Saturday’s loss to Texas Tech is yet another case of Iowa State being unable to capitalize on a bye week.
However, there is a little more to it. Of Iowa State’s seven eight games after bye weeks in the past nine seasons, five opponents were also playing after a bye week.
Opponents after a bye: 2004 Oklahoma State (bye), 2004 Kansas State (Colorado), 2005 Army (Baylor), 2005 Kansas (bye), 2008 Kansas (bye), 2011 Texas (bye), 2011 Oklahoma State (Texas Tech), 2012 Texas Tech (bye). The two three teams that didn’t have byes the previous week are, coincidentally or not, ISU’s only victories in that group. In fact, ISU’s five six post-bye-week wins since 2000 came against teams that did not have a bye the previous week, although 2001 Ohio had played on a Thursday.
Part of this is due to calendar quirks: ISU has generally avoided having a game after Thanksgiving, effectively ending the season a week earlier. This is partly why there were no bye weeks in 2006, 2007, 2009, or 2010. The only post-Thanksgiving home games this century prior to this year were 2001 Iowa (W) and 2004 Missouri (L-OT).
In short, technically you can’t lose to the bye, but in practical terms, it seems like just that.
EDIT 10/2: The week before last year’s Oklahoma State game was also a bye. This kind of messes with the original premise. However, OSU didn’t have a bye the previous week.