DAILY CLONE: Reevaluating Iowa State's 2026 Record

0:00Every game day you show up for your team. Now it's your time. We go, we go, we go, we go. Ask your prescriber about Wigovie, some Maglatide Injection 2.4 milligrams, a G.O.P.1. Call 1-8-3-3-4 Wigovie or visit Wigovie.com to view the Medication Guide and to learn more about Wigovie. Why wait? We go, we go. Where you stay. Hilton, for this day.

1:56I don't blame anybody who was wrong on the Iowa State Cyclones. I don't blame myself. I even said in my preseason win-loss prediction where I went 5 and 7 for Iowa State that I would come back and re-evaluate my thoughts, my stance after the Iowa game because I wanted to see how the cyclones stacked up up front against Iowa because that would be a great test and they probably won't see a better offensive line all year. They'll see a lot of similar defenses to Iowa when you talk about Utah and BYU. I'm going to do that on today's daily call and I can't wait. I'm going to re-win loss the big 12 and I'm going to talk about what's reasonable to expect out of Iowa State now that we've seen them stacked up against Iowa. Earlier I said that I cut slack to most. I do not cut any slack to the national media that is wrong about Iowa State. Phil Steele had Iowa State as the 100th best team in America. The Cover 3 podcast said that Iowa State might be the worst powerful team

2:58and it might not even be close. I might be putting words in their mouth but I certainly heard it might not even be close by a lot of national media. And frankly, it's just lazy. It was lazy the whole time because the only thing you ever heard about Iowa State. At least that I heard and I know that there are good national media members out there that completely do their homework and do their research. And if you landed that conclusion after doing research then fine. We all have opinions. We all do research. Someone has to be bad and who knows, I'll probably be wrong. I said Colorado is going to finish 15th in the big 12. They've looked better than that so far. People get it wrong and that is perfectly acceptable. What I can't stand is every single talking point about Iowa State was just what they lost. Okay, Rocco, Beck, Carson, Hanson, Caleb Bacon, those guys are all gone. So Iowa State has to suck. Okay, very, very, very good analysis. When does the actual analysis start?

3:59It is very clear that nobody. And I mean nobody that has been picking Iowa State to be worse than bowling green did their research. They didn't watch what Jesse Bobbitt's unit did at Washington State last year. They certainly didn't look beyond the box score. When you look at that Washington game and the North Texas game from last year, they gave up a lot of points because their defense gave the other team a short field. It wasn't because of the defense. And that Iowa State defense looks really good. It looks like a top 25 unit in college football. If they're a top 25 unit in college football, I think they're going to make a bowl game. And to me, it's just lazy. I'm embarrassing and it goes to show that you should focus more on local media. The people that are on the ground doing the work. The people that have been telling the stories of, how good can Bobby Torell be in the big 12? How is this hybrid between Jesse Bobbitt's defense and Ross Wadens since defense going to transform Iowa State football?

5:00You're not getting that with the national media. And I thank you for listening to this rant because it is just irked me the entire time. And again, I don't even care. If somebody comes out and says, Iowa State is going to be the 100th best team in the country. I disagree completely. But if you give me a reason, an actual reason as to why I can't hate on that, we all have to have opinions and we have to stand on those opinions. But I never once heard an opinion on why Iowa State would be awful other than the fact that they just lost a bunch of players. Enough about other people. It is time for my opinion on the final 10 games of the Iowa State 2026 football season. It's all coming up right after a work from fairway, meet and grocery. Who says that brats have to have skin? Literally everyone. Like since the beginning of time. No, but the fairway skinless brought his change to the game. Will you settle this for us? They all pick sides. I just sell them.

6:01Did Frank just steal our brats? It is the Daily Clone here in the Northwest Bank Studios. I'm Jake Friend. Coming at you on Monday, September 14th. That time of year, wherever day just blends together because we're talking cyclones all day long right here on Cyclone Fanatic. It is the best time of year. I knew episode of Williams and Bloom is out now. As well as a new episode of Inside Zone. Colin Newell is back with Jake Remsburg, Jiro Brock and Jacqueline Cordova. Another great addition. And a lot of just inside football discussion that I think you'd absolutely love. Check that show out. Today's episode of The Daily Clone is brought to you by Fairway, Meet and Grocery. Another home game. Not only this week, but the following week and then the week after that. That's three straight weeks of tailgating. Bulk up at Fairway, Meet and Grocery. It is your one stop shop. All football season long. What's reasonable to expect out of the Iowa State Cyclones the rest of the way? I was heavily encouraged by what I saw out of Iowa State on Saturday night. And it sucks because they should have won that game.

