Iowa State’s trip to Iowa this Saturday carries plenty of weight on the football side, but the ripple effects could reach well beyond the field.
The Cyclones are off to a 1-0 start in Year One under Jimmy Rogers, and now they’re walking into one of the biggest games the program has faced in recent memory. It’s a night game, it’s on the road, and it’s coming in a setting where Iowa State is not expected to win. Still, pulling it off would be a major statement for the football program.
There’s more at stake than the usual Cy-Hawk bragging rights, too. A win would mean another shot at ownership of the state, but it could also help Iowa State in a different arena entirely: basketball.
That’s because Iowa is hosting Cayden Daughtry this weekend, and the stakes around that visit are enormous. Daughtry is a five-star recruit in the Class of 2027 and the third-ranked player in the nation.
He has 33 offers, including from Kentucky, Michigan, BYU, Florida and others. He also has five more visits lined up, with trips scheduled to Tallahassee, Miami, Knoxville, Gainesville and Fayetteville.
Iowa State isn’t in the mix for Daughtry, but a Cyclone win could still matter. It could change the way the recruit views the Iowa program and make those other visits feel a little different if he’s not already locked in on the Hawkeyes. The Cyclones aren’t going to land him, but getting him to look anywhere other than Iowa would be a win in its own right.
That’s part of why this football game matters so much to Iowa State. The Cyclones have spent the last few years as the top basketball program in the state, winning three straight in the series and four of the last five. If that edge slips, the momentum can turn fast.
Being the No. 1 team in Iowa carries real value. Local recruits matter, and the program sitting at the top gets a built-in advantage. Iowa State usually does most of its recruiting outside the state, but landing elite talent at home still matters a great deal.
There’s also the simple lift that comes from winning a rivalry game. Those kinds of victories matter for a program’s mood, and Iowa State’s recent success has been helped by those December wins over Iowa.
So yes, the football team will get the spotlight this weekend in the Cy-Hawk Game, and yes, the Cyclones need a win on the field to keep the streak going. But the impact of that result could stretch far beyond Saturday night and into the future of Iowa State basketball.
In Other News...
Cy-Hawk Just Got More Tense For Iowa State's 2028 Recruiting Push
Jimmy Rogers and his staff at Iowa State are still sorting through the ripple effects of the coaching change, trying to stabilize a recruiting class that took some hits after Matt Campbells departure. The Cyclones have kept building with the Class of 2027, which sits No. 43 nationally with 24 commitments and includes names like Isaiah Hansen and Will Slagle, but the bigger long-term work is already underway for 2028.
Thats where this weekend carries a little extra weight for the Cyclones. Iowa State has already brought in several Class of 2028 prospects, including defensive lineman Hunter Mosolino and quarterback Chase Grove, and both are set to visit rival Iowa this weekend. For a program trying to reassert itself in the next recruiting cycle, every cross-border visit in the Cy-Hawk orbit matters a little more than usual. [Read more 🡒]
Oklahoma State Enters A Pressure Week Fans Cannot Ignore
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For the Cyclones, that broader picture matters because the scrutiny is not limited to one sideline or one school. Rogers is part of a group of first-month coaches whose next few Saturdays will help shape how their teams are judged, and the stakes are especially high with key matchups approaching across the league. In a conference where patience can disappear quickly, Iowa State knows the conversation around its coach is only going to get sharper from here. [Read more 🡒]
Iowa State Still Carries Mari-Rae Soppers Powerful Legacy 25 Years Later
Twenty-five years later, Mari-Rae Soppers story still reaches beyond gymnastics and well into the larger memory of September 11. Before her life was cut short, she had been a former gymnast and a Navy JAG officer who left a high-paying attorney job to chase a collegiate coaching career, a choice that said plenty about the kind of path she wanted to build. For Iowa State, her legacy remains tied not just to what she accomplished, but to the ambition and purpose she brought to the sport.
Sopper boarded American Airlines Flight 77 on Sept. 11, 2001, and was among those killed when it was hijacked and crashed into the Pentagon. Her name lives on at Arlington National Cemetery, the Pentagon Memorial and the National September 11 Memorial, reminders of a life remembered in more than one place. For the Cyclones, the resonance is especially powerful because her story still represents a blend of sacrifice, service and the pursuit of coaching that continues to matter long after the calendar turned on that day. [Read more 🡒]