Last week included a football win in Stillwater, a 3-0 week for MBB in Vegas, an Audi Crooks school record and a 21 year drought erased.

That's a lot of winning as Andrew Harrington writes in this week's Monday Musings.

https://cyclonefanatic.com/2025/12/monday-musings-tired-of-winning-yet/

Has anyone seen a stocking hat with wrestling Cy on it?

I’ve search the internet and can’t find one.

I've been thinking about the ACC tiebreaker situation with Duke making the title game and how terrible that could be for the ACC if they win (could be left out of playoff for another G5 team bad).

Could the Big 12 avoid a situation like this if there is a tie in the standings the best team rated in Massey composite gets the spot? Especially with conferences the size they are and not everyone playing each other. To me this feels like the most fair way to do it and you would end up with the better team in more often then not. Miami vs Duke and BYU vs Utah. https://masseyratings.com/ranks

Could still value head to head as the first tie breaker but after that default to Massey. Curious what everyone thinks.

We come in at #7. Odd that it has us with one Quad 1, one Quad 2, two Quad 3 and three Quad 4 wins, but I think that most of those in 2 & 3 should move up

Chris Williams & Brent Blum discuss Iowa State’s big victory over Iowa on the mat Sunday. What it could mean big picture for Kevin Dresser’s program. Audi Crooks goes off for 47 & Williams makes a big statement. Plus, Iowa State football concluded its regular season with an 8-4 record. What the offseason might look like, bowl game speculation, guess the point spreads, and more, all courtesy of Mechdyne.

Enjoy!

B

Just a reminder for anyone that forgot, he’s baaaaaack.

Going on about 10 years of this guy and my youngest is 4, so I have a few years to go. I feel like I’ve upped my game over the years.

The 20+ year wait is over. Iowa State wins the Cy-Hawk Dual.Some big reasons why? MJ Gaitan's trip to Casey's and Rocky Elam's request at Thanksgiving. Jake Brend has the full report from No. 6 Iowa State's 20-14 win over No. 3 Iowa.

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Hi everyone! Just sharing a clip I posted on twitter I thought you might enjoy.

MJ Gaitan talked about being doubted ahead of today's dual...well, I never doubted him. So I made sure to clip that quick.

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It’s been a fantastic couple years as a Cyclone fan. The wrestling results today are just the icing on the cake, in my opinion. But it does peak my curiosity. Over the last two years what are the most memorable moments or your favorite moments of Cyclone Athletics?

The final drive of the mid Florida game is the first one that comes to mind for me

Kevin Dresser and his squad beat No. 3 Iowa, 20-14 to win the Cy-Hawk Dual for the first time since 2004.

Watch everything Kevin Dresser, Rocky Elam, MJ Gaitan and Evan Frost said following the big win.
https://cyclonefanatic.com/2025/11/...ser-and-his-wrestlers-said-after-cy-hawk-win/

This one was exciting to follow. Two offensive juggernauts going at each other. Another single game scoring record set by Crooks.

First off, it’s a Cyclone state great early season barometer and sets up a big month of December starting with the Cliff Keen next week.

125: B. Stevo wrestled well, just came out on the wrong side of a scramble. I feel like every time Stevo and Dean wrestle, it’ll be a 1 exchange match. 125 will be wide open all year, just need to see Stevo keep progressing.

133: A+. Anytime you beat a 2 time NCAA finalist, you get an A rating. To do it on his first time down to weight this year and get stronger as the match went on is extremely encouraging. After the first slide by, it was all Frosty. Big month of December for Evan coming up, excited to see how he competes against Davino and others.

141: A+. Ech wrestled extremely well and completely dominated Nasir. Should’ve been a tech or a stall out, but loved how Ech looked. Nice investment there Iowa, glad we have our guy.

149: C. Block is a good wrestler, but there’s no excuse for Paniro losing that match. I think Jacob Frost wins that match and is more active than Paniro. We’ll see how Vegas goes, but there’s a chance Jacob puts his stamp on the spot next weekend at the Cliff Keen.

157: A. Solid match from Vinny. Funky, better conditioned, and the better wrestler of the two. Love that he got the major. I think Vinny has a chance to be a high AA this year and will always be fun to watch.

165: C. No shame in losing to Caliendo, but Euton looked slow today. Hopefully his ankle isn’t too bad as he’s still our best option at 165, and I think he can still be a top 12 guy. Caliendo is just on another level.

174: A+. What a match by MJ!! That’s a match I will remember for the rest of my life. Kennedy had nothing for MJs funk, and it was an elite brick throw by Dresser to give MJ some time to gather himself (although, I do think Kennedy locked his hands). MJ cemented himself today as an AA threat, and he can beat anyone at the weight outside of Haines. Great start to the year for MJ.

184: B. Elite level defense from Dean against Ferrari. Ferrari is tough to score on, but would’ve liked to have seen some single or shot attempt from Dean. If Isaac can develop a go to shot, he’s going to be a tough out in March. He’s got the athleticism, just need to keep grinding and get a go-to shot.

197: A. Rocky showed there are levels to this. Dominated the #4 ranked wrestler in Endene and really could’ve majored him if he wanted to. But Rocky wanted to get the W first and he made sure he did. Rocky is going to be a contender at 197 this year if he can stay healthy.

