Iowa
Hines: Iowa State football has big opportunity against Houston in Big 12 Conference opener
Hear from Iowa State quarterback Rocco Becht ahead of Houston matchup
Iowa State quarterback Rocco Becht breaks down the Cyclones’ 3-0 start to the season and looks ahead to starting Big 12 play against Houston.
AMES – It’s not easy for an athletic department to go from the Group of 5 to the Power 4. It’s incredibly difficult, actually.
And it’s probably most difficult for the football programs within those athletic departments. They, and the money they hope to generate, are the reason for the move, and yet they are the most disadvantaged by it on the field. When you’re facing the teams that historically could poach your best recruits on a whim at the 11th hour, you’re gonna have a problem.
That was certainly the case for the Big 12’s four newcomers last year. BYU, Cincinnati, UCF and Houston went a combined 4-24 against the league’s legacy programs in 2023. Houston was the only team to accrue two wins against those Power 4 mainstays, and coach Dana Holgorsen got fired for his efforts.
That puts the Cougars in a doubly difficult spot – trying to level up in a league while also implementing a culture of a first-year coach.
More: Join Travis Hines’ Cyclone Insider text-messaging group for behind-the-scenes access
“You throw in the two mixes of new league and new coaching staff,” Iowa State football coach Matt Campbell said Tuesday, “that’s just unique.
“It’s not easy.”
Houston coach Willie Fritz would certainly appear to be up for the job, with Tulane’s turnaround under his watch the most recent accomplishment in a career that spans three decades and includes four Division I head coaching stops.
But there’s a lot of work to do.
More: Hines: How Iowa State football set up and executed Ben Brahmer’s big play Saturday
The Cougars will host No. 19 Iowa State (3-0) on Saturday (6 p.m.; FS1) with a 1-3 record that most recently added a 34-0 loss to fellow Big 12 newcomer Cincinnati. They played No. 18 Oklahoma tough in a road loss, but a 27-7 season-opening home setback to UNLV certainly doesn’t inspire confidence that this team may be better than its early outcomes.
“They’ve got elite playmakers and elite talent,” Campbell countered, “and it’s just trying to find that consistency.
“Any time there’s a coaching change, you’re trying to create the mentality that you want, and there’s going to be a little bit of inconsistency at times.”
More: Hines: Matt Campbell is set to become Iowa State football’s winningest coach
Houston’s situation, to state the obvious, is quite different than Iowa State’s. Though they are not unrelated.
The Cyclones will head to Texas riding just the second 3-0 start for the program in the last decade, with a top-20 ranking and real designs on a Big 12 title game appearance. Much of those Big 12 aspirations – and the College Football Playoff implications associated with them – are tied to a schedule that features, well, several teams like Houston.
Which is to say, eminently winnable games.
This, of course, is not a ‘must-win’ game in September for the Cyclones, but it definitely is a ‘should win.’ Campbell talked last week about building momentum with the 52-7 win over Arkansas State, and the Cyclones’ November prospects will be hugely determined by the momentum they can build in this stretch of their schedule.
With games against the Cougars, Baylor (2-2), at West Virginia (2-2) and UCF (3-0) rounding out the October schedule, this is where Iowa State can establish itself as a true Big 12 and national threat. It could also establish itself as a team capable of playing good football but also losing against so-so competition.
More: Hines: Iowa State football shows its potential in runaway victory over Arkansas State
To demand a 7-0 record heading into the season’s final month is probably a bit much, but, looking at what Iowa State has on its roster and these teams on its schedule, anything short of 6-1 probably feels like a major missed opportunity, right?
Just like Iowa State did against the Red Wolves last week, now is the time for simply taking care of business. Style points are nice, but convincing performances and wins are better.
They’re nearly essential for Iowa State to piece together the type of special season it last enjoyed in 2020, and completely required if the Cyclones want to exceed what that team full of future NFL players accomplished.
A trip to a rebuilding Houston program isn’t the most exciting way to open Big 12 play, but, with the heights Iowa State hopes to reach this season, every single step matters. Even the easy strides can threaten a stumble, and they’re essential to get where you want to go.
