This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/usffan on 2025-07-29 08:30:42+00:00.
The cumulative link to the preseason rankings can be found here.
Iowa State (high = 14, low = 45) opens up the consensus top 25 at #25. They’re also the first team to be ranked in every single poll published this season. It’s not hard to wonder why after posting their first ever double digit win season in 2024, going 11-3, reaching the conference championship game and beating Cam Ward and Miami in the Pop Tarts Bowl. Matt Campbell has had 7 winning seasons as the head coach in his 9 year tenure, easily becoming the Cyclones winningest coach of all time while winning the Big XII Coach of the Year award 3 of the 9 seasons he’s been there. Can they get back to the championship game in 2025?
Roster outlook
While Bill Connelly’s list shows Iowa State ranking 55th in overall production, that number feels way too low when you realize they have QB Rocco Becht and his 3,800+ total yards and 33 total TDs returning. Especially when you throw in their top 2 RBs (Carson Hansen and Abu Sama) are also back. Becht will have to find new targets to throw to, though, as WRs Jaylin Noel and Jayden Higgins will be catching passes from CJ Stroud in Houston this season. Defense is more of a rebuild, though, as their top 3 tacklers are all gone as is 4 star DL Tyler Onyedim (transferred to Texas A&M). Campbell must love the depth he already has, since the Cyclones only tallied the 13th best recruiting class in the Big XII and the 2nd to the worst portal class in the conference – both ranking out of the top 50 nationally. Still, that did include 2 new WRs, Chase Sowell from East Carolina and Xavier Townsend from UCF.
Schedule and outlook
Iowa State’s schedule is definitely atypical. They open up with Farm O’Geddon (come on, they have to spell it that way if they’re playing it in Ireland) in 25 days, then play perennial FCS powerhouse South Dakota in week 2 before hosting the Cy-Hawk game against Iowa. Then they go on the road to Arkansas State to round out their OOC. If things all break right and the Cyclones emerge 4-0 to start the season, they’re definitely ranked and almost certainly favored in their next 4 games (Arizona, at Cincinnati, at Colorado and BYU) headed into November and their rematch against Arizona State in Jack Trice. But all 4 of those first games are also losable, so the potential for the bottom to drop out a la 2022 is also there. The rest of the schedule (at TCU, Kansas and at Oklahoma State) are all games that Iowa State should be favored to win, so the recipe is there for a very special season. But Campbell really has to make sure they’re focused on the task at hand each week because there’s plenty of opportunity for opponents to spoil things!