Iowa State looks to be ‘toughest team’ against Iowa

AMES - Joel Lanning broke down the numbers.

This is his fifth year with the Iowa State football team. He's been on the sideline four times for the matchup against Iowa. He's played in one Cy-Hawk game and has only seen his Cyclones win once.

Winning one more game against Iowa, which kicks off Saturday at 11 a.m. (ESPN2) inside Jack Trice Stadium, would be a sweet way for the Ankeny native to go out. He knows this game, as it does more often than not, will come down to the fine details.

'Whoever is the toughest team that day I feel like is going to win that game. It's just one of those games,” Lanning said. 'It's going to go back and forth and there's going to be a lot of things that are going to happen and you've got to be able to handle adversity in this game.”

Lanning and his teammates, particularly those from Iowa, have seen almost every outcome imaginable. Iowa (1-0) and Iowa State (1-0) have won by one score or less since 2013. Both have won by multiple touchdowns since 2005, including last year's 42-3 Iowa win in Kinnick Stadium.

The Cyclones were coming off a home loss to Northern Iowa and the Hawkeyes exploited the same weaknesses as the Panthers, only to a larger degree. Iowa State was reeling and doing soul-searching in its infancy of the Matt Campbell era.

'The way things have gone, we've kind of deserved it,” Lanning said. 'Last year we made mistakes and they took advantage of it. They put it to us. We deserved it. We've just got to come ready to play, play our game and we'll be OK.”

Oddsmakers have Iowa as a 2.5-point favorite as of Thursday morning - the Hawkeyes have been favored in the series 17 straight seasons. Iowa's consistent advantage in the betting lines models the consistency of the program, but the size of this year's line also speaks to the growth Iowa State has made in 12 months.

'Coach Campbell has harped on leadership within the players,” said sophomore running back David Montgomery. 'I feel like we've gotten so much better with that over a year.”

A 42-24 win against Northern Iowa doesn't turn heads nationally, but if you'd watched Iowa State's opener last year, the growth is evident. The biggest question is how much growth has the team truly made, and is it enough to topple an Iowa rushing attack that could be as potent as any the Cyclones face all season?

'You've got to be hitting close to all cylinders early in the season if you want to get off to a great start and have success,” Campbell said. 'It's unique this big rival football game happens the second game of the season, but I kind of like it. It forces you to get yourself adjusted to play good football early in the year. Two great fan bases, great traditions. It makes it unique.”

Whoever wins this game will do so because of work done in the trenches. Campbell said he saw progress within his offensive line, which is anchored by Jake Campos and Julian Good-Jones at left tackle and center, respectively. The defensive line has talent and was serviceable against Northern Iowa, but the bar will be quickly raised in Week 2.

'It's about winning the third down situations, staying on the field on offense, getting off on defense, and certainly the turnover game,” Campbell said. 'I don't know if that means this game is any different than any other, but I think those three core values are things that are really important to our success each week.”

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