2024 Iowa State College Football Schedule Preview

welcome back to the grid iron expert we are officially kicking off the 20124 college football season today with our top 25 and five schedule previews if you've been here at the channel before you know the drill you know how this works for about the next month or so we're going to be breaking down the schedules and giving kind of from brief analysis over the teams that we had listed in our way too early top 25 that list was released earlier in January about a month ago way too early top 25 things are definitely going to change before we release another poll right before the season starts in August our GE top 25 that we'll have for you every week once the season begins but today we're kicking things off with a team that comes in at number 25 in our way too early rankings and that is the Iowa State Cyclones this is a very very fun team to watch and they've got a very very interesting schedule that could have Iowa state in the running for a big 12 championship this is a completely reworked Big 12 guys Oklahoma and Texas are gone off to the SEC but the big 12 bringing in a lot of new members they're bringing in Utah they're bringing in Colorado Arizona Arizona State along with the other teams that just joined last year like Houston and Cincinnati BYU UCF so a very large conference uh but a conference that really doesn't have I think a clear front runner a lot of good teams talented teams but no clear front runner and this Iowa State team guys was in the running for a big 12 Championship pretty late into last year a season where no one gave the Cyclone to chance after all of the gambling issues and the suspensions and just the drama surrounding this football program right before the season started Iowa State really wasn't given much of a fighting chance I don't know if any people expected him to make a bowl game but yet Matt Campbell drastically exceeded expectations LED them to a seven and5 regular season before following the Memphis in the Liberty Bowl they had three losses by one possession to Iowa Ohio and Kansas this was an Iowa State team that was much better than their final record showed easily could have been a maybe even 10- win team at least eight or nine you look at what they've got this year around 18 starters expected back in a Roco Beck back at quarterback Abu Sama back at running back practically their whole offensive line returning tons on the defense returning from the number one defense in the Big 12 last season and again the Cyclones survived another offseason of r rors about Matt Campbell maybe leaving for another job one point they thought could be Michigan State maybe go to Washington no one knows he stuck around with the Cyclones who he has continued to be very consistent with and if you look at Iowa State's schedule this is a team that can go on a run this is a team that can find themselves in the mix for a big 12 title uh well into November uh a couple things I want to point out first one thing that I don't like about this schedule is the fact that Iowa State they don't have back to back home games except for once but that's broken up with a bye they alternate home games and road games up until October 19th and November 2nd they play UCF at home they get a bye and then they play Texas Tech at home so technically those are consecutive home games but it is broken up outside of that they alternate home and away and that's kind of unfortunate if you are the Cyclones here but this is a team that really I think could go undefeated at home this season the home schedule is very very very favorable North Dakota Arkansas State those should be relatively easy wins for Iowa State a Baylor team that is struggling quite a bit Iowa State beat them 30 to 18 last year ucf's a team that could challenge this year KJ Jefferson and a quarterback the offense going to be very very good under Gus maon but Iowa State getting them at home they host Texas Tech as we mentioned Cincinnati who they beat 30 to1 last year and they get to host Kansas State who Iowa State beat 42 to 35 last season with tons and tons of uh big time plays I guess very big yardage plays and touchdowns that help the Cyclones beat the Wildcats but again a very favorable home slate that if they can go undefeated right there you're seven and0 at least at seven wins and your already matched last year's win total they have an opportunity to get to 8 n and even 10 wins the question is what can they do on the road the road game at Iowa always going to be a tough one the shawk trophy game typically relatively competitive has been in recent years four of the last six decided by one possession between Iowa State and Iowa but the Cyclones are one and three in those four games they've only won one of those one possession games and they've lost seven of the last eight in the series that includes a 20 to3 loss last year so kinck Stadium not an easy place to play Iowa State's not afraid of Iowa City by any means they're not afraid of kenck Stadium but it will be a very tough I would say low-scoring game it'll be interesting to see how they're able to handle that in the second game of the season so that that's one that could really set the tone for for the year you know if if you can start 2-0 get your bye early can you get two by weeks 2- 0 you probably be 3-0 with a win over Arkansas State going into conference play that' be a really really good start for the Cyclones the Iowa game is going to be massive the Houston game I would say is very winnable Willie Fritz