Southeast Polk and Ankeny have met in three of the last four Class 5A state championship games. The Rams have won the last three titles and the Hawks claimed the one before that run. So it’s a little odd to see 0-1 records by their names entering a big game Friday.

Still, both the Rams (No. 5) and Hawks (No. 7) are ranked, part of a strong Class 5A Central Iowa contingent that also happens to include a 1-vs.-2 rivalry game this week.

West Des Moines Valley and West Des Moines Dowling are both 1-0 ahead of their clash at Valley Stadium.

The Iowa Valley Tigers, meanwhile, already are 2-0. So is WACO and those two ranked 8-Player teams meet Friday in Marengo.

Here’s a look at who all 71 teams ranked in this week’s Gazette poll face Friday night.

Class 5A

No. 1 West Des Moines Valley (1-0) vs. No. 2 West Des Moines Dowling (1-0)

No. 2 Waukee (1-0) at Waukee Northwest (0-1)

No. 2 West Des Moines Dowling (1-0) vs. No. 1 West Des Moines Valley (1-0)

No. 4 Ankeny Centennial (1-0) vs. Ames (0-1)

No. 5 Southeast Polk (0-1) vs. No. 7 Ankeny (0-1)

No. 6 Johnston (1-0) vs. Cedar Falls (1-0)

No. 7 Ankeny (0-1) at No. 5 Southeast Polk (0-1)

No. 8 Bettendorf (1-0) at Davenport West (0-1)

No. 8 Cedar Rapids Kennedy (0-1) vs. Pleasant Valley (0-1)

No. 10 Linn-Mar (1-0) vs. Cedar Rapids Washington (0-1)

Class 4A

No. 1 Lewis Central (1-0) at Creston (0-1)

No. 2 North Scott (1-0) at Waverly-Shell Rock (0-1)

No. 3 Western Dubuque (1-0) at Dubuque Wahlert (1-0)

No. 4 North Polk (1-0) at Carlisle (0-1)

No. 5 Indianola (1-0) vs. Norwalk (1-0)

No. 6 Bondurant-Farrar (0-1) vs. Grinnell (1-0)

No. 7 Cedar Rapids Xavier (1-0) at 3A No. 1 Williamsburg (1-0)

No. 8 Pella (1-0) vs. Keokuk (0-1)

No. 9 Decorah (1-0) at 3A No. 6 West Delaware (0-1)

No. 10 Gilbert (1-0) at Carroll (1-0)

Class 3A

No. 1 Williamsburg (1-0) vs. 4A No. 7 Cedar Rapids Xavier (1-0)

No. 2 Solon (1-0) at Clear Creek Amana (1-0)

No. 3 Mount Vernon (1-0) vs. Union Community (1-0)

No. 4 Algona (1-0) at Forest City (0-1)

No. 5 Clear Lake (1-0) at New Hampton (0-1)

No. 6 West Delaware (0-1) vs. 4A No. 9 Decorah (1-0)

No. 7 Independence (1-0) at Crestwood (0-1)

No. 8 Nevada (1-0) at Roland-Story (1-0)

No. 9 MOC-Floyd Valley (1-0) at 2A No. 7 Central Lyon/George-Little Rock (0-1)

No. 10 Harlan (0-1) vs. Denison-Schleswig (1-0)

Class 2A

No. 1 West Lyon (1-0) at Lawton-Bronson (0-1)

No. 2 Van Meter (1-0) at No. 10 Des Moines Christian (1-0)

No. 3 Monroe PCM (1-0) vs. Pella Christian (0-1)

No. 4 Spirit Lake (0-1) at Sioux Center (0-1)

No. 5 Western Christian (1-0) at Hinton (1-0)

No. 6 Clarinda (1-0) vs. Red Oak (0-1)

No. 7 Central Lyon/George-Little Rock (0-1) vs. 3A No. 9 MOC-Floyd Valley (1-0)

No. 7 Cherokee (1-0) vs. Sioux Central (1-0)

No. 9 Carroll Kuemper (0-1) at 1A No. 4 Underwood (0-1)

No. 10 Des Moines Christian (1-0) vs. No. 2 Van Meter (1-0)

Class 1A

No. 1 Grundy Center (1-0) at Aplington-Parkersburg (0-1)

