Iowa State players celebrate with the Cy-Hawk trophy after defeating Iowa Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024 at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, Iowa. © Julia Hansen/Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA TODAY NETWORK
AMES — Iowa State tight end Gabe Burkle doesn’t remember. Cyclone linebacker Caleb Bacon didn’t really care. And ISU’s third-year starting quarterback Rocco Becht didn’t even know the Cy-Hawk rivalry existed.
So it should be utterly unsurprising that this high-performing trio had little to say about the No. 16 Cyclones’ 14-year Cy-Hawk drought against Iowa at home — but it doesn’t make the six-game skid in the series when the game’s played in Ames any less noteworthy.
“(Head coach Matt) Campbell kind of goes about it both ways,” Becht said when describing ISU’s approach to an intense in-state rivalry that revives again at 11 a.m. Saturday (FOX) at Jack Trice Stadium. “He’s been here so long, he’s been in this game so many years, and he’s never won it here, I don’t think. So I think that kind of the fire that lights under him — is that it’s in Ames, Iowa and (Campbell’s) never won against them here.”
Legendary Cyclone quarterback Brock Purdy never beat Iowa. Becht could improve to 2-1 against the Hawkeyes. The enigmatic Steele Jantz went 2-0 in the series, but it’s his heroics in the last home win — a 44-41 triple-overtime thriller — that etched his name in ISU lore.
At least for the old-timers.
“I don’t remember watching a lot of college football growing up,” said Bacon, who had to sit out last season’s 20-19 Cy-Hawk triumph and the rest of his team’s historic 11-win 2024 season because of a leg injury that required surgery. “I was more of an NFL guy. A big (Minnesota) Vikings fan, but I’m sure we tuned in every year.”
Kind of.
Burkle, a former Cedar Rapids Prairie star, reckons he was eight-years-old when ISU last beat the Hawkeyes at Jack Trice Stadium.
“I don’t remember much,” said Burkle, who notched his second career touchdown catch in last week’s 55-7 rout of South Dakota. “I’m sure it was a very, very good time in Ames after that game. Yeah, definitely.”
So the Cyclones’ nearly decade and a half dry spell against Iowa (1-0) at home is more trivia item and less of a motivational tool. It exists, but it isn’t important. History recedes into the ether as the challenges of the here-and-now burst to the fore:
***For example, how will ISU (2-0) contain the Hawkeyes’ robust running game that churned up 310 yards on the ground against FCS Albany?
“Just gotta be more physical than them,” Bacon said. “Obviously, this is a super-physical game. So I think that’s just the one thing that we’ve gotta key in on.”
***Can Becht unlock all of his weapons in the passing game against a stingy Iowa defense that’s ranked among the top 20 nationally in terms of points allowed for over a decade?
“We haven’t been able to come out fast enough (against Iowa) but that’s kind of our motto every single week, is have urgency,” Becht said. “Start fast against the team we’re up against, no matter if it is Iowa, or it was South Dakota.”
***Can the Cyclones’ defensive line produce enough pressure on Hawkeye quarterback Mark Gronowski after notching just one sack in the previous two wins?
“He’s a proven winner, a great quarterback,” Bacon said.
So is Becht, who led ISU on four of his five career game-winning drives in the fourth quarter last season — including in the Cy-Hawk game.
Becht deftly guided the Cyclones into field goal range in less than 30 seconds, then watched walk-on kicker Kyle Konrardy nail a 54-yard field goal that ultimately gave his team a 20-19 win in Iowa City.
That memory doesn’t fade, even though — like the 14-year drought in the series at home — it’s history. It also has no bearing on this edition of the Cy-Hawk game, where new heroes will emerge and surprises will lurk around each twist and turn.
“I’ve said this before,” Campbell noted. “I don’t know if 18- to 22-year-olds remember what happened yesterday. So I think there (are) great things with tradition and uniqueness and rivalries. Those things are awesome, but I think the focus has to be on the present. I think when you get lost in the past and go down some rabbit holes, you (might) not be ready for the moment.”
