Iowa State has never played football in January. (The latest, chronologically? The New Year’s Eve 2009 Insight Bowl that had a night kickoff in Tempe.) And Iowa State has never played a regular-season game in the state of Iowa in December — until now.
Most of that is due to decades of the season typically ending the Saturday before Thanksgiving. The Iowa media guide has a great list of “games on this date” that I wish the ISU media guide would copy, but here’s what I’ve found:
- The latest games ever played in Ames were November 29, 2014, against West Virginia, followed by November 27, 2004, against Missouri (yes, one of THOSE games against Missouri).
- Games at Drake, in Des Moines, on November 30 in 1905, 1907, and 1916 — so this one will be a cute callback.
- In the early 1970s, ISU’s last game of the regular season was at San Diego State, which meant warmer weather on December 1, 1973, and December 2, 1972, both losses.
- December 3, 2011, at Kansas State. Did it end painfully? Of course it did.
- The latest games on ISU’s football calendar are both December 6, and both in Texas — a 1930 loss at Rice and a 2014 loss at TCU.
So Iowa State is 0-5 in the regular season in December on the road, but undefeated in December at home. Let’s keep it that way — and playing some Christmas music would be a perfectly fine idea.