Iowa

Iowa Football: An early look at El Assico

Published

9 months ago

June 9, 2025

Iowa Football: An early look at El Assico

In a scant 11 weeks your Iowa Hawkeyes will make the 136-mile trek west on I-80 to retrieve the Cy-Hawk series trophy after its year-long ~~vacation~~ captivity somewhere deep in the bowels of Iowa State’s football facility. For Iowa fans last year’s edition of El Assico definitely lived up to its name, as Iowa pissed one down it’s leg and allowed Matt Campbell’s squad to carry the trophy off our field, onto their bus, and drive it back to their little cow-town out west. It was a bad day, and an absolute harbinger for the 2024 season, as the loss all but ended any hopes for a CFP birth (which were pretty remote to begin with).

But that was last year, it’s a whole new world in Iowa City with a new QB (4 new QBs to be precise), another offseason under Tim Lester’s belt and a new optimism for a season that, we hope, will lead to resurgence of Iowa Football under Kirk 4.5(???). Let’s take a look at what Little Brother has in store for us this year.

Series History

El Assico is my least favorite game every season for a variety of reasons. Sure, Iowa owns the all-time series (47-23) and generally owns little brother (especially when they wear one of their horrific alternate uniform combos – seriously, what’s the deal with the black and whites?), but it never feels good, even when we win. It’s a game that, generally, Iowa is expected to win, so when they do it means nothing and if they don’t it means everything, it’s a lose lose proposition for the Hawks. This time around Iowa State is coming off the best season in their history (finally getting over the 10-win hump) and they’re not looking to fall off. Matt Campbell has the Cyclones feeling good and has stolen 2 of his last 4 tilts against the Hawkeyes (though the Clones can’t seem to figure out how to beat us in their building), so I don’t expect that this year’s edition will feel good either, even when we win. The only real difference this year is that, right now, I don’t think many people would pick Iowa to win this game.

2024 Results

Overall: 11-3
Conference: 7-2

The Cyclones enjoyed a historic 2024 season, finishing 11-3 (achieving the schools first-ever 10+ win regular season), culminating with Iowa State earning a spot in their first ever conference title game. They finished the season ranked #15 in the final AP poll, and capped everything off with a bowl win over Miami that earned them the privilege of consuming an anthropomorphized Pop-Tart.

Coaching Staff

Head Coach: Matt Campbell (10th season at Iowa State)
Offensive Coordinator: Taylor Mouser (promoted from Assistant Head Coach/Tight Ends Coach, 1st season as OC)
Defensive Coordinator: Jon Heacock (9th season at Iowa State)

Matt Campbell arrived in Ames 10 years ago (which is hard to believe) and recently agreed to a Ferentz-like eight-year contract that will keep him in Ames through the 2032 season (provided that he doesn’t get poached by a P4 team, with a lot more money, between now and then). Taylor Mouser was promoted to offensive coordinator after Nate Scheelhaase left for the pros, though he’s no stranger to Ames, having been with Campbell since his arrival. Jon Heacock is Campbell’s Phil Parker and he isn’t going anywhere or getting any worse at putting a solid, though not always exceptional, unit on the field.

Key Departures

WR Jayden Higgins (Selected 34th overall by the Texans) – Higgins notched one of the best seasons an ISU receiver has ever had last year with 87 catches (second all-time), 1,183 yards (third all-time) and 9 touchdowns (tied for second all-time)

CB Darien Porter (Selected 68th overall by the Raiders) – Porter didn’t put up crazy numbers: 51 (18) tackles, 3 INT, 2 PDs, but he was a solid corner and a big body that could cover pretty much every team’s #1 WR.

WR Jaylin Noel (Selected 79th overall by the Texans. Noel may not have had the season that Higgins had, but he caught seven passes of 50+ yards (including a 75 yarder that sucked all the wind out of my sails in Iowa City last year).

OT Jalen Travis (Selected 127th overall by the Colts) – Travis was the first Cyclone OL drafted since the 49’ers took Carter Bykowski with the 246th pick in the 2013 draft.

Transfer Loss:

DT Tyler Onyedim (Sr.) – transferred to Texas A&M – 75 tackles and ten tackles for loss over the last two years.