Iowa State columnist Travis Hines has covered the Cyclones for the Des Moines Register and Ames Tribune since 2012. Contact him at thines@amestrib.com or (515) 284-8000. Follow him on X at @TravisHines21.
Iowa
Iowa City police seek help identifying persons of interest in vandalism investigation
IOWA CITY, Iowa (KCRG) – Iowa City police are asking the public’s help identifying persons of interest connected to a vandalism investigation.
Police said a business was vandalized in the alley behind the 200 block of East Washington Street on Sunday at 2:35 a.m.
Investigators would like to speak with the persons of interest pictured. Police ask anyone who recognizes these individuals to contact them.
Anyone with information or security camera footage of the incident should contact the Iowa City Police Department at 319-356-5275. Iowa City Area Crime Stoppers is also offering a reward up to $1,000 for information that leads to an arrest.
Copyright 2026 KCRG. All rights reserved.
Iowa
The ‘What Ifs’ of 2025-26 for Iowa State athletics | Hines
Iowa State football coach Jimmy Rogers assesses the Cyclones’ spring
Iowa State football coach Jimmy Rogers assesses the Cyclones’ spring
Spring commencement arrives at Iowa State this weekend, with a whole new generation of Cyclones set to get their diplomas and move on to the next things in their lives.
The options and choices will set their path for, potentially, the years and decades ahead.
Which got me thinking about the choices and circumstances of this school year that came for Iowa State athletics. There were no shortages of inflection points at which, it seems, programs and an entire athletics department pivoted to new directions.
Let’s explore.
What if Iowa State had hired Taylor Mouser as head football coach?
This seems to be the most discussed “Sliding Doors” moment for Iowa State football fans regarding head coach Matt Campbell’s departure to Penn State. And with good reason. It’s the most obvious, could have had the most immediate impact on the program and would have been largely seen as a continuation of the most successful run in school history.
Would promoting the Iowa State offensive coordinator, though, have been the right move?
If you assume a best-case scenario in which some of the star Cyclone players on offense – think Rocco Becht, Ben Brahmer, Carson Hansen, etc. – stay at Iowa State and a bulk of the coaching staff does as well, there are still likely defections that weaken the roster. Nothing like we saw back in December, but, still, there would be holes – and Campbell’s shoes – to fill by a first-time head coach taking over for a legend.
The calculation, as I see it, has to be – does the Year 1 continuity and relative stability gained by hiring Mouser provide for better long-term results than hiring Jimmy Rogers, who has the benefit of head-coaching experience?
It certainly would have made the fan base feel better back in December, but would it have positioned Iowa State to have better results in 2027 and beyond?
The roster almost certainly would have been “better” in 2026 if Iowa State retained Mouser, but would that have created a more solid foundation for the future or just delayed decay?
This “What If” becomes a lot less intricate and interesting if Rogers just wins a ton this fall and going forward.
What if Penn State had been able to hire Kalani Sitake as its football coach?
I think this is the most interesting question on the list.
By reports, Penn State was on the verge of hiring Sitake from BYU when the Cougars’ boosters – led by the Crumbl Cookie fortune – banded together to put together a financial package to keep Sitake in Provo.
What if they hadn’t, though?
Sitake goes to Penn State, and Dec. 5, 2025, is an uneventful day in Iowa State history rather than one of its most feverish.
But … what happens a few weeks later when Sherrone Moore is fired at Michigan?
Rather than plucking 66-year-old Kyle Whittingham from Utah/forced retirement, do the Wolverines try to make a Michigan Man out of an Ohioan? Does Campbell inherit the seat of Bo Schembechler?
And, for the sake of this thought exercise, if Campbell did move to Ann Arbor, does the timing of that decision change athletics director Jamie Pollard’s options and calculus about Iowa State’s opening? Is Jimmy Rogers still available? Or would he have taken a different opening or opted not to leave Pullman at that later date? Is Mouser the answer in this scenario?
Or is the Buckeye State distaste for the state Up North too much and Campbell returns for Year 11 at Iowa State?
Addy Brown on what went wrong in Iowa State’s loss to Syracuse
Iowa State’s Addy Brown talks about her team’s struggles in a loss to Syracuse in the NCAA Tournament.
What if Addy Brown doesn’t get hurt?
