Iowa State’s next road trip now comes with a set kickoff window and a TV home.
The Cyclones will face Baylor in Waco at 11:00 a.m. CT on FS1, with the Week 10 matchup set for McLane Stadium.
The announcement came Saturday, just after Iowa State knocked off No. 24 Oklahoma State and after Baylor’s coaching situation shifted again.
Baylor fired head coach Dave Aranda on Sunday following the Bears’ loss at Big 12 rival Kansas in Lawrence. Still, the Bears didn’t wait long to respond on the field, with acting head coach Joe Klanderman guiding them to a big win over UCF on Friday night.
For Iowa State, the trip to Baylor comes with a chance to even up a series that has been tight for years. The schools have played 23 times, and Baylor holds a 12-11 edge.
Their first meeting came in 1998, when Baylor rolled to a 35-0 win, and every game in the series has come since the Southwest Conference and Big 8 merged in 1996. The teams have split the last four matchups, including Iowa State’s 43-21 win in 2024 at Jack Trice Stadium, a game highlighted by running back Jayden Jackson’s memorable day in front of a white-out crowd.
The timing also lands in the middle of a stretch where Iowa State has had trouble against the Big 12’s upper tier. The Cyclones have taken multiple-score losses at home to top-10 Utah and on the road against ranked BYU and Arizona.
Before the Baylor game, though, Iowa State heads back home. The Cyclones host Oklahoma State this Saturday in Jack Trice Stadium.
The Cowboys are 3-1 in Big 12 play after a 57-24 win over Colorado on Saturday, and first-year head coach Eric Morris has brought much of his North Texas roster with him to Stillwater, including quarterback Drew Mestemaker. Mestemaker threw for 386 yards against Colorado and has topped 300 passing yards in six straight games, with Wyatt Young and Justin Bowick among his favored targets.
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Iowa State Answered A Bad Loss In The Wildest Way Possible
After a rough loss, Iowa State needed a response, and the Cyclones got one in the most chaotic way possible against Oklahoma State. The game swung back and forth all afternoon, with lead changes, long scoring drives and the kind of special-teams moments that can turn a Big 12 matchup into a track meet in a hurry.
Aiden Flora and Jaylen Raynor helped keep Iowa State on the front foot offensively, while Drew Mestermaker kept Oklahoma State in the fight with multiple touchdown passes of his own. In the end, it came down to one more late push and Kyle Konrardys field goal, with Raynor helping set up the final drive that gave the Cyclones a hard-earned finish and a much-needed answer. [Read more 🡒]
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Brock Purdy and Darien Porter were among the Cyclones who started and logged significant playing time, keeping Iowa State tied to some of the leagues bigger stages. Elsewhere, the injury list was part of the story too, with Breece Hall and Kene Nwangwu among those unavailable, and several other former Cyclones carrying practice status questions that will be worth tracking as the NFL calendar moves on. [Read more 🡒]
Iowa State Showed Something Fans Needed To See In Big 12 Chaos
In a Big 12 game that felt like it was spinning in every direction, Iowa State found a way to steady itself at the end. Kyle Konrardy drilled a 34-yard field goal as time expired to lift the Cyclones past Oklahoma State, 51-49, in a matchup defined by offense, tempo and very little margin for error. Both teams piled up more than 500 yards, but Iowa State did enough in the key moments to come away with a win that mattered in the league race.
For a team trying to navigate the chaos of conference play, this was the kind of finish fans needed to see. The Cyclones did not win by controlling the game, but by taking advantage of Oklahoma State penalties and miscues when it counted most, a sign of resilience that can travel in the Big 12. It was messy, tense and far from comfortable, but it also pushed Iowa State forward in the standings and gave the program a result it can point to as the season keeps tightening. [Read more 🡒]