Key Returners

QB Rocco Becht (Jr.) – Rocco has come a long way since he was thrust into the starting role after Hunter Dekkers ousting over gambling two years ago, throwing for over 3,000 yards each of the last two seasons and recording 48 passing touchdowns (sidenote – Iowa QB’s have thrown 19, no that is not a typo, in that same timeframe).

RB Carson Hansen (Jr.) – With 750 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns on the ground as a sophomore, Hansen proved that he wasn’t playing second fiddle to anyone. He may not have Abu Sama’s flash, but this kid has a nose for the endzone.

RB Abu Sama III (Jr.) – Sama may not have been able to repeat the success of his Freshman campaign, but he’s a legitimate threat with the ball in his hands. Combined with Hansen, this is a dangerous backfield.

S Jeremiah Cooper (Sr.) – 48 total tackles, two interceptions, and eight pass deflections in 2024

CB Jontez Williams (Jr.) – Williams tied for 5th on the team in tackles last season with 46, had 4 picks and 5 PDs, he’s taking over for Cooper and will be heavily relied on to lock down his side of the field.

New Additions

WR Chase Sowell (Sr.) – A big pickup for Campbell, Sowell started out his career at Colorado, left after Deion Sanders came in, and grabbed 81 catches for 1,300 yards and four scores in two years at East Carolina. He’s a shoe-in for the #1 at WR.

EDGE Vontroy Malone (Jr.) – Malone had 49 tackles with 3.5 sacks and 8.5 tackles for loss over the last two seasons in Tulsa, they’re hoping Malone can help beef up the pass rush (which managed just 16 sacks last season)

2025 Expectations

Wins: 7.5
Big 12 Championship Game: +1200

The Big 12 isn’t the conference it used to be (it’s not even the Big 8 anymore tbh) and there’s not a single game on the Clones’ schedule that they can’t win, but EVERY game is a toss-up, even the “easy” matchups. The Big 12 is expected to be stronger in 2025 with most predicting that Oklahoma State and Arizona will return to form. The road schedule (KSU in Dublin, Cincinnati, Colorado, TCU, and OKST) isn’t exactly murderer’s row, but there’s not an easy win in the bunch.

The Cyclones might be even better this year, but the Big 12 is stronger than it was in 2024. While they avoid Texas Tech, Utah, and Baylor, they are also missing games against teams in rebuild mode (UCF, WVU). The season opener against Kansas State in Dublin, will be crucial (and not just because they’ve decided to export Farmageddon to the Emerald Isle), as a loss in Week Zero could bring a hangover that carries into their date at South Dakota (predicted to go 12-0 and challenge for the FCS National Championship) and, fingers crossed, the Hawkeye’s visit to Ames.

Game Details

Date: September 6, 2025
Time: 11:00 AM CT
Location: Jack Trice Stadium, Ames, Iowa
TV Network: FOX

Fun Fact: Every year I manage to burn the caloric equivalent of walking ~10 miles while sitting on my couch watching this stupid game.

Only 11 weeks until kickoff!

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Iowa

Iowa House OKs ‘3 strikes’ bill with 20-year prison terms. What to know

Published

6 minutes ago

March 5, 2026

Press Room

Iowa House OKs ‘3 strikes’ bill with 20-year prison terms. What to know

Iowans who commit multiple serious crimes would face a mandatory 20-year prison sentence under a “three strikes” bill passed by House lawmakers.
Republicans said the bill would keep Iowans safe and “prioritize victims and public safety over criminals.”
A nonpartisan state agency says the bill would disproportionately impact Black Iowans and could require the state to spend millions to build a new prison.

Repeat offenders convicted of multiple serious crimes would receive a mandatory 20-year prison sentence under a bill passed by House lawmakers.

House lawmakers debated for more than an hour about high costs, lack of prison space and the bill’s impact on Black Iowans before voting 68-23 to pass House File 2542, sending it to the Iowa Senate.

Seven Democrats, including Minority Leader Brian Meyer, D-Des Moines, joined Republicans in voting in favor of the bill.

