Cykron

Cool. I hope he comes. It is shaping up to be a very fun day!

This is no joke. Have you paid attention to the North Dakota State football fans? They are incredible and they travel amazingly well. I think they issue tailgate rigs with their diplomas at graduation! Here is my personal favorite!

Or two 315 pounders!

Thanks for the links and thoughts. Sounds like he is good for a freshman, but still is a freshman. Looking forward to watching him over the next several years.

And I think it is more than just having teams in close proximity. It also means media saturation. And sponsor saturation. The time and attention to teams is not just split with the nearby teams, but also national teams. Competition for the fan's attention is much less for Iowa State. And many of us won't even watch Hokeye games, not just because of the rivalry, but because the Big Yawn 10 games aren't as fun to watch.

"State Ohio" Please tell me more about the "State Ohio" references. I have in-laws who have that weird affection for Columbus. And I'm always looking for some new trash talk. I've never heard this one, but I like it. And the more I know about it, the better I can wield it against the in-laws. Is it along the lines of Harbaugh calling them just "Ohio?" Is it related to "State Penn" which I have heard? Thanks in advance for anything you can do to help me bash the Buckwheat fans.

I think holding it at the Hall of Fame is brilliant. Could there be a better back-drop to launch a football season than the NFL shrine?

What are you hearing about Michael Miranda? Offensive line recruit from Stow, Ohio. He was a beast there. I've heard that he enrolled early and got lots of reps with the 1's during Spring practice (because of an injury to someone), but that he held his own. Any chance that he will get serious time on the field as a true freshman?

Great to see such enthusiasm in the weight room. One of the things that Coach Campbell criticized about Iowa State when he arrived was that we didn't have very many guys that could lift the big numbers.

Yes, this is a big factor. We are fortunate not to have as many FBS programs nearby. Only one other program within 2 hours. Only four within 3-1/2 hours. And no pro teams of any sport within 3 hours. I can't quite explain it, other than to acknowledge our eternal optimism. Our attendance has stayed strong, even when our in-state rival's hasn't, even after a 12-0 season, probably because they have to endure the memory of their bowl collapses all year long. That is one good thing about not going to a bowl, no big build up, just to be crushed. Seriously, we will see what happens if we ever start winning and then fall on hard times. For now, Ames is just the place to be on Saturday for a ton of us. It isn't about wins, it is about loyalty and having a good time. As the publisher of our best fan site says, "We aren't Cyclone fans because it is easy. We are Cyclone fans because it is awesome." And we really believe it. Looking forward to the Info Bowl in Akron. Like I said, if we win the first two games, we will have a big crowd making the trip. You should have seen what happened for the Big 12 tournament a few years ago in Kansas City. It was the first time in a long time that we made it to the championship game. We beat Kansas on Thursday and the crowd was probably 50% KU, 35% us, and 15% others. By Saturday night, it was 90% us. Most paying $150+ for tickets. The announcers said something about hoping the last person in Ames turned the lights out. And we had thousands outside in the Power & Light District enjoying on big screens. Our fans are loyal, but also hungry for some wins. When Matt Campbell starts winning, we will go crazy. And if we start the season with 3 wins, we get to return to Ames for Texas on a Thursday night and are currently only a 3 point underdog for that game.

We have great crowds for early non-conference games with teams like San Jose State last year, as well as late season conference games when we have 3 wins, so I think we would have a big crowd no matter what. The huge crowd and great tailgating was a big part of what got Matt Campbell's interest a few years ago when we played his MAC team. The early season in-state games have been great for getting the season off to a good start in terms of tailgating and attendance. I think the absence of a pro team within 3 hours probably helps a great deal. And we have such a great in-state rivalry with Eastern Iowa University (Chicago's own college team).

Iowa State is one of the teams that is going against the trend. In fact, we were recently recognized as the "most loyal fans," based on an objective analysis of attendance divided by wins over 3 years. We routinely get 50,000+ for mid- to late-season games even though we are sitting on only 1 or 2 wins. https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/05/08/iowa-state-fans-most-loyal-college-football/22076229/ Cue the "nothing else to do in Iowa" jokes, but it is only partly true. The fact is that we love our Iowa State teams, especially football and tailgating. We recently spent $60 million to bowl in our south endzone and add more than 10,000 seats, including 2500 fairly pricey ones. If we start the season beating in-state rivals UNI and Eastern Iowa University (the EIU that plays in the Big 10), then the Akron road game may take on a bowl-like feel for us and I would expect a ton of fans to make the trip. Plus, with so many of the football coaches and staff being from northeast Ohio, they will bring lots of family and friends.

I don't know him personally, though i think he is from Iowa. He was a fumble-forcing machine.

It may be different online, but my Athlon Big 12 Preview has QB rankings on the last page and lists Woodson as #66.

FYI, Iowa State's QB Jacob Park is #61. He was very highly rated coming out of high school and originally went to Georgia. He is a gunslinger with guts and accuracy, but hasn't really had a chance to show all that he can do. We are really optimistic about him, especially with a good corps of receivers.

