Rob Gray

Cyclones will try to snap 4-game losing skid in game with Horned Frogs

Cyclones take down Tommies 85-36 at Hilton Coliseum

Cyclones have lost 4 in a row and facing a team on a 2-game winning streak

Milan Momcilovic hopes to get his swager back for Cyclone men’s basketball team

Cylones hope to play a lot faster this season

The Cyclones (5-4, 2-4) collected three takeaways against the Sun Devils — one interception and two fumble recoveries — but still lost, 24-19, before a rain-sodden crowd of 60,899 at Jack Trice Stadium.

Several tense minutes passed. Both team’s players kneeled on the field. Brahmer was eventually carted off the field, then hospitalized, before being evaluated, treated and discharged.

Consequently, the luster has been removed from the matchup Saturday between the Cyclones (5-3, 2-3) and Sun Devils (5-3, 3-2). This was circled in the preseason as one of the top conference games of the year.

Not massive ones. Not full-scale overhauls. Just a handful of well-crafted tweaks designed to help cure what ails Iowa State’s now-struggling football team.

Lately, those issues inside the 20 have been caused by miscommunication and/or poor execution — and it helps explain how the once highly ranked Cyclones are currently on a three-game skid.

Iowa State’s Yonger Bastida and former Missouri wrestler Rocky Elam formerly bitter rivals at 197 pounds are Cyclone teammates standing shoulder to shoulder Tuesday at media day — and have swiftly morphed from being fierce foes to fast friends.

The strong-legged sophomore from Dubuque drilled two field goals — a 36-yarder and a 43-yarder — in last Saturday’s 41-27 loss to No. 10 BYU after missing three games because of a hip injury.

Cyclones have lost 3 in a row, but still are favored against the Sun Devils in Big 12 showdown at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames

Nate Heeises led the Cyclone men’s basketball team with 19 points in 80-72 exhibition win over Northwestern

Iowa State saw a handful of key players return from injury in Saturday’s game against No. 11 BYU. That didn’t help the Cyclones avoid a litany of miscues in major moments.