From the Missouri River to the Mississippi River and the 310 miles in between in Iowa, Saturday is a red-letter day for college football fans.
Iowa State visits No. 21 Iowa for the next iteration of the CyHawk Series, one of the rare rivalry games played early each season.
Hawkeyes coach Kirk Ferentz wishes more people knew about it.
“It’s probably a little bit underappreciated outside of our state in terms of the intensity of the rivalry and the way the players go after it each and every time,” he said. “It's really a good football game.”
The Cyclones (1-0) and Hawkeyes (1-0) have met 70 times since 1894 and every year since 1977 (except the 2020 pandemic season). Iowa leads the series 47-23 and has won seven of the last eight. Ten of the last 12 meetings have been decided by 10 points or less, including all six since 2017.
Iowa State coach Matt Campbell said for all the changes that have occurred in college athletics in recent years he hopes games like these never go away.
“Rivalries, in-state rivalries and neighboring rivalries, that makes college football really special,” he said. “I still believe those things are major factors in high-level college athletics. People want to watch rivalry football games and great games. That’s what this game has certainly stood for over the test of time.”
Iowa has averaged just 186 yards and 18 points over the last three CyHawk games. The question is whether those numbers will increase significantly under new offensive coordinator Tim Lester.
Ferentz said Iowa isn’t the only team to struggle to move the ball against the Cyclones. ISU has been first or second in defense in the Big 12 all but one year since 2018.
“It just seems like if you played defense in any sport, you’ve got a chance,” Ferentz said. “Real credit to them. But they’ve been tough on a lot of people. You look back, it’s hard to find how many games where they gave up a lot of yards or points. Really hard.”
Iowa State's priority will be tightening its run defense. Iowa ran for 241 yards against overmatched Illinois State in a 40-0 win last week. The Cyclones allowed 174 rushing yards in their 21-3 win over North Dakota, the most by an FCS opponent against ISU since Northern Iowa ran for 232 against Campbell's first team in 2016.
“Honestly, it comes down to detail, being in your gap and responsibility. That's all it was,” defensive tackle J.R. Singleton said. “It wasn't anything crazy that happened out there. If we do that, and we play physical and play fast, we'll be right where we want to be.”
Iowa freshman Reece Vander Zee stood out in his first college game and is listed as a starter this week. The 6-foot-4, 207-pounder from Rock Rapids, a town of 2,600 in northwest Iowa, caught five balls for 66 yards and two touchdowns against Illinois State.
“I don’t want to say he’s expressionless, but he doesn’t get real demonstrative, just very steady, focused and mature for his age and his experience level,” Ferentz said. “He just continues to grow, continues to do a good job with whatever we throw at him, and as we went on, just became apparent to us that he’s probably the guy to have in there.”
Ferentz and wide receivers coach Jon Budmayr will be back on the sideline after serving self-imposed one-game suspensions last week. Ferentz watched the Illinois State game on television, which gave him a new appreciation for being on the sideline. He admitted the telecast allowed him to see more of what was going on.
“But outside of that, there wasn’t much good about it,” he said. “It’s sterile, and you’re pretty much helpless. Not that I do a lot during games anyway — I’m not playing — but you have a total feeling of disconnection, so it was really strange.”
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