Fun Facts: Iowa-ISU, the Gus Johnson Edition

Iowa. Iowa State. Fun Facts.

1. Iowa is the betting favorite in this series for the 15th-consecutive year. The two teams have split their last 14 meetings.

2. The last four games in this series have been decided by one score.

3. The visiting team has won the last three games of this series. In the eight games immediately before that, the home team won seven times.

4. Iowa has 50 native Iowans on its roster, Iowa State 49.

5. Now, about quarterback sacks ... Iowa State's Dale Pierson had three sacks last Saturday against Northern Iowa. The only player in FBS who had more was Texas A&M's Daeshon Hall, who had four.

6. Iowa recorded five sacks in its season-opener for the second-straight year.

7. The Cyclones had six sacks against UNI. That's the most they've had in a game since the 2006 Houston Bowl against TCU. Their 13 tackles for losses are the most they've had since they played Illinois State in 2005.

8. Illinois State got six of the 23 first-place votes in this week's FCS Coaches Top 25 despite losing 31-14 at Iowa.

9. The Big Ten and Big 12 have a combined six ranked teams. The SEC has nine.

10. Iowa has 22 former players on NFL active rosters. Iowa State has five.

11. Only one Big Ten team (Nebraska) had a larger home crowd than Iowa State (61,500) had against UNI. Of course, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State and Wisconsin all opened the season away from home. Which is kind of shocking, come to think of it.

12. Iowa State beat Iowa 2-0 in 1906. The Hawkeyes defeated the Cyclones 2-0 in 1910.

13. Iowa State defensive tackles coach Shane Burnham is the son of ISU defensive coordinator Wally Burnham. Cyclones wide receivers coach Tommy Mangino is the son of ISU offensive coordinator Mark Mangino. Iowa offensive line coach Brian Ferentz is the son of Hawkeyes head coach Kirk Ferentz.

14. Gus Johnson will do the play-by-play on Fox's telecast of this game. There was a Gus Johnson who was a magnificent power forward for the NBA's Baltimore Bullets. He averaged 17.1 points and 12.7 rebounds in his NBA career.

15. Gus Johnson's full name is Augustus Cornelius Johnson Jr.