4 Cy-Hawk Myths: ISU’s Super Bowl

AMES - Paul Rhoads has beaten Iowa twice as Iowa State's head coach and both ended in dramatic fashion. But when the Cyclones' leader was asked for his favorite moment in the Cy-Hawk Series, he didn't mention either of those wins.

'Nineteen ninety-eight, when we ended the streak and made it a rivalry again,” said Rhoads, then an ISU assistant under Dan McCarney. 'I think that would probably be right at the top of the list.”

Iowa State stopped Iowa 27-9 on Sept. 12, 1998 to end a 15-year series winning streak by the Hawkeyes. The Cyclones have won nine of the last 16 games between the teams and turned Iowa's dominance in the 1980s and 1990s into ancient history. But the effects from Iowa's winning streak shaped the state's football culture for that generation.

Hayden Fry's Hawkeyes not only beat but crushed Iowa State over that 15-year spurt, winning eight games by margins exceeding 25 points, and only twice did ISU finish within one score of Iowa. Over that span the Hawkeyes earned 12 bowl berths, including two Rose Bowl bids (and another two years before the streak), while Iowa State played in no bowls with just two winning records.

McCarney took over a winless ISU program in 1995 and the former Iowa player and assistant targeted the Hawkeyes. Beating Iowa was necessary for ISU to gain traction within the state and stimulate the fan base and his players.

'The biggest thing that he did was he made it important. He made it the No. 1 goal on the goal board - to beat Iowa,” said former ISU tight end Kyle Knock, who red-shirted in 1998 and played from 1999-2003. 'The reason was, it's in-state. Two, it involved a trophy. He wanted to have something to be able to put in the trophy case and say we earned that. So it started off as that. Then each year it became bigger and bigger because once we won, then it was win another one. Don't be the team that loses one.”

Iowa State rattled off five straight against Iowa from 1998-2002 and qualified for three bowl games during that period. In 2000, ISU finished 9-3. In 2002, the Cyclones started 6-1. Knock said with each win, ISU's goals moved beyond just beating Iowa.

Yet perception lingers that Iowa State's 'Super Bowl” remains its annual meeting with the Hawkeyes, which Cyclone Fanatic publisher Chris Williams called 'one of the more insulting things you can say to an Iowa State fan.” The mere suggestion roiled Rhoads last year during an interview with the 'Murphy and Andy Show” in Des Moines.

'I think it's a bunch of crap, to be honest with you,” Rhoads said. 'Maybe at some point it was. Maybe it was a game that meant more than other games and maybe that was a time when the postseason wasn't a part of Iowa State's recognition. We're playing all 13 games and we're competing and preparing to win every single one of them. That's not the mentality around here, I can assure you of that.”

There's no doubt Iowa State's players consider this week's game important. Starting middle linebacker Jevohn Miller labeled it 'one of the biggest games of the year for us.” But calling it the Cyclones' Super Bowl suggests there's a hangover effect after a rivalry win. But the facts suggest the opposite.

ISU has beaten Iowa nine times over the last 16 years. The Cyclones post a 7-2 record in the games immediately following the Iowa win. Iowa State's only two losses include a 36-35 defeat at Toledo in Gene Chizik's first season (2007) and a 14-13 loss to Alabama in the 2001 Independence Bowl.

Under Rhoads, Iowa State has produced signature wins. In 2009, the Cyclones won at Nebraska for the first time in 32 years. In 2010, ISU beat Texas for the first time. In 2012, Iowa State knocked off No. 15 TCU in Fort Worth, ending the Horned Frogs' national-leading 12-game win streak. Of course in 2011, Iowa State upset No. 2 Oklahoma State in double overtime, which ultimately led to a change in the college football postseason.

That doesn't suggest the in-state rivalry lacks value to Iowa State. In fact, it may mean more with realignment. Border foes Nebraska (105 meetings) and Missouri (104) left the Big 12 for other conferences. ISU is the Big 12's northern outlier, disconnected geographically from the rest of the league. But, unlike when McCarney took over, a season's value isn't determined during the Cy-Hawk series.

'Iowa State has come so far, not even specifically in football, but I think when you look all the way around here, facilities, it's just a completely different world than what it was 15 years ago,” Williams said. 'Its fan base is so hungry to be beyond that, and they are at this point. Again, 15 years ago when they hadn't beaten Iowa in X amount of years, it was a huge deal at first. But now, I think they moved past that as a program and where they strive to be. It's not just about one game.”

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