GAME DAY: Iowa State vs. BYU
The road doesn’t get any easier for Iowa State heading into the stretch run of the 2025 campaign. Coming off their second of three bye weeks this season, the Cyclones draw undefeated and 11th-ranked BYU on Saturday afternoon at Jack Trice Stadium. The defending conference champion Arizona State Sun Devils head to Ames the following week. But first thing’s first and that’s a Cougars squad which is on another big streak to open a season. ISU had rolled off five consecutive wins of its own to open 2025 but has fallen on some hard times of late with consecutive road defeats to Cincinnati and Colorado. The second of those two, a 24-17 loss Boulder, was as puzzling of a loss as the Cyclones have had in recent years under head coach Matt Campbell. ISU committed costly penalties, turned the ball over in the red zone and trudged through another game without top placekicker Kyle Konrardy, eventually coming up short in a game against a team that had yet to win a Big 12 game this season. The second off week for the Cyclones had a much different feel than the first one, which came following a 4-0 start to the year and big rivalry wins over Iowa and Kansas State. Not only was this one about trying to get injured players back on the field, but also about regrouping and improving on the precision and detail that led to the fast start. The return to game week brought about some positives, but also a huge negative. Konrardy and starting running back Carson Hansen are poised to return for Saturday’s game. ISU’s depth in the secondary could also get a boost with Khijohnn Cummings-Coleman trending in the right direction. However, a defense that’s already lost two all-conference level performers in Jontez Williams and Jeremiah Cooper will likely be without top nose guard Dominique Orange. If you did a poll of who Iowa State’s top five defensive players are, those are likely three of them. Caleb Bacon and Marcus Neal are probably the others, and the duo will need to step up in a big way for the foreseeable future as Orange’s status remains in doubt. ISU’s struggles haven’t been exclusive to the defensive side of the ball, however. The passing game has been inconsistent at best and quarterback Rocco Becht, and his wide receivers entered the bye week needing to get back on the same page.
On the opposing sideline, not much adversity has struck in Provo (just look at the player availability reports for this week!). Campbell said in his weekly press conference on Tuesday that this was the most complete team the Cyclones have faced. BYU is one of just six remaining undefeated teams in the FBS and last Big 12 squad without a loss. The Cougars are one of just 10 teams ranked in the top 30 in both scoring offense (35.6 points/30th) and scoring defense (15.6/14th). This is a team that’s winning games in the margins. They’re ranked first in the Big 12 and 15th nationally in turnover margin (0.86). They’re 45-8 under Sitake when being positive in this category. BYU’s defense has been dominant from the start of the season, especially in key situations like third down and in the red zone. It’s allowed a third down conversion rate of 30.1 after seven games, making it second in the conference and 15th in the FBS. The defense has allowed scores on just 14 of 21 trips into the red zone, tops in the Big 12 and fourth nationally. Of those 14 red zone scores, only nine have been touchdowns. The Cougars are trying to start a season 8-0 for the third time in six seasons under veteran head coach Kalani Sitake. It’s a team that’s also coming off a 24-21 Holy War victory last weekend at home over Utah. The Cougars forced two Ute turnovers to win their third game in a row over the in-state rival. Sitake’s squad has also run off conference victories over Arizona, West Virginia and Colorado. And like the Cyclones, BYU’s path to a Big 12 championship gets much more difficult in the coming weeks, with a road trip to Texas Tech following a bye week, then matchups with TCU, Cincinnati and UCF. Another tough matchup awaits ISU this weekend. Let’s start the breakdown of all five phases of Saturday’s matchup.
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