Rob Gray

Saturday’s matchup pits two underdogs against each other: The snakebit Iowa State Cyclones, who have lost seven games by an average of 5.4 points, and TCU quarterback Max Duggan, who lost his starting job in preseason camp, but regained it because of a twist of fate and has put together a stellar senior season to become a dark horse Heisman Trophy candidate.

The fifth-ranked Iowa State women’s basketball team begins a challenging, but welcomed two-game run at the Phil Knight Invitational at 4:30 p.m. Thursday against high-scoring Michigan State in Portland, Ore.

Iowa State takes on Villanova on Thursday in the Phil Knight Invitational in Portland, Ore. Other possible foes include top-ranked North Carolina, Portland No. 12 Michigan State, No. 18 Alabama, No. 20 Connecticut or Oregon.

By almost every measure — except the obviously disappointing tilt of the win-loss column — Iowa State’s first-year starting quarterback Hunter Dekkers has grown and matured throughout a season defined by a spate of near-misses, not soaring success.

Expect another reasonably tight game pitting Iowa State’s Big 12-best defense against TCU’s conference-leading scoring offense. Here are five Horned Frogs to watch as the Cyclones make their upset bid this weekend.

The Iowa State men’s basketball team forced 15 turnovers in the first half and 27 overall in a 68-53 win over Milwaukee.

The Iowa State football team can finish on a very high note if it can upset TCU on Sunday in Fort Worth.

Ashley Joens notched her 16th career 30-point game on just 14 field-goal attempts in Iowa State’s 99-76 win over Columbia. She drilled seven of her 10 3-point tries and added 10 rebounds to record her 52nd career double-double.

Iowa State has been solid on both ends of the floor in blowout wins over IUPUI and North Carolina A&T. But these are obviously not juggernaut programs. The Cyclones should get an opportunity to work on themselves against Milwaukee on Sunday.

Iowa State once again failed to make positive plays at key times and it’s why the Cyclones lost, 14-10, to Texas Tech on a frigid Saturday night at Jack Trice Stadium.

Texas Tech is one of the top teams in the country in terms of tempo and if Iowa State is to win Saturday night, it will have to continue to be one of the best defenses in third-down situations.

Former Cedar Rapids Washington star O’Rien Vance has battled through an array of injuries, internal and external doubts that he could excel in college, and ISU’s mercurial 2022 season that’s ending in a two-game chase for guaranteed bowl eligibility.

Xavier Hutchinson’s three-year span as a Cyclone has included starting in the school’s first New Year’s Six Bowl as well as weathering this season’s spate of close losses. ISU matched a program record with nine wins in his first season and is scrambling to secure bowl eligibility in his final go-around.

Each of the Iowa State women’s basketball team’s past eight meetings with UNI have been decided by single digits, so the tense nature of this in-state matchup isn’t confined to the most recent games.

When it comes to facing adversity — whether incidental or self-manufactured — Texas Tech finds itself in a similar space as Iowa State: Hobbled and hungry.