert. We were walking across West Hacienda Avenue, on a bridge over the interstate that runs through the city, a bridge that connects Allegiant Stadium to the nearest resorts: Mandalay Bay and Luxor, where the majority of Cyclone fans were staying. There were Cyclone fans as far as the eye could see in front of and behind me, against the backdrop of the bright lights of Las Vegas. As I walked, the pyramid structure of the Luxor emitted a bright blue light into the air and the golden lights of Mandalay Bay seemed to be inviting us to celebrate just a little longer that evening.

It’s time for the trip I have been dreaming about for nearly a year-and-a-half.

The frustration, and also part of the beauty, of college football is how much is hurts when your team loses, especially to your rival, and especially early in a season where you have high hopes and expectations. But it’s over now. It’s time to move on. And what better way to move on than joining thousands of Cyclones fans on a road trip.

There’s something special about these experiences

I had a low-grade headache from the time I walked into Jack Trice Stadium for the Iowa State vs. Iowa game. It had been a day full of sun and heat that reached in the 90s, and the last two hours of the tailgate felt like we were just trying to survive. Despite having drank what seemed like a gallon of water, the heat had caught up to me after eight hours outside and my head was beginning to hurt.

Headache or no headache, I was not going to miss this game. I was able to convince myself that my head didn’t hurt that bad, and that it wasn’t really that hot, as I watched the Cyclones run out onto the field. I looked around at the crowd. There was a buzz in the stadium I had never felt before. We had a top ten team in the country. We were playing a top ten team in the country. They happened to be our biggest rivals, who we hadn’t beaten since 2014. And by the way, this was the game of the day in college football on the national landscape. I turned to my friend Chris and my wife Paige and my voice was shaky as I said “I’ve never felt it quite like this before.”

There was no doubt. We wanted it, and we wanted it bad.

My brother is seven years older than me, and a Hawkeye fan. The fact that he is my big brother mirrors the sentiment prevalent among many fans that Iowa State is the “little brother” to the Hawkeyes. Growing up and throughout our adult lives, this dynamic has played out similarly. Quite frankly, I’ve always wanted to be like my brother, and in so many ways Iowa State has always wanted to be like Iowa. Now, in so many ways we are.

Recently, with the news about conference realignment, there has been speculation that the yearly CyHawk rivalry could end. There seem to be some fans on both sides that would be OK with that. It’s almost like we go out of our way to act like we don’t care about each other.

Not me.

“Hey Opie, I have a question for you.”

My friend Nancy, who was sitting in front of me with her husband Eric, had just turned around to start a conversation as we sat in our seats at Jack Trice Stadium. I have known them both since college marching band and have tailgated with and sat next to them at games for years (and yes, Opie was a college nickname). They are two of the nicest people I know. In this case, I knew what Nancy was about to ask.

Iowa State was in a slog of a game with Northern Iowa. At this point about halfway through the fourth quarter, the Cyclones were up by only six points, a tenuous lead to say the least. It was a game that on paper favored the Cyclones by nearly 30 points, and in reality was going to go down to the final minutes.

I apologize in advance for the heartburn I am about to cause any Cyclone fans who read this. The conversation around this game just wouldn’t be quite complete if we didn’t go down the road I’m about to go down.

Here we are. Game one. By the time the game kicks off on Saturday, it will have been 245 days since we last saw the Cyclones. We spend eight months waiting for the season. Talking. Making plans. Anticipating.

My decision to be an Iowa State fan really makes no sense.

In the fall of 1997, I was 10 years old. Iowa State was preparing to host Iowa in the annual CyHawk game. The Cyclones were, to put it mildly, a poor football team. Heading into the game, they were 0-3 and had been outscored by a combined 130-53.

“They’re gonna do it. They’re really gonna do it.”

With less than 90 seconds left in the 2020 Big 12 Championship game in Arlington, Texas, Iowa State’s Xavier Hutchinson had just caught a 2-yard pass that turned into a 15-yard penalty upon enduring a face mask penalty. The penalty gave the Cyclones a first down at the Oklahoma 33-yard line. The Sooners held a 6-point lead, but Iowa State was driving with the endzone in its sight. For the first time that day, I really, truly believed. Iowa State was going to score a touchdown and win the Big 12 Championship.