Iowa State women’s basketball was 14-0 on Jan. 4 when it played Baylor in Waco, and the season felt sure to realize the potential that was clear before it started with one of coach Bill Fennelly’s best rosters.
The Cyclones, though, returned home with their first loss and with Addy Brown sidelined with a back injury.
Four more losses in a row followed, and when Brown returned to the floor after six weeks, the Cyclones’ season was floundering.
They salvaged an NCAA Tournament bid, but a first-round exit gave way to a roster collapse with nine players – including Brown and superstar Audi Crooks – leaving via the transfer portal, putting Fennelly’s tenure and future under fire.
If Brown doesn’t get hurt – or just isn’t out as long – does that change the trajectory of the season? The offseason? And what the eventual end of Fennelly’s Iowa State career looks like?
What if Joshua Jefferson doesn’t roll his ankle?
The most recent “What If” I think is also the most straightforward.
If Jefferson’s ankle doesn’t roll in the early minutes of Iowa State’s first-round NCAA Tournament blowout win over Tennessee State, I think the Cyclones get a long second weekend in Chicago, but the Final Four drought probably remains intact.
Jefferson’s rebounding and offensive impact are, I think, enough to give the Cyclones the edge against Tennessee, but Michigan, the Cyclones’ would-be Elite Eight opponent, was just a juggernaut.
I’m not sure even a full-strength Iowa State team would have had more than a puncher’s chance. The Wolverines were just one of the best college basketball teams we’ve seen over the last few decades.
Iowa State columnist Travis Hines has covered the Cyclones for the Des Moines Register and Ames Tribune since 2012. Contact him at thines@amestrib.com or (515) 284-8000. Follow him on X at @TravisHines21.
Iowa
Top Iowa High School Football Prospect Makes His Decision
One of the top Iowa high school football prospects in the state has made his college decision official.
Iowa City Regina High School senior-to-be Tate Wallace has announced he has verbally committed to the University of Minnesota in the Big Ten Conference. Wallace picked the Golden Gophers and head coach PJ Fleck over a finalists Notre Dame, Nebraska, Arizona, Arizona State and Wisconsin.
Wallace narrowed down his list of schools to six at the end of April before making his final decision.
Iowa City Regina Football Standout Tate Wallace Ranked As No. 2 Overall Prospect In Iowa High School Football
The 6-foot-2, 226-pound linebacker is considered the No. 2 overall prospect in the state of Iowa for high school football, and is the No. 21 linebacker in the Class of 2027, according to 247Sports.
In the 247Sports Composite rankings, Wallace is No. 2 in Iowa high school football, No. 29 at linebacker and No. 359 for the Class of 2027.
Along With Minnesota, Tate Wallace Currently Holds Offers From Schools Such As Arizona, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Notre Dame, Tennessee, Iowa State
Wallace currently holds 16 total offers including from the previously mentioned Minnesota, Notre Dame, Nebraska, Arizona, Arizona State, Wisconsin, Iowa State, Kansas State, Purdue, Tennessee, West Virginia, Eastern Michigan, Miami (Ohio), Toledo, UNLV, North Dakota and North Dakota State.
As a junior, Wallace registered almost 50 tackles on defense, with 29 of them being counted as solo stops. He had 18 tackles for loss, 8.5 quarterback sacks and forced two fumbles, as Iowa City Regina advanced to the state championship game of the Iowa High School Athletic Association State Football Championships.
Future Minnesota Golden Gopher Has Been Key Two-Way Starter For Regals
Wallace also hauled in 40 passes for 611 yards with 10 receiving touchdowns on offense for the Regals. As a two-way player for Iowa City Regina during his sophomore season, Wallace had 27.5 tackles, including 16 solo stops, four tackles for loss and a quarterback sack, adding 51 receptions for 752 yards and eight touchdowns.
Back in March, Wallace announced seven spring visits to Notre Dame, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Arizona, Kansas State and Arizona State. He also visited Tennessee this past fall, taking in an SEC contest with the Volunteers.
Along with his success on the football field, Wallace helped lead the Regals to the Iowa High School Athletic Association Boys State Basketball Tournament this past winter. He earned High School on SI all-state honors in the process.
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