Iowans play it safe with new CyHawk Trophy

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - The reaction last summer to a proposed trophy for the Iowa-Iowa State football game depicting a farm family huddled around a bushel of corn was so negative that officials let the fans pick a design to replace it.

The folks in Iowa have spoken.

After the last trophy debacle, they've chosen to play it safe.

Barring a major late rally, the winner of an online vote that ends Monday just before midnight depicts the teams' mascots, Cy for the Cyclones and Herky for the Hawkeyes, standing under a football and in front of corn.

The winning trophy will beat out two others; one depicting a football coming out of a corn husk and another with a football on top of a stand decorated by corn husks.

The new design, which had just over 7,000 online votes as of Sunday as opposed to just over 2,000 for the other two, will be presented to the winner of the Sept. 8 game between the Cyclones and Hawkeyes in Kinnick Stadium.

None of the finalists were the least bit provocative. But Craig Floss, the CEO of the Iowa Corn Growers Association, which sponsors the rivalry, said Friday he's not surprised.

"We heard loud and clear that the fans were disappointed in our selections," Floss said. "They wanted a very football-oriented trophy."

The original design had nothing to do with football, and it was widely mocked locally and nationally almost immediately after it was unveiled.

Gov. Terry Branstad and former Hawkeyes coach Hayden Fry were among the Iowa notables who questioned what a depiction of a farm family had to do with the game, and it was scrapped just a few days after its unveiling at the Iowa State Fair.

The Iowa Corn Growers Association and both schools asked fans to submit ideas on a new trophy, and Floss said over 500 were sent in. Officials worked with design firm Rickabaugh Graphics to whittle those ideas down to six final concepts.

That list was shrunk down to three by a 10-person panel that included four individuals connected to either Iowa or Iowa State.

The finalists were put online on April 14, and the leading design has been in front from the beginning.

Multiples messages left seeking comment from officials at Iowa and Iowa State were not returned.

"We listened to what the fans wanted, I believe, fully," Floss said. "It's important to give the fans what they want. It's their game. It's their trophy."