is a great coach coming in now from T Lane but first year at the Cougars a lot of new pieces new schemes you know I wouldn't expect Houston to start contending in year one if you go back and look at Willie Fritz he's a program Builder he's not a guy that's going to come in and immediately take off with the program he struggled at first tane built them up I think he'll do the same at Houston but I don't expect him to take off immediately uh with the Cougars so that's a very winnable Road game for Iowa State West Virginia going to be very difficult Big Year under Neil Brown last year could be even better in 2024 if you're really looking at the key stretch here for Iowa State it comes in the last month of the season it's those final four games for me that concerns me if I'm Iowa State and you know we talked about the home slate that's one where I think they could go unbeaten I truly believe that uh the road slate early on they can beat Iowa they can beat Houston West Virginia going to be tough but those final four games are going to be brutal at Kansas who's loaded with Talent once again under Lance lifeold and if Jaylen Daniels can stay healthy Sky's a limit for The Jayhawks this year they can be Big 12 title contenders don't doubt about it you got Jaylen Daniels Devon Neil a defense that should be once again be getting better after being atrocious two years ago a little bit better last year you hopefully they continue to Trend in the right direction but now you have to go to Kansas for that game even though the Jayhawks will not be playing in Lawrence going to be playing this game I believe an arrowhead in Kansas City that's going to be a benefit maybe for Iowa State who knows Kansas undergoing Stadium renovation should be very Electric in 2025 but you got Kansas on the road Iowa state did lose them 28 to 21 Cincinnati should take a step forward after a bad first year under Scott saterfield shouldn't be as bad as they were last year though Iowa state did win by 20 Utah on the road going to be absolutely brutal a Utah team that if they can stay healthy can absolutely contend for a big 12 title in their first year in the conference and as we know Salt Lake City is one of the most difficult places to play in the entire country that is such an electric atmosphere it's so so tough to win there uh especially when Utah's firing all cylinders that's a game though I could see being pretty low scoring if Iowa State's defense as good as we think they're going to be and Utah's defense as good as they typically are this could be a very low scoring game and one could argue that Iowa State owns the offensive Advantage as of right now a lot that's going to come down though to the health of Cam rising at Utah and also just the weapons that he has surrounding him but on the road uh not going to be easy and then Kansas State same for them they lose a lot of key pieces they lose their quarterback they lose uh a lot of skill position players they lose Colin Klein as their offensive coordinator they get to host Kansas stay on Senior Day in ases that's huge uh but the wild cats going to be no slou strong defense again Avery Johnson now at quarterback the RPO style offense they're going to bring into this game going to be very very tough we saw what happened last year it was a 42 to 35 shootout in Manhattan could be in store for another high-scoring game this year but if Kansas State tightens up that defense does allow multiple 60 70 yard touchdowns to Iowa state wild cat very well could come in and win this game so that four game stretch at the end of the year Kansas Cincinnati Utah Kansas state two at home two on the road going to be very very difficult and if Iowa State enters that Kansas game already with you know a very very solid record only one or two losses maybe coming into that game and that's a very legitimate possibility that's going to decide whether or not the Cyclones are going to a big 12 Championship or can continue to contend for that maybe even in the hunt for a playoff spot remembering now that the playoffs have expanded to 12 teams so two losses does not derail your season by any means so you know I don't want to go too far here but Iowa State again was a much better team than their final record showed last year they were dealing with a bunch of turmoil before the season started this year they're not going to have that they're not going to have drama they've got a young team but a young team that showed a lot of Promise last year will be even better this year do not sleep on Iowa State and as I will always say and Matt Campbell I trust he has continuously exceeded expectations in ases I think he'll do it again this year they're in our top 25 for a reason and they have the schedule and the talent to make some noise in 2024 so guys as always thank you so much for watching us here at the grid iron expert on YouTube make sure to continue to like comment subscribe share our videos and hit that notification button we've got schedule previews for about the next month or so some of your favorite teams coming right here at the Chan channel do not miss out again like comment subscribe hit the notification button so you don't miss out on any future videos check out everything down in the description below including our website the grid iron expert.com to help you get through the rest of this offseason and become a member of our GE nation and once again guys as always thank you so much for watching and we'll see you next time right here on the great iron [Music] expert yeah oh