Hwt: A. Another dominating effort from Yonger. If the ref called stalling in this match like he did later in the dual, Kueter would’ve been stalled out. Should’ve been a major, but Yonger can learn from that and make sure he’s getting end of period ride outs. Love having him as our anchor most duals, but loved that he was the starter today.

Overall: A+++. Feels so damn good getting the W over Iowa for the first time in over 20 years. Let’s not wait that long again. Excited to see how the boys wrestle in Vegas next weekend. Go Clones!

Did he hurt his knee again?
Great dual.

Re-live the 2025 Iowa vs Iowa State dual through Iowa's perspective!

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Agitating...pops up 5 seconds on...and can't click it off

This is one hell of a past seven days for all-around Cyclone athletics:

• Cyclone MBB go 3-0 in Players Era Tournament and likely sniffing the top ten; team remains undefeated
• Cyclone WBB win Coconut Hoops tourney and Crooks continues to amaze; team remains undefeated
• Cyclone FB while not a great looking game, gets to 8-4 which is a huge accomplishment for this program
• Cyclone Wrestlers get that massive monkey off their back, beating Iowa for the first time in forever. Love this!
• Cyclone VB are headed to the NCAA tournament

Good stuff! Go Clones!

Offense

• Rocco is still playing through something. Upper body injury, shoulder, or perhaps just the yips. He was barely good enough to win yesterday. I'm hoping he can play better in the bowl game so we have some better momentum going into spring. I know he's one of the best to ever do it for ISU, his first 5 games he was simply at an All American level. Let's hope next year he finds that level again.
• Sowell - really been disappointing to me. He had two penalties off the ball, one for a holding and one for an offsides. In a tight game that can be the difference between winning and losing. His play at times frustrates me. I think Brett Eskildsen is our best receiver, it is encouraging they both Eskildsen and Sowell come back next year.
• Run game - this is maybe the best rushing attack we have had since Troy Davis? We have two RBs who can tote the rock. Carsen Hansen and Abu are at a super high level right now. One concern I have is Dylan Lee is going to transfer most likely (bc he doesn't get snaps). It will be key to restock the RB pipeline. Ryver Peppers is also coming off a Achilles.

Defense - much more positive thoughts

• I feel the LB group is the most improved position group on the team at year end. Kooper Ebel is playing at an All Big 12 level and I think he's playing his way into an NFL career. 10 total tackles and 3 tackles for loss is seriously impressive.
• Cael Brezina is improved as well and he had a beautiful forced fumble.
• Drew Surges, man I love this kid. He had an interception, a tackle for loss, and a forced fumble. He impacts the game in so many ways. I know we didn't just play Georgia but still. He's going to help the team going forward.
• Caleb Bacon - this is the player I wanted to write about most today. I am thrilled that he is coming back next season. I do think we should play him much more in a defensive end type role next year. The kid had 3 sacks today because we let him forget about playing LB, and let him just rush the quarterback.
  • In one game, Caleb Bacon had 3 sacks. To put that in perspective he just produced 30% of the sacks we had produced for an entire season of 11 games up to that point. And to build off the point, Caleb Bacon is not a great coverage linebacker who covers sideline to sideline. Jon H., please let him do what he does best next year. It can help the defense as we need a consistent pass rusher so badly. He provided a massive boost. Someone else on the board wrote about this a week ago and it really was proven correct yesterday in the game.

We're 8-4, I'm thankful to be 8-4 for our squad. I started becoming a fan in the late McCarney years when I was about 10 years old and have seen some brutal programs from Chizik to Rhoads. Campbell is providing us the consistency we have always wanted.

This game, on paper, appears to be a strong test of the Sisters. Here’s a look at their opponent.

I was on vacation last week, was able to kind of follow along and see how team was doing. I know Lipsey left SJU game injured, but haven't seen replay, and only info I've seen is that he is day to day? Do we know what happened? What the injury is? Groin again or something else?

These giant conferences have to find a better way to determine who goes to the conference championship games, or else they should just get rid of the conference championship games entirely. We all know about Duke getting into the ACC championship game over Miami based on some weird formula, but it’s even dumber in a couple of the G5 conferences.

The Mountain West’s team selection for the championship game is a joke. All these teams finished 6-2 and it came down to analytics:

UNLV (10-2)
New Mexico (9-3)
San Diego State (9-3)
Boise State (8-4)

So what’s the championship game?

UNLV at Boise State. Because of course.

The MAC’s selection process was also stupid. They had:

Western Michigan (7-1)
Ohio (6-2)
Toledo (6-2)
Miami-Ohio (6-2)

Miami-Ohio lost to both Ohio and Toledo, but Ohio and Toledo didn’t play each other. So who plays Western Michigan in the conference championship game. Well, Miami-Ohio obviously.

Dumb.

No. 10 Iowa State (8-0, 0-0 Big 12) vs. Indiana (7-0, 0-0 Big Ten)

Alico Arena – Fort Myers, Fla.

Sunday, November 30, 2025 – 12:30 p.m. CT

WATCH: FloHoops (PxP: Tom James, Analyst: Greg Anderson, Analyst: Amber Bepko)

LISTEN: Cyclone Radio Network (PxP: Noah Wolf, Analyst: Jamie Steyer Johnson)

LIVE STATS

Check out this week's Reaction Time!


Ben and I preview which matches we're looking forward to the most plus big storylines going into today's match. PLUS, Eli from The Register joined me to give insight into what to expect from the Hawkeyes.

Enjoy!