November 3, 2012: Iowa State’s Shontrelle Johnson (in pile) scores a Cyclone touchdown late against Oklahoma. ISU lost to the No. 12 Sooners 35-20.
For a decade I have charted the Sisyphean task of Iowa State’s football team playing Oklahoma. Then Sisyphus won in Norman for the first time in more than 25 years. And then, for the first time in 60 years, during a plague, won in Ames.
I’m not saying this is why Oklahoma is running away to the SEC, but I’m not not saying it. I will say it would be nice if Iowa State could get stabbed in the front once in a while.
Either way, at some point in this decade, the original rationale for the page will expire. This isn’t to say I won’t figure out some way to keep updating those charts. (By the way, Oregon State beat USC in Los Angeles this year, so Kentucky at Alabama takes the top spot in away-game non-win streaks for probably forever or five years after Nick Saban retires, whichever comes first.)
If Oklahoma and Texas stay in the Big 12 through the 2024-25 academic year, there will be at least one more home game for everyone. But, if they decide they can’t live with “S!-E!-C!” ironically ringing in their ears that long, there could be an interesting silver lining.
If Oklahoma does not play a football game in Ames again, its first and last visits (1928 and 2020) will have been losses. How’s that for monkeyshines on the way out?
(More monkey jokes? More monkey jokes. Monkey jokes for everyone!)