“It will put public safety first,” said the bill’s floor manager, Rep. Steven Holt, R-Denison. “It will ensure that the debt to victims and society is paid. It will prioritize victims and public safety over criminals. It will establish real and effective deterrence that is nonexistent in our current system. It will reduce chaos and violence in our society.”

Here’s what to know about the bill.

What would the House Republican three strikes bill do?

Iowans who accumulate three strikes would face a mandatory 20-year prison sentence, with no parole, under the bill.

That would replace Iowa’s current law that says habitual offenders must serve a minimum three-year prison sentence before they are eligible for parole.

All felonies, as well as aggravated misdemeanors involving sexual abuse, domestic abuse, assault and organized retail theft would be considered level-one offenses that are worth one full strike.

Other aggravated misdemeanors, as well as serious misdemeanors involving assault, domestic abuse and criminal mischief would be considered level-two offenses worth half a strike each.

Lawmakers amended the bill to remove theft, harassment and possession of a controlled substance from the crimes that would count toward a person’s strikes.

And the amendment specifies that the bill would only apply to convictions that occur beginning July 1, 2026.

If someone is arrested and convicted of multiple offenses, only the most serious charge would count towards the defendant’s strikes.

Convictions would not count toward someone’s total if more than 20 years passes between a prior conviction and their current conviction.

Rep. Ross Wilburn, D-Ames, tried unsuccessfully to amend the bill to say that only a violent crime would qualify as someone’s third strike, but Republicans rejected the amendment.

“The bill still scores murder, felony embezzlement and felony theft the same, even though they are very different crimes,” Wilburn said. “One point is one point and three gets you 20 years with no ability for parole or judicial discretion.”

Holt said the legislation leaves room for judicial and prosecutorial discretion.

“There are deferred sentences, there are plea bargains,” he said. “There is plenty of opportunity for grace and judicial discretion in the legislation that we are proposing.”

Bill could cost millions, require Iowa to build a new prison, agency says

A fiscal analysis of the bill by the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency said it could cost Iowa nearly $165 million more per year by 2031 based on the cost of housing inmates for longer prison stays.

FY 2027: $33 million
FY 2028: $66 million
FY 2029: $99 million
FY 2030: $132 million
FY 2031: $164.9 million

The agency said if the bill had been in effect between fiscal year 2020 and fiscal year 2025, there would have been 5,373 people who qualified for the 20-year mandatory minimum sentence.

“An increase in the prison population due to increased (length of stay) will require the DOC to build additional prison(s),” the agency states. “The size, security and other features that a future prison may require cannot be determined, but costs would be significant.”

The analysis noted that South Dakota appropriated $650 million last fall to build a 1,500-bed prison.

As of March 1, the Iowa Department of Corrections’ website describes the state’s prison system as being overcrowded by 25%, with 8,705 inmates compared to a capacity of 6,990.

The Office of the State Public Defender could see a projected cost increase of $1.6 million due to an increased number of trials resulting from the legislation.

But the agency’s estimates come with a caveat — the Department of Corrections did not respond to its requests for data.

“The LSA has not received a response to multiple requests for information from the DOC,” the note states. “Without additional information, the LSA cannot estimate the total fiscal impact of the bill.”

Holt called the fiscal note “an embarrassment to the Department of Corrections” and “an agenda masquerading as math.”

“It is clear, in my judgment, that because they did not like the legislation they went all out and extreme to create a fiscal note that cannot be taken seriously in its assumptions,” he said. “It assumes that nothing will change, that there will be no deterrent factor and that the numbers will continue as usual.”

Black Iowans would be disproportionately impacted by the law

The Legislative Services Agency analysis says the bill “may disproportionately impact Black individuals if trends remain constant.”

Of the 29,438 people convicted in fiscal year 2025 of felonies and aggravated misdemeanors that constitute a level one offense under the bill, the agency said about 70% were White, 22% were Black and 9% were other races.

Iowa’s overall population is 83% White, 4% Black and 13% other races, the agency said.

It’s not clear how the bill’s impact would change to account for the House amendment removing some crimes from counting towards the three strikes.

