Sept. 30, 2013: InfoCision Stadium in Akron, Ohio.
Iowa State football’s occasional tour of the Mid-American Conference (NOT as an audition for membership, God willing) adds a never-before-visited location: Akron, Ohio. This is the tenth current MAC school ISU will play against, and the nice thing is it’s not Ohio or Kent State again. If ISU is going to do home-and-homes like this, it’s good to go to other places.
ISU’s last appearance in the Buckeye State (4-2 all time) ended in an overtime loss through a missed field goal at Toledo in 2015. ISU and Toledo both beat two power-conference teams that year — Toledo beat ISU and Arkansas, ISU beat Kansas and Texas. It was the beginning of the end for Paul Rhoads.
At the end of that season, in at least the second case of “if you can’t beat ’em, buy ’em” among power-conference teams this decade (Jerry Kill), ISU hired Toledo coach Matt Campbell.
Saturday’s game is also the first for ISU football on CBS Sports Network.