7:02They put themselves in a position to do it and didn't execute better. I would deserve to win. But I still left that stadium that night thinking that Iowa State had a missed opportunity. And Jimmy Rogers clearly felt that way. If you were able to watch his post game press conference where there was no moral victory. He felt his team played well enough to win, but also not well enough in some areas. And that's football you move on. But it's hard to not be encouraged by what you saw out of Iowa State stacking up against an Iowa team. That almost everybody in the state, and certainly nationally, picked to just steam rely on a state. And in my eyes, I was there. I didn't see a big talent deficit. I think there was a bit of a talent deficit when Iowa State started to get injured. And that is a big caveat on the rest of the season. They've got to stay healthy. I think they're ones are just as good as like a middle of the pack of big 12 team. If not better. After that, it's more of a question mark.

8:03And guys will play more depth will build. It's just a matter of how will depth stack against other depth in the big 12 conference? Because that's what football is. It's a sport of attrition at the end of the day. When do you catch teams? How was your health when you play a team? How's their health? And that's why it's hard to do this. So again, this is not the Bible. This is not the end all be all. My prediction for the rest of the Iowa State season is an exactly what's going to happen. But I feel better now than I did on Friday. Every game day, you show up for your team. Now it's your time. We go, we go, we go, we go, we go. Ask your prescriber about We Govie, some magnified injection 2.4 milligrams, a GLP 1. Call 1-8-334 We Govie or visit We Govie.com to view the Medication Guide and to learn more about We Govie. Why wait? We go, we go.

9:03College football is back. So Hilton called to me the superstition concierge to make your fan rituals a reality. Need a room to match your lucky number? We got you. Want to make sure our team doesn't wash your lucky jersey? Oho, that smells lucky. Hilton's unmatched hospitality can keep up with any superstition. Even a marching bandwreck up call it 555 and 55 seconds. Hit it! When you need a team that will do whatever it takes on game day, it matters where you stay. Hilton, for this day. This message is brought to you by Apple Card. With Apple Card, you earn unlimited daily cashback on everyday purchases, like groceries, merch, or tickets to the game. Plus, it can be used anywhere MasterCard is accepted. No matter your team, no matter where you shop, Apple Card is here to help you tackle game day. Apply in the wallet app on your iPhone today. Subject to credit approval. Apple Card is issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA Salt Lake City Branch, terms and more at applecard.com.

10:04And I didn't even feel bad for it. I thought I would say defense was pretty good, and that's why I was probably more optimistic going into the side-hawk game than most, even though I still predicted an Iowa win. I thought the I would say defense was criminally underappreciated, criminally underrated. Frankly, just not a talking point. And now it is. The I would say defense has a chance to be a top 5 unit in the big 12, especially if they stay healthy. And I'm going to predict that they do finish a top 5 unit in the big 12. The offense will be the question. And there's going to be some games, these final 10 games, where you... Doesn't matter how good your defense is, you're probably going to have to find a way to score in the mid 20s, the lower 30s. And I'm not quite sure if they're capable of that yet, but I was pretty encouraged by the offensive line, and the grading would check out with that. They still have a long ways to go though. And I'm going to start on Saturday with Bowling Green. Easy one. Bowling Green is bad. I think Iowa State wins probably by 30, 35 would be my prediction.

11:06Then the next week is Utah, which is a big test. Utah just smoked Arkansas, the worst team in the SEC. Utah's going through a change, and I like what they've done. To me, they seem like the classic change just a little bit while keeping the substance of the program. And I think it's made them better. It seems like a program that's more young, it's more fresh, and I think they're a top three big 12 team at this very moment. Now, a trip to Ames against a good defensive team is going to be a test. And this will be a test for the Iowa State defense to try and bring down Devin Dampery, a true running quarterback. I think Iowa State loses this game, but that atmosphere is going to be on fire. We should have a game time soon. We honestly might already have it. So if we do have it and I don't know it, up the top of my head right now, it typically comes out sometime on Monday afternoons, I apologize. But that atmosphere is going to be on fire. I predict a pretty close game, but you got to trust Utah's offense to be able to find a way.

