Can the Iowa State Cyclones win the Big 12 this season?

The Iowa State Cyclones rarely gave opponents an easy ride last season. Could that have been foreshadowing an upcoming Big 12 title?

The college football world is really in an astonishing era when we are discussing the chances of the Iowa State Cyclones winning the Big 12, but there truly is reason to believe that it could happen this year.

Obviously, these last several seasons have treated ISU relatively well, as it has made a bowl game for what is now five consecutive runs despite historically being one of the worst Power 5 programs out there.

However, merely reaching bowl status is rarely ever enough to earn you any true conference title hype, and the 2021 Cyclones wouldn’t appear worthy of hitting that level of consideration on paper.

Last year saw Iowa State finish with a hideously average record of 7-6, with all but one of their five regular-season losses stemming from league play. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that losing four out of nine conference games isn’t exactly title game material.

But regardless of what the loss count says by itself, pondering what the future could hold requires as much context as possible, and the deeper you dig into this Cyclones’ situation, the more capable they look.

Of their four Big 12 losses, the most “lopsided” were against West Virginia and Oklahoma, with each game being decided by seven points (and ISU was on the road both times). As for their other two league losses to Baylor and Texas Tech, they were also away games for the Cyclones—with each of them being decided by three points or less.

In other words, this season will see Iowa State hosting all four of the Big 12 powers that narrowly escaped them back in 2021. If it is able to survive most if not all of them, the path to a division-less conference’s championship game could certainly be unveiled.

What other concerns are there?

Now, of course, there are always going to be concerns that go beyond addressing who you lost to. For example, what about big games that the Iowa State Cyclones won last year, such as the ones against Oklahoma State and Texas?

While ISU may have fallen to those four aforementioned teams by narrow margins, it prevailed over the Cowboys in a similar fashion. And while the Longhorns may have been an easy win before, many expect them to see a steep rise in formidability. Lastly, to make matters worse, both of these teams will be hosting the Cyclones this season. So what can you do?

Ultimately, all that can be done is to humor the chances of Iowa State beating them again, just like we have to do with the chances of it beating any of the Big 12 schools that it’s coming off of losses too.

Another pressing issue would be questioning how well ISU should be expected to bounce back in regards to the overall quality of performance, as the team lost some notable talent during this offseason stretch.

However, Cyclones head coach Matt Campbell has built his—and the program’s—reputation around doing more with less, so perhaps a setback on the roster should worry a team of its status even less than one would think.

At the end of the day, Iowa State is still Iowa State, and there is a reason that it has been historically inferior to all of the teams mentioned today. With that said, they are not promised anything entering this season.

But, if the Cyclones proved anything in 2021, it was that they were no pushovers. If they can bring that might back for this Fall, then the rest of the Big 12 could be in for quite the rude awakening.