The second-best decade in Iowa State football history was capped off with a 14-13 win against Minnesota in the Insight Bowl on Dec. 31, 2009. It was the third bowl win for the Cyclones in a decade and the second in the Phoenix metro area.
That would also turn out to be the only winning season (7-6) of the Paul Rhoads era. Since that night, ISU has lost nearly 2 games for every win (22-40) and performed dismally in subsequent bowls after 6-6 seasons in 2011 and 2012. In addition, Conferencepocalypse I and II highlighted the precarious position of Iowa State University in the top echelon of intercollegiate athletics. Three Big Eight teams are permanently off the schedule, the Tempe game has been renamed and moved up in stature, and the Big 12 is now the outlier for not having a conference championship game.
So while tonight is only the fifth anniversary of that win, to the minute of this post, it already seems like a sports lifetime ago.