Has Iowa State become a dark horse in the Big 12?

Iowa State football team is 4-3 after a convincing road win over Cincinnati. At their current pace, who knows where the Cyclones’ limits truly lie?

Most would think that after losing to the Ohio Bobcats earlier this year, the Iowa State football team would be one of the last teams to receive hype from anybody—yet here I am.

The Cyclones traveled to Cincinnati on Saturday and beat down the Bearcats 30-10, re-establishing a winning record on the season. The record in question is 4-3, which means they have tied the number of wins they finished their 2022 run with.

Going from last place in the Big 12 to a positive win-loss over halfway through your schedule in one offseason is an objectively sound improvement, so giving Iowa State football credit for that much is something that everyone should agree is appropriate, but I think I’m going to go even further: I believe that the Iowa State Cyclones have officially put their conference on notice of being dark horses to win it.

I know it sounds crazy but just bear with me.

Of ISU’s three losses, only one of them has been suffered in league play, and it was against a team that, as of today, is indisputably tougher than everyone else on their schedule (at Oklahoma).

With the Cyclones having found a rhythm in spite of that loss while having the knowledge that the opposition won’t get any worse, it would be rather unfair for us to write them off from Big 12 title contention until we know more. Speaking of which, if they do have more to teach us, the circumstances for them to do so could not be any more in their favor.

The following are the five games that Iowa State football is yet to play. Read the specifics of each one and just imagine how less forgiving they could be.

• at Baylor: The Bears are 2-4 on the season today with their only wins being over Long Island and UCF, with the latter win needing a spectacular comeback for them to escape by one whopping point. Not very intimidating, especially when considering that the Cyclones will be all the more prepared for them after freshening up during their bye week.
• Kansas: Despite entering last weekend ranked, the Jayhawks just lost to Oklahoma State (a squad ISU has already beaten). They also have to go to Ames for what just so happens to be ISU’s Homecoming game—and right after a run-in with the Sooners, too.
• at BYU: Similarly to Kansas, the Cougars didn’t look like they were messing around before last Saturday, rocking a 4-1 record on the season with a relatively excusable loss. I’d have to say that being obliterated by TCU (another team Iowa State has survived) 44-11 hurts their image just a teeny, tiny bit going forward, though.
• Texas: If we were to establish who of these five squads would be the safest bet to prevail against the Cyclones, it’d certainly be the Longhorns. However, Jack Trice Stadium should hopefully be able to blur the lines of predictability some.
• at Kansas State: I wouldn’t exactly deem this an easy game to end the season on, but 4-2 Kansas State is certainly beatable, with one of their losses also being to OK State.

In short, the last of ISU’s opponents either suck, have to face the Cyclones on the road, and/or lost to a team they’ve already beaten. Is it the weakest stretch imaginable? No, but is it manageable for a team that’s displayed every step of what looks to be a meteoric rise? Definitely.