Sep 10, 2022; Iowa City, Iowa, USA; Iowa State Cyclones defensive back T.J. Tampa (2) and linebacker Carston Marshall (46) and teammates carry the Cy-Hawk after the game against the Iowa Hawkeyes at Kinnick Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports
AMES — John Walters sank into his sofa, grasped the remote control and fired up his tube-based TV.
The then-sports director at WOI-TV felt “sicker than a dog,” so resigned himself to watching the 1998 Cy-Hawk game between Iowa and Iowa State from his living room instead of the sideline or press box.
“Everybody thought that Iowa was gonna smoke them like they had been (doing) for 15 years in a row,” said Walters, who is set to call his 21st Cy-Hawk game as ‘the Voice of the Cyclones’ when the in-state rivals clash at 2:30 p.m. Saturday (FOX) at Jack Trice Stadium. “They were a huge favorite and I am never sick. I mean, I’m never sick.”
Except for that fateful day in which he felt much better by the time the horn sounded and his TV turned off, fading to black.
Final score: ISU 27, Iowa 9. It would be legendary Hawkeye coach Hayden Fry’s last Cy-Hawk game and Walters exulted despite the occasional wince of pain.
“We just did a documentary on this (game) on Cyclones.tv,” Walters said. “(It’s) ‘1998: A Cyclone State,’ and (we) interviewed tons of guys who played in that game and guys who came along since on how important that game was to turn the tide in the series, and to draw a line in the sand, as (former ISU head coach) Dan McCarney said. Just had to draw a line in the sand at some point that said we’re gonna stop getting pushed around in this thing.”
Since then, Iowa’s won 13 in the series. The Cyclones have won 11, including five in a row from 1998-2002. Nerve-fraying, white-knuckled affairs have largely replaced the guffaw-filled blowout victories the Hawkeyes typically enjoyed from 1983 to 1997 — and to this day, the 1998 game is the only one Walters has missed as either a TV reporter or radio broadcaster.
“When you play this game, your warts are exposed,” he said. “And you’re gonna find out who you are real quickly — and that’s a really valuable thing for both programs going into their conference races.”
Flash forward to this week. ISU seeks to win a second straight game against Iowa for the first time since 2011-12. The Cyclones haven’t triumphed over the Hawkeyes at home since 2011, but the keys to doing so remain the same: Take care of the football. Banish special teams gaffes. Establish a solid running game and let the defense serve as a boa constrictor, slowly squeezing the life out of the opposing offense.
“I think that no matter (first-year ISU starting quarterback) Rocco (Becht) or any of the other (Cyclone) players that are out on the football field, efficiency and fundamentally sound (football) is gonna be critical,” said ISU head coach Matt Campbell, who broke a six-game skid against the Hawkeyes with last season’s 10-7 win at Kinnick Stadium. “If not, you’re gonna get exposed.”
The 2023 edition of the Cy-Hawk game features a slew of intriguing matchups, from the aforementioned Becht making his second career start to banged-up graduate transfer Iowa quarterback Cade McNamara making his 16th career start — but just his second as a Hawkeye. Across every unit — for instance, each offensive line versus each defensive line — a perceived question mark meets a well-established strength. So when deciding what to expect on Saturday, the best answer tends to delve into the depths of the unknown. Who knows? There’s beauty in the mystery of it.
“It’s just a great feeling to play in this game,” said senior ISU cornerback T.J. Tampa, who will also make his second Cy-Hawk series start.
Those emotions, of course, can crest like a wave or plummet like a rock. Tampa and his teammates absorbed the letdown of a turnover-filled 27-17 loss to the Hawkeyes in 2021, then felt the elation after last season’s narrow and imperfect win that hinged on ISU’s remarkable 99-yard touchdown drive. Winning or losing this game doesn’t necessarily serve as a bellwether for what’s to come — as the Cyclones proved last season. It merely measures which team can put together an iconic drive and/or stop when the tension tightens and the pressure pulsates.
Just like in 1998, when ISU made the series competitive — and it’s been back and forth ever since, with each side enjoying one positive streak of five games or more.
“We both have other rivals, for sure,” said Eric Heft, who is calling his 40th season of ISU football alongside Walters on the Cyclone Radio Network. “But this is the one. Both schools start with the name Iowa, ok? It’s Iowa and Iowa State. It is for the state.”
It brings out the best and the worst of Iowans. Trash talk reigns until it’s silenced. High hopes remain until they’re dashed — and bragging rights may be overrated, but it sure feels good when they’re upheld.
“You get your little digs in but it’s nothing malicious,” Heft said. “But it is important to everybody. And I guess that’s the cool part of it. All eyes are on one game, for one week, in the state on one Saturday as opposed to being split. You always want to see how you measure up to the other team and we’re gonna find out on Saturday.”
That’s about the only certainty until the usual twists of fate take hold and refuse to relent.
“This is like a lot of the fans’ Super Bowl,” Becht said. “I know it’s a big game, but I’m gonna go into it like another game. I’m gonna prepare the same. I’m gonna do everything the same; come out of the week prepared (to) get a win.”
