In many ways, Saturday's stunning upset of 8th ranked Iowa was new territory. Unlike so many Iowa-Iowa State games over the last 25 years, it was Iowa that looked tight, lacked emotion and effort, and gift wrapped the game for the other team. And unlike other Cy-Hawk clashes from the past, ISU was able and willing to take a game the other team was trying to give away.
Those twin developments should bring much joy to Cyclone fan as we look ahead to the rest of the season. If Iowa is truly good and ISU forced them into mistakes, ISU has a realistic shot at every game left on the schedule. If Iowa was a fraud at #8, they have a season of frustration ahead with 4 or 5 more losses possible. That's a long way from being touted as a possible #1.
But the fact that ISU took the gifts presented to them, and didn't try to level the playing field themselves speaks volumes about the state of the program. Consider all the games during in the recent series that ISU had a chance to win, but didn't: 1977, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1993, and even 2004. Iowa gave ISU the opportunity, but ISU couldn't capitalize. Not anymore.
For a final summary of Saturday, visit this blog and enjoy the photos. The last one is the best.
Peterclone
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