12:11Then the next week is the West Virginia game. I had that as a loss, or sorry, I had that as a win before the season, keeping that as a win. I feel probably better about it now than I did, especially when you look at what they do well. They run the ball. Cam Cook is maybe the best running back in the league. That is their identity. Same can be said about the University of Iowa. And Iowa State knew that Iowa wanted to run the football and their able to shut it down. I feel good about Iowa State's ability to stop the run against West Virginia. Then they go to BYU. I'm going to keep that as a loss. I think BYU. As of right now is the best team in the big 12. I don't know if they will be by the end of the season. I think Texas Tech will figure it out. But that's a really tall task to go into Pro-Von a Friday night and win that game. Which is funny. Arizona looked good and still lost that game by double digits, which is the next game. I think Arizona is winnable. I predict that game will be a lot...

13:13It will look a lot like the Iowa game did. Where on paper, Arizona is probably going to be favored by eight to 12 points. Somewhere in that ballpark. On the road, two sun. And that's probably a fair number. But similar to the Iowa game, I think Iowa State is going to show up and you're not going to be able to see a massive talent difference. I think you're just going to see a program that's a year three compared to Iowa State being a year one. But I do think Iowa State can hang with Arizona on the right day and give them the game. I will keep that a loss. But it's a lot closer in my mind. I'm tempted to flip that to a win right now. But I'm going to keep it as a loss. So that puts Iowa State three and four heading into the Oklahoma State game. That puts Iowa State at three and four heading into the Oklahoma State game on Halloween. I'm going to flip that to a win. I know Oklahoma State just beat Oregon. I know it. But there is an extra motivation, I think from Jimmy Rogers and Jesse Bobbitt in that game.

14:16North Texas hung 59 on Washington State last year. And it wasn't the defense's fault. That was the offense's fault. That is going to be probably the atmosphere of the year. At Jack Tristadium. And if things play out the way that I think they'll play out, that will be not a must win game for Iowa State. But that could be the season defining game for Iowa State. I still think Oklahoma State is really good. I think their skill positions have absolutely proven it against Oregon. They didn't do it against Tulsa. People are going to have to erase that Tulsa game from their memory. When a team has 90 new players, it's going to take time. And that was proven. That's why you have to have patience with stuff like this. That was proven against Oregon. With that being said, my gut feel, my gut feel is that Iowa State is going to be up. Their defense is going to have one of those days that you think about for a long time at Jack Tristadium. And the offense, I think, should be able to find their groove by that point.

15:18Oklahoma State's defense looked a lot better against Oregon. I'm guessing that Oregon was not up for that game. I'm not saying that that takes anything away from Oklahoma State. It absolutely doesn't. I'm guessing that Oregon thought that they were just going to be able to walk in there and run all over Oklahoma State. And they were not able to do that. However, I think Iowa State's offense will be a bit more grooved by then and do just enough. So I've got Iowa State at 4 and 4 heading in to Baylor. I think they win this game. Baylor probably slightly more talented. But Jimmy Rogers is a better coach than Dave Oranda. I'm just going to stay in Furman State. They win that game 5 and 4. Then they come back home, play Cincinnati. I'm keeping that as a win. By the way, I had Baylor as a loss before the season. So I've flipped two games now for a team that I expect to be peaking in late October into November. I'm keeping Cincinnati as a win.

16:20They've obliterated two opponents, but Boston College is terrible. I can't remember who Cincinnati played this past week. I apologize. They do this every year, though. I still am not high on Cincinnati. I don't love what they've done offensively and them running all over Boston College. A group of five opponents doesn't really change that for me. Then it's at Central Florida. I had that as a win before the season. I'm keeping that a win. So I've got 7 and 4 going into the farm again against Kansas State. I think that is a loss. I think Kansas State is really good. There are another team that health will be very, very big for them, not that it won't for every team in the conference. But they've already lost two starting offensive lineman for the season. Their defense, their pass rush has been really good, but it's still not a completely, complete defense. And they rely a lot on Abraham Johnson, who uses his legs a lot if he gets banged up. Who knows. I think that's a chance for a win. I don't think that's going to be anything more than a three or four point spread.

17:22But I will keep my preseason prediction of having K-State win that game. So I've got the cyclones going seven and five. And I don't think that's out of the question. When you watch what they did at Kinnex Stadium, how well coach they were, how they went toe to toe physically, with the University of Iowa, with so many former walk-ons playing. I really don't think that you can understate how impressive that was, and I've got the cyclones going to a bulking at seven and five. On the record on the daily call. Thank you for checking it out right here in Northwest Bank Studios.