Iowa State’s recent 34-8 loss to Oklahoma State was not a pleasant one. It’s a game that most Cyclone fans have been trying to forget for the past 24 hours. It was ugly. That’s pretty much the only way to sum the contest up.
Ready for some good news? The Cyclones are still very much in bowl contention. That’s something that I haven’t been able to write for a few years.
Here’s a crazy stat for you. With two weeks to go in the regular season, all 12 league teams can still qualify for a bowl game! That’s parity my friends.
That’s both good and bad news for Iowa State. It’s good because the Cyclones are a game away from qualifying for the postseason. Bad, because the Big 12 only has so many allotment, eight being that magic number.
So let’s say that Iowa State wins six games but doesn’t have a spot in a Big 12 game. Well, many national writers strongly believe that the Cyclones will still find a spot to play.
Tim Griffin of ESPN.com believes so.
Griffin doesn’t get into specifics but it’s clear that he thinks somebody would elect the Cyclones.
ESPN.com’s duo of Mark Schlabach and Bruce Feldman both have Iowa State playing in the Little Ceasars Pizza Bowl in place of a Big Ten team, should that league not fill their amount of spots. Schlabach and Feldman have Iowa State taking on Northern Illinois of the MAC. That contest takes place the day after Christmas in beautiful Detroit. I can’t think of a better place to spend the holidays.
How’s a trip to Albuquerque sound? That’s where collegefootballnews.com thinks Iowa State fans will end up on Dec. 19. This game would be a 1:30 local kick against Fresno State or another WAC team. Should this happen, Iowa State will fill the spot of a Mountain West team.
All sorts of options are out there at this point. The moral of the story for Iowa State is to just win on Saturday against Colorado.
In year one of Paul Rhoads era, things look pretty simple to me. With the Big 12 North more than likely out of the picture, a bowl game is a bowl game is a bowl game is a bowl game.