No. 2 Wilton (1-0) at West Liberty (0-1)

No. 3 Ida Grove OABCIG (1-0) vs. East Sac County (0-1)

No. 4 Underwood (0-1) vs. 2A No. 9 Carroll Kuemper (0-1)

No. 5 Dike-New Hartford (0-1) vs. West Branch (0-1)

No. 6 Emmetsburg (1-0) vs. Estherville-Lincoln Central (0-1)

No. 7 Avoca AHSTW (1-0) vs. Oakland Riverside (1-0)

No. 8 Sumner-Fredericksburg (1-0) at North Fayette Valley (0-1)

No. 9 South Hardin (1-0) at Iowa Falls-Alden (0-1)

No. 10 Iowa City Regina (1-0) at Mid-Prairie (0-1)

No. 10 MFL MarMac (1-0) vs. Waukon (0-1)

Class A

No. 1 Woodbury Central (1-0) at Westwood (0-1)

No. 2 Guthrie Center ACGC (1-0) vs. No. 9 Earlham (1-0)

No. 3 West Hancock (1-0) vs. Belmond-Klemme (0-1)

No. 4 Logan-Magnolia (1-0) vs. Kingsley-Pierson (1-0)

No. 5 Saint Ansgar (1-0) vs. North Union (0-1)

No. 6 Mount Ayr (1-0) vs. Wayne (1-0)

No. 7 Starmont (1-0) at Clayton Ridge (0-1)

No. 8 Madrid (0-1) at Martensdale-St. Marys (0-1)

No. 9 Earlham (1-0) at No. 2 Guthrie Center ACGC (1-0)

No. 10 Lisbon (1-0) at Louisa-Muscatine (0-1)

8-Player

No. 1 Remsen St. Mary’s (1-0) vs. Siouxland Christian (0-1)

No. 2 Bedford (1-0) vs. Murray (1-1)

No. 3 Algona Garrigan (1-0) vs. West Bend-Mallard (1-0)

No. 4 Audubon (1-0) vs. Colo-Nesco (2-0)

No. 5 Don Bosco (1-0) vs. Elkader Central (0-1)

No. 6 Lenox (1-0) at Fremont-Mills (1-0)

No. 7 Anita CAM (0-1) at Griswold (0-1)

No. 8 Iowa Valley (2-0) vs. No. 9 WACO (2-0)

No. 9 WACO (2-0) at No. 8 Iowa Valley (2-0)

No. 10 Lansing Kee (1-0) vs. Turkey Valley (0-1)

Comments: nathan.ford@thegazette.com

Three of the last four wins the Iowa State Cyclones have picked up in the Cy-Hawk Trophy series have come on the road, and they’ll look for a fourth in five tries against the No. 21 Iowa Hawkeyes in college football’s Week 2 action on Saturday.

The rivalry is split the last two seasons, and the Hawkeyes are coming off a 20-13 victory over the Cyclones in last year’s game, while Iowa State won a 10-7 decision the year before. Otherwise, Iowa has dominated in the last decade, winning 8 of the last 10 meetings.

Iowa’s infamously unproductive offense took what appeared to be an important step forward in this season’s opener, posting a 40-0 victory over Illinois State in which quarterback Cade McNamara passed for 251 yards and threw three touchdown passes, and the Hawkeye ground game amassed 241 yards and averaged 6 yards per carry while Kaleb Johnson scored twice.

Iowa State handled North Dakota in a 21-3 win last week, as quarterback Rocco Becht threw two touchdown passes and ran for a third, but the Cyclones’ rushing attack finished with just 86 yards while back Abu Sama ran 5 times for 36 yards.

What can we expect in the matchup? For that, let’s turn to the SP+ prediction model to get a preview of what to watch as Iowa and Iowa State re-new the Cy-Hawk Trophy series on Saturday.

The simulations favor the Hawkeyes to pull out a close win over the Cyclones this week.

SP+ predicts that Iowa will defeat Iowa State by a projected score of 21 to 14 and to win the game by an expected 7.8 points.

The model gives the Hawkeyes a 69 percent chance of outright victory.

SP+ is a “tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency” that attempts to predict game outcomes by measuring “the most sustainable and predictable aspects of football.”