Thanks Ham. I appreciate the advice. I was in Akron a few weeks ago and scoped it out pretty well. And I have family and friends in the area to help with connections to the university. We had our eyes on Lot 9, but will probably end up doing something bigger, so we will need to move a little farther from the stadium. There are so many cool things in the area for those who don't get there very often, such as the Pro Football Hall of Fame. I think we will have a lot of fans who will come and make a long weekend in order to take advantage of the opportunities.

We have a very strong tailgating tradition. It was part of what made Campbell want to come to Ames. We are hoping to put together something for our fans who come to tailgate. Friendly Zip fans are also welcome.

I posted something in the Summer workouts thread about Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell and the impact of Mount Union's voluntary conditioning program. I thought I would say more, but didn't want to hijack that thread about your Summer conditioning program, so here is a new thread. And here are links to three articles in the Ames Tribune that address Coach Campbell and his northeast Ohio roots. It may be old news to many of you, but these articles do a really good job of pulling it all together. http://www.amestrib.com/sports/20170510/how-iowa-state-football-coach-matt-campbell-found-his-process-part-i-perry http://www.amestrib.com/sports/20170512/how-iowa-state-football-coach-matt-campbell-found-his-process-part-ii-mount-union http://www.amestrib.com/sports/20170513/how-iowa-state-football-coach-matt-campbell-found-his-process-part-iii-iowa-state

These special intense workouts are great for building community within the team. Coach Campbell (Iowa State) told about how the lack of seriousness about regular practices, as well as voluntary workouts made him get disillusioned as a D1 athlete until he saw what Mount Union was doing with voluntary workouts with no coaches present. That was the start of "the process" he used at Toledo and now Iowa State.

I wasn't thinking about him as a grad transfer. I was thinking about him as a normal transfer. Still, the coach helping him leave Quincy is good for Akron, but not good for Quincy. I'm sure Quincy would still like to have him as their QB, but it probably isn't what is best for him.

Nice of that coach to do what was in the best interest of his player and give him a FBS opportunity. You have to think he is sacrificing his own team's future for the good of Kelley.

The new Auburn President is Steven Leath, the former Iowa State President, who liked doing things like a good ol' boy. He will fit in much better with Auburn.

Hope you are doubly disappointed on Sept 16th! Akron fans should know that the Iowa State / Iowa rivalry is our lower-grade version of the Ohio State / Michigan rivalry, but it is quite intense. On Sept. 9th, no one in Iowa cheers for both teams! Iowa State is the agriculture, engineering, vet school. Iowa is the medical, law school. Northern Iowa is the teachers' college. In other words, Iowa has the money. And they proved it with a $6.5m settlement for wrongful firing a field hockey coach and Assistant AD. We prefer to think of Iowa as Eastern Iowa University because they cater to the Chicago suburbs and Iowa State is "the" state university of Iowa. If we enter the Akron game with victories over our two in-state rivals (both of whom beat us last year), we will be confident. And we probably won't be looking ahead to Texas because that game is 12 days later on a Thursday (in our effort to prepare someday to join the MAC).

Indeed, Iowa State is trending up. We were the best 3-Win team in the country last year. Seriously. We pounded Texas Tech 66-10 toward the end of the season and knocked Mahomes out of the Heisman race. Our previous starting QB, Joel Lanning, didn't start that game, but still scored 5 TDs (mostly breaking long runs in short yardage situations). And still didn't start the next game. And Lanning now has been moved to starting MLB. Yes, Campbell is coaching his way. And he has a former 4-star QB, Jacob Park, who originally went to Georgia who he moved to starting QB toward the end of last season. Park is a very confident, gun-slinger who really seems to have earned Campbell's favor. We were competitive into the 4th quarter in several games last year, but we just didn't have the depth to hold on to the end. Tom Manning took an offensive line that lost its best player before the season started and turned it into a decent unit by the end of the season. I think we had 1 previous start on the o-line when we started the season. Campbell's first two recruiting class are the best we've ever had, including the first one in which he started at the end of November 2015 with only half of his staff in place. We tend to be an ever-loyal bunch of fans. One article called us the "most loyal fanbase" by dividing attendance over 3 years by number of wins! We will have 60,000 in attendance when you come to town next year. And that is both evidence of our loyalty as fans, and the ultimate proof that there is nothing else to do in Iowa. It was the facilities, gameday environment, and probably the Big 12 paychecks that made Campbell get interested in the Iowa State job. I'm sure we will have more to discuss as the summer rolls on. I'll try to post some links to previews about Iowa State, both objective ones and homers, as well as other interesting bits about us.

Iowa State fan. We are the Cyclones. Hence "Cykron" for a username. Not the most clever, but I cheer for both teams, except on September 16th. I just saw that game times have been announced for several of Iowa State's games. Akron is at Noon. Looking forward to being there with you.