Welcome to the Big 12 Buzz! Things are going to look a little different during the offseason but that doesn’t mean I can’t share what’s on my mind this week in the Big 12. Between the Big 12 football schedule release and the National Championship game in the rear-view mirror, I am going football heavy in the heart of basketball season.
Iowa State’s 2026 Football Schedule
As a diehard Big 12 football fan, I felt like a kid on Christmas morning when the schedule came out on Wednesday. I didn’t know what to expect but I was so excited that I barely slept a wink the night before.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to shake the box to get an idea of what’s inside but once it was opened, I couldn’t take my eyes off it. Since this is Cyclone Fanatic, I thought it would be fun to share my take on their schedule for this upcoming season.
Iowa State has a big non-conference game in that hell hole called Iowa City that is smack dab between home games against two cupcakes.
Their first conference game against Utah will be a good measuring stick but keep in mind that the Utes won’t look the same either with Kyle Whittingham gone but they do return quarterback Devon Dampier. After that you get an improving West Virginia program coming to Ames before the big trip to Provo to face BYU.
Then comes the bye week right in the middle of the season before you hit the road again to Tucson to take on Arizona. On Halloween the Cyclones return home as they will host a new look Oklahoma State program under Eric Morris and then it’s off to the worst city in Texas when the Clones head to Waco to take on Baylor. Will Dave Aranda be there? Who knows.
Iowa State will be back in Ames on November 14th to host Cincinnati who hasn’t won a game in the month of November since 2023. After that, it’s off to the most magical place on earth, Orlando to take on directional Florida before coming back home to host Kansas State for the final Farmageddon for the foreseeable future (Thanks Big 12).
Call me a crazy but I like the way the schedule sets up. Iowa State gets an early layup before the trip to Kinnick, and they even get another cupcake immediately after.
In their first six games of the season, they only leave the great state of Iowa once and the bye week cuts the season into two equal halves. If they can pull off an upset over Iowa or Utah, then there’s a real chance to be 4-1 going into the BYU game.
What I really love is the second half slate of this schedule. I look at it and see a lot of potential wins because Arizona, Oklahoma State, Cincinnati, UCF, and Kansas State are all winnable games.
I understand that Iowa State will look a lot different this season with the coaching change and the roster turnover, but I don’t feel like any one of the teams that they will see in the final six weeks of the season are just hands down better than they are. A new era of Iowa State football is here and it’s time for Jimmy F’n Rodgers to hit the ground running.
Friday Night Fever
Along with the schedule release, there was some other big news to come out of the Big 12. The conference title game will be played on the night of Friday December 4th. Since the conference championship game came back in 2017, the Big 12 has always taken the early timeslot on Saturday.
Prior to the death of the Pac-12 (shout out George Kliavkoff fir running that into the ground), they had always played their conference title game on Friday night. But now it appears, the Big 12 will take over that spot.
I don’t know why but it feels cheap to me when you play your conference championship game on Friday night. Not the kind of cheap to where it’s like “Hey, it’s two-dollar beer night at the bar!” cheap but the kind where someone reeks of two-dollar cologne.
Typically, there are at least one or two group of five games played on Friday night and with the Pac-12 six feet under, there is a void there for a power conference to step in. I have been in favor the Big 12 playing more games on Friday night during the regular season so maybe this move shouldn’t bother me at all. Then again, I am getting crankier the older I get.
Indiana Gave Us All Hope
The 2025 college football season is officially in the books as the Indiana Hoosiers are now on top of the college football world. No disrespect to Indiana but if you had told me three years ago that they would win a national championship in football then I would have driven you to the nearest hospital to get tested.
It truly is one of the most fascinating stories when you look at where that program was prior to the arrival of the boss from The Incredibles movie, I mean Curt Cignetti. College football has been typically dominated by the blue bloods of the sport but in today’s world, you don’t necessarily have to be one or even have the highest payroll to compete at a high level.
Even their opponent, Miami wasn’t expected to be playing in the final game of the season, but they found a way to beat three good teams to put themselves in a position to bring home glory.
Now the Alabama’s, Georgia’s and Ohio State’s of the world aren’t going anywhere but it’s pretty damn refreshing to see a school like Indiana win a national championship on the gridiron instead of the hardwood.
This sport has changed so much in the last few years between money and the transfer portal. If you can commit to using your resources to build a veteran roster and get the right coach in place, then anything can happen and Indiana gave us all a little hope to achieve goals that many of us never thought were possible.