Iowa is a 3 point favorite against Iowa State, according to the lines at FanDuel Sportsbook, which set the total at 35.5 points for the game.

FanDuel lists the moneyline odds for Iowa at -162 and for Iowa State +134.

If you’re using this projection to bet on the game, you should take…

Other analytic tools suggest the Hawkeyes will take down the Cyclones this week.

That includes the College Football Power Index, a computer prediction model that uses data points from both teams to simulate games 20,000 times to pick winners.

Iowa is projected to win the game in 71.8 percent of the computer’s calculations, while Iowa State comes out the expected winner in the remaining 28.2 percent of sims.

The model projects Iowa will be 6.5 points better than Iowa State on the same field in both teams’ current composition, enough to cover the spread.

Iowa will win 7.7 games this season, according to the index, which projects the team has a 2.4 percent chance to win the Big Ten championship.

The model projects Iowa State will win 6.2 games this year and has a 1.5 percent shot to win the Big 12 championship.

When: Sat., Sept. 7
Time: 2:30 p.m. Central
TV: CBS network

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER.

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Principal Financial Group, Ankeny Community School District among top employers

Each year, Forbes releases its “America’s Best Employers By State,” list which includes nearly 1,300 companies nationwide.

Thirty employers in Iowa were featured on this year’s list, with 14 companies headquartered in the state and seven based in the Des Moines metro area. The companies that made the list fall into a range of industries, including education, health care social services, and government.

To create the list, Forbes worked with data company Statista to survey more than 160,000 U.S. employees at companies with at least 500 workers. Survey participants were asked a series of questions including:

• How likely they were to recommend their company.
• To evaluate the companies they’ve worked for within the past two years.
• To evaluate organizations, they knew within their industry or through friends or family who worked there.

Responses were collected from all 50 states and Washington D.C. and weighted based on recent data to compile the list.

Here are the best employers in Iowa, according to Forbes:

Top-rated employers headquartered in the Des Moines Metro

2. Principal Financial Group

3. Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield

7. Ankeny Community School District

13. Broadlawns Medical Center

22. State of Iowa

23. Des Moines Public Schools

25. UnityPoint Health

More: Looking for a new job? These Iowa companies rank among the best for pay

Top-rated employers based in Iowa

8. UI Health Care (formerly University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics), Iowa City

12. Iowa State University, Ames

16. Pella Corporation, Pella

17. Mercy Medical Center, Cedar Rapids

18. University of Iowa, Iowa City

26. Cedar Rapids Community School District, Cedar Rapids

29. Transamerica, Cedar Rapids

What are all of the Iowa companies on Forbes’ ‘Best Employers’ list?

The list from Forbes also included companies headquartered in other states that have large presences in Iowa. Here’s the complete list of employers in Iowa ranked by Forbes along with their headquarters location:

1. Kwik Trip/Kwik Star, La Crosse, Wisconsin
2. Principal Financial Group, Des Moines
3. Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Des Moines
4. United Parcel Service, Atlanta
5. Nationwide Mutual Insurance, Columbus, Ohio
6. UnitedHealth Group, Minnetonka, Minnesota
7. Ankeny Community School District, Ankeny
8. UI Health Care, Iowa City
9. Hormel Foods, Austin, Minnesota
10. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Washington, D.C.
11. Amazon, Seattle
12. Iowa State University, Ames
13. Broadlawns Medical Center, Des Moines
14. John Deere, Moline, Illinois
15. Target, Minneapolis
16. Pella Corporation, Pella
17. Mercy Medical Center, Cedar Rapids
18. University of Iowa, Iowa City
19. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C.
20. Menards, Eau Claire, Wisconsin
21. Marsh & McLennan, New York
22. State of Iowa, Des Moines
23. Des Moines Public Schools, Des Moines
24. FedEx, Memphis, Tennessee
25. UnityPoint Health, West Des Moines
26. Cedar Rapids Community School District, Cedar Rapids
27. Sammons Enterprises, Dallas
28. United States Postal Services (USPS), Washington, D.C.
29. Transamerica, Cedar Rapids
30. PepsiCo, Purchase, New York

Jessica Rish is an entertainment, dining and business reporter for the Iowa City Press-Citizen. She can be reached at JRish@press-citizen.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @rishjessica_