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Texas’s FRISCO Nobody can argue that the Cyclones traveled an easy route to the Big 12 Conference championship football game at AT&T Stadium in Arlington in early December if Iowa State wins the contest for the second consecutive year.
ISU, which finished 11-3 overall with a school-record 11 wins the previous season, will play Kansas State on August 23 in Ireland to start the 2025 season. They will then host South Dakota on August 30, play in-state rival Iowa on September 6, and travel to Jonesboro, Arkansas, to play Arkansas State on September 13. ISU will then take two weeks off before playing Arizona at Jack Trice Stadium on September 27.
Yes, the beginning of the college football season presents a special challenge. At the Big 12 football media days on Tuesday, ISU head coach Matt Campbell stated, “We are extremely honored to play in this game (in Ireland).” Even though it’s a huge challenge, I’m glad I can be a part of it since it’s a tremendous opportunity.
In addition to making sure his Cyclones are ready for the season opener against the Wildcats in Dublin, Campbell and his staff are also considering the larger picture, namely how ISU will perform against South Dakota, Iowa, and Arkansas State.
“I don’t know if anybody has really handled it very well if you look at the history of the Week 0 game,” he remarked. They had some difficult times after the game, regardless of whether they won or lost.
Last season, Georgia Tech shocked Syracuse two weeks after defeating Florida State 24–21 in Dublin and then defeating Georgia State the next week. Notre Dame started 4-0 in 2023 and lost to Ohio State in Week 5 at South Bend, 17-14, after defeating Navy 42-3 in Ireland.
Campbell and the Cyclones will be prepared for the special opportunity to begin the season in Dublin.
Quarterback Rocco Becht stated, “There are obviously challenges, like sleep or how you’re going to practice when you get over there, the scheduling.” Traveling abroad will always present difficulties, and Coach Campbell has done a fantastic job of identifying contacts who have gone there and returned, learning from their mistakes and successes.
That will be beneficial to us.
Senior offensive lineman Tyler Miller speaks for the team when he says that they all understand how difficult it will be for the Cyclones to open the 2025 season with four games in four weeks, but they are prepared to face the task.
Indeed, I have been discussing being formed in fire. That will be a difficult stretch, and in order to overcome it, we must be both physically and emotionally resilient. “I believe everyone on the team is aware of that,” Miller added. No game is more or less significant than the others; take it a week apart. Each and every game is crucial.
The staff as a whole has done a fantastic job of uniting and creating a culture that reflects that, in my opinion.
And Campbell is aware that if the Cyclones do schedule a trip back to Arlington to compete for the league title once more, it will be due to one thing his team has done well throughout the season, even this difficult four-game start to the campaign.
Football has seen many changes, but one thing has remained constant: are you tough enough? According to Campbell, toughness can occasionally be mental as well as physical. We will determine whether we are resilient enough to repeat the experience.
Based in Frisco, Texas, Stephen Hunt works as a freelance writer.
