September 6, 2026. -- Photo credit: Associated press
After a long and hard offseason, Iowa State football is finally back, and started with a bang. After a 30-minute weather delay the 2026 Iowa State Cyclones took the field and went on to defeat the SEMO RedHawks by a large margin of 28 points. While some people expressed early concerns about this year's team, Jimmy Rogers and co. gave little reason to stress about the potential for success in 2026.
In terms of early thoughts, it's still too early to tell just how good Iowa State will be this season. Winning your season opener soundly is always a good sign, and while we saw teams all across college football struggle against opponents they were favored heavily to beat, a lot can change from week 1 to week 5, good, or bad. In 2025, we saw Iowa State climb as high as #9 in the AP poll after a 5-0 start, and beating 2 ranked teams (Iowa & Kansas State)... but went on to lose 4 straight and finish unranked with a record of 8-4. In previous years under Matt Campbell we saw Iowa State struggle immensely from time-to-time against lower competition... Like losing to UNI in 2016, barely beating Drake (D3) in 2018, getting boat raced by UNI in 2019 & 2021, and losing to Ohio in 2023. So, Jimmy Rogers starting his tenure with a blowout win against an inferior opponent was refreshing to see.
In Iowa State's 38-10 win, transfer QB Jaylon Raynor went 8/16, threw for 184 yards, 2 TD's, and rushed for another 2. I would grade his performance a B+. There were times he didn't see open receivers down the field, but deep throws that were on the money. One of the most hyped-up attributes of Raynor coming into the season was his running ability, which he showcased well, running for 32 yards and 2 TD's. The offense as a whole played well, with some drives looking sluggish and broken, and others looking well-oiled and put together nicely by offensive coordinator Tyler Roehl. Running backs Aidan Flora and Cameron Pettaway showed sparks of playmaking ability at times but weren't able to rack up eye catching stats due constant subbing. Running backs Easton Miller and Arnold Barnes also saw the field a bit. The offensive line showed ability to protect Raynor well in the pass game but occasionally let defenders through in the run-blocking game. Overall, there is still a lot of growth and communication to be established with this offense, and it's too hard to say just how explosive it can be this season.
On the other side of the ball, Jessie Bobbits defense looks very promising going into Iowa City for week 2. Iowa State held SEMO to just 209 total yards on the game, and 10 points. The defensive line, which was thought to be the strong suit of the defense this year, had 6 total sacks, almost half as many as ISU had all of last season. The defense as a whole had 12 tackles for a loss, and forced 2 turnovers, one of them coming from a stunning one-handed interception by Benny Nygoi. It was very noticeable how fast the linebackers flew around, and the high tempo energy the defensive line played with. The secondary played outstanding as well, only allowing 4 passes for 10+ yards. Overall, this defense has showed enough for fans to feel confident that it has the potential to keep ISU in many close games.
Special teams preformed as advertised, despite an Aidan Flora muffed punt early in the game, it was smooth sailing from there on out. Kyle Konrardy handled the kickoff duties, not allowing a single return from SEMO, punters Jonah Dupont and Ethan Gurney flipped the field well, and Aidan Flora had a nice 36-yard punt return. It's safe to say special teams will need to be showcased more against Iowa, given the recent trend of how low scoring the CyHawk game has been, and how many recent games have come down to field goals. Iowa State looks to have the upper hand in that position group.
The Iowa corn CyHawk series won't be nearly as easy as Saturday's test against SEMO. Iowa is a -14.5 point favorite as of today, the line was as low as -11.5 a few months ago. Most Iowa State fans don't see the Cyclones coming out of a blood thirsty Kinnick stadium with a win, but the game still possess a pivotal point in both teams' seasons, more so Iowa State.