Photo via Land of 10

The 2011, Oklahoma State, Iowa State football game is the most important game in Iowa State history (and arguably OSU history depending on how you look at it.)

Since that fateful Friday night (people forget it was a Friday!), the Iowa State Cyclones have been the dark horse of Big 12 football. They will be this year, and they were last year.

Just a year ago, there was a somewhat realistic path for Iowa State to play in the Big 12 Championship game, and they were the only team to beat the eventual Big 12 champs, Oklahoma.

One big loss that Iowa State suffered, is that of their linebacker/quarterback, Joel Lanning. It’s widely believed that O’Rien Vance will be taking snaps for the Cyclones for the 2018 campaign.

The two biggest things that Iowa State has going for them are …

Their stadium. It’s a little dated, but, it’s a big, double decker ballpark with natural grass and a pretty nice video board.

And, more importantly, their rising-star coach in Matt Campbell. The Cyclones picked up their coach from Toledo, and, while he hasn’t taken them to championship levels, he’s shown a great deal of promise, and it appears ISU will get a return on their investment.