“Expanding three-strike laws will intensify disparities — and that’s what this statement shows — by mandating longer sentences, limiting judicial discretion,” Wilburn said. “We already have a habitual offender statute. We already have one in place. We have a 10-year low in recidivism in our correctional system.”

Rep. Angel Ramirez, D-Cedar Rapids, said California’s three strikes law, passed in the 1990s, worsened racial disparities, and “Iowa is about to repeat the same mistake.”

“I urge every member here, do not pass legislation that our own minority impact statement tells us will deepen inequality in our state,” Ramirez said.

Holt said minority communities in Iowa are impacted by crime and that the legislation “will make citizens of all colors safer.”

And he said the minority impact statement “tells only one side of the story, doesn’t it? It tells the criminal’s story. What about the victim’s story?”

“What about the mother who will continue to tuck her kids in at night and read them Bible stories because she never became the next victim of a violent career criminal?” he said. “Where is that data point in the minority impact statement?”

House lawmakers also approved separate legislation that would increase Iowa’s statewide bond schedule, Senate File 2399.

That bill passed on a vote of 74-19.

Iowans could see more information on judges’ rulings

Iowans would have access to more information about judges’ rulings ahead of the state’s judicial retention elections under a separate measure, House File 2719, which passed on a 73-19 vote.

The Iowa secretary of state’s office would be required to publish information including:

The percentage of cases in which the judge set a bond amount lower than the state’s bond schedule
The frequency that the judge releases someone on their own recognizance for a violent offense compared to a nonviolent offense
The frequency that the judge’s final sentence is lower than statutory recommendations or a prosecutor’s recommendations
The number of times the judge issues a deferred judgement, deferred sentence or suspended sentence
The number of times the judge’s rulings are reversed on appeal due to abuse of discretion or error of law
The average time it takes the judge to rule on a motion or case
The number of cases the judge has resolved compared to the number of cases on the judge’s docket

The data would have to be displayed with a five-year trend line beginning five years after the bill takes effect.

The Secretary of State’s Office would also be required to maintain a searchable database of all judicial opinions and orders for the judge’s current term and the preceding six years. The decisions would be redacted when appropriate.

And judges would have the opportunity to write a 2,000-word personal statement on their judicial philosophy or data trends present in their rulings.

Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on X at @sgrubermiller.

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Iowa

Man sentenced for killing 4 people appeals his sentence to the Iowa Supreme Court

Published

12 hours ago

March 4, 2026

Press Room

Man sentenced for killing 4 people appeals his sentence to the Iowa Supreme Court

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – Luke Truesdell’s attorney has filed as of Sunday to appeal his sentence to the Iowa Supreme Court.

Truesdell was sentenced last week to three consecutive life sentences plus 50 years for the deaths of four people killed in rural Linn County.

A jury convicted Luke Truesdell, 36, in November on the first-degree murder of Brent Brown, 34; his girlfriend, Keonna Ryan, 26, of Cedar Rapids; and Amanda Parker, 33, of Vinton. They also found him guilty of second-degree murder in the death of Romondus Cooper, 44, of Cedar Rapids.

His attorneys previously argued multiple reasons for a retrial that could potentially be brought up again.

They said that one juror was overheard talking about news on the case.

They also said the prosecutors inflamed the jury, rather than focusing on the facts.

His lawyers said there is no direct evidence that Truesdell committed the murders.

Truesdell’s defense also pointed to Truesdell’s father, Larry Tuesdell, who was found covered in blood at the scene but never fully investigated. Authorities have not been able to locate Larry.

The state disagreed, citing overwhelming evidence including DNA on the murder weapon, eyewitness testimony and video of Truesdell entering the garage where the four people were found dead.

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Iowa

2026 Iowa high school boys basketball state tournament brackets, schedule

Published

1 day ago

March 4, 2026

Press Room

2026 Iowa high school boys basketball state tournament brackets, schedule

The Iowa high school boys state basketball tournament is just around the corner and the full field has now been set.

By March 13, four teams will be crowned state champions and there are plenty of worthy squads vying for the title. On Tuesday, the final brackets were released and we now have a clear picture of the eight teams in each class hoping to take home the trophy.

Here’s a look at the first-round pairings and the full state tournament schedule for next week’s IHSAA action.