A warm summer night is the perfect time to jump on the Cyclone Twitter trending topic: 5 Best Jack Trice Games you saw in person.
Here is ours in order of witness:
1981 Iowa State 23 SUI 12
Iowa's first game in Ames since 1934. (When the series resumed in 1977, SUI required the Cyclones to drive to Iowa City four times before they would come to Ames. Jerks.) Ames was electric. Hillside seats on the NW corner were Nirvana for a group of teenage Cyclone fans. A core memory.
1992 Iowa State 19 Nebraska 10 (aka the Marv Seiler Game)
The unexpected wins are the most fun. An 8-1 Cornhusker team came to Ames on a roll, but couldn't get anything together against a pesky Cyclone defense. Marv only needed on big play to ice the win. You could hear the shock in Pete Taylor's voice on the radio call.
2005 Iowa State 23, SUI 3
An SUI squad ranked #8 came into Ames and almost got shut out by the Cyclones. The game essentially ended in the 2nd quarter when an GoBla QB concussed himself by tackling a safety after an INT. Perhaps ISU's most dominant win over SUI behind the 31-0 win in 1978. A fun day.
2017 Iowa State 14 TCU 7
A white-knuckle ride for the resurgent Cyclones over #4 TCU. 5-2, and on a 3 - game wining streak, the Cyclones went up 14-0 in the first half. TCU returned the 2nd half kickoff for a TD, but ISU held the Frogs to 157 yards and no points on their last 7 possessions, including 3 turnovers to seal the win. ISU broke a 7 game win streak for TCU, became bowl eligible in CMC's 2nd season, and moved into a tie for first place in the Big 12. It was a hug-random-strangers kind of win. The win in Norman wasn't a fluke.
2018 ISU 42 KSU 38
Down 17 with 12:27 left in the 4th, Brock Purdy led three scoring drives to end Bill Snyder's coaching career. The win tied ISU's biggest 4th quarter comeback win in it's history. While a win over #6 West Virginia a month earlier was a dominant win, sending Snyder out the way they did was more satisfying.
