Iowa Highway Ends (etc.)

For the first time in over a century, neither Missouri nor Nebraska is on Iowa State’s football schedule.

For the first time this decade, Iowa State is starting a football season without its existence as a major-conference program in mortal peril.

And, for the next few hours at least, Iowa State is undefeated.

This is the fifth anniversary of the first weekend of the Big Ten Network, which is both directly and indirectly responsible for the changes in the college athletics landscape over the past five years. Its effects have been most noticeable in the state of Iowa, through increased cable bills, the fact that Iowa State no longer plays Nebraska, and rumblings of an athletic budget no-win scenario at Northern Iowa.

A Missouri sports writer/statistics wonk knows exactly what’s being said about his team:

Fans from their former conference, with a sneer on their faces, have not hesitated to tell Mizzou fans just how much their team is about to get its butt kicked. Fans from their new conference, with a welcoming grin on their faces, have not hesitated to tell Mizzou fans just how much their team is about to get its butt kicked.

I saw two “#MIZSEC” shirts at the Iowa State Fair. The Sullivan Line has replaced 36°30′ as the line between North and South west of the Mississippi.

This is a timed post.

This is an update to a post I made last year.

As of the beginning of the 2012 season, Iowa State has played 1,140 football games, according to the NCAA, but the two disagree on the win-loss-tie record (500-594-46 vs. 499-595-46). The discrepancy involves two forfeits and the 1907 Nebraska game. This does not include an alleged loss to Purdue that likely doesn’t exist. (It’s also 15 fewer games than Iowa’s total.)

By the NCAA’s measurement, the win against Oklahoma State was Iowa State’s 500th victory as a program, while by Iowa State’s measurements, the next win will be the 500th. On the flip side, ISU’s fifth loss of the season will be considered the 600th by the university (NCAA: sixth loss).

Of original Division I-A BCS schools that played more than 1000 games before last year, ISU’s win total is above six: Washington State, Northwestern, Kansas State, Indiana, and Wake Forest. (UConn, vacancy-adjusted Florida State, Duke, Louisville, Boise State, and South Florida all have fewer wins, but don’t meet the 1000-game and/or I-A threshold. Rice and Houston are also down in the cellar. Florida State’s down here because it was a women’s college until 1947.)

Only Rutgers and Northwestern have played more overall games with more losses, although Kansas State and Indiana are within 20. (Rutgers also has 20-plus more years of games.)

If Washington State wins three more games than Iowa State this season, they will tie on the all-time list. If Iowa State wins two more games than Oregon State this season, they will tie. (Mississippi State passed Oregon State last season.)

Here’s an updated version of that table of most-played opponents, with the correction that Oklahoma is the fifth-most-played in football. West Virginia, ISU’s newest conference partner, has series totals of zero, zero, and one.

Pat Forde is trolling the Cyclones, the Sooners, or both:

Oklahoma at Iowa State (32), Nov. 3. Paul Rhoads, on the other hand, has a big moment every year. In three seasons at Iowa State, Rhoads has shocked Nebraska as a 20-point underdog, shocked Texas as a 20½-point underdog, and shocked Oklahoma State as a 27½-point underdog. Sooners, you have been warned.

Remember, this is the same columnist who said a loss to Iowa State should mean you’re not allowed to play for the BCS title. Does this mean he’s in favor of the SEC winning it all again?

Iowa State-Oklahoma is the most lopsided series in major college football. The Cyclones’ only win since the early 1960s was 1990 in Norman.