The Cy-Hawk rivalry has become one of college football’s most reliable September pressure points, and now it has some heavyweight backing to keep rolling beyond its current contract.
At Big 12 media days in Frisco, Iowa State head coach Jimmy Rogers and commissioner Brett Yormark both voiced support for the annual nonconference game against Iowa, even as the series is not scheduled past the 2027 season.
Yormark made his stance plain when he addressed the value of matchups like this one.
"I think out-of-conference games are critically important," Yormark said.
That line fits the way the rivalry has played out in recent years. Iowa and Iowa State have met 72 times overall, and the game has been played every year since the start of the 1977 season. The series was also dormant for roughly 30 years after the 1934 season, when Hawkeye head coach and athletic director Ossie Solem would not return calls to bring it back.
What’s made Cy-Hawk especially compelling lately is how tight it’s been. Over the last 27 seasons, Iowa leads only 14-13, and more than half of Iowa State’s wins in the rivalry have come during that stretch. The Cyclones have also won three of the last four meetings, including back-to-back victories in 2024 and 2025.
Home-field edge has been hard to find, too. Since 2010, the home team has won only four times. Before Iowa State’s three-point win in 2025, the home team hadn’t taken the game since 2018.
For now, the calendar stops at 2027. The teams meet this season on September 12 at Kinnick Stadium under the lights on NBC, and Iowa will head to Jack Trice Stadium in 2027 for the final game currently under contract.
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