This Season’s Iowa-Iowa State Hype Comes With Good Reason

Both the Iowa and Iowa State football teams begin play in 29 days! The Cyclones will be hosting the UNI Panthers at 11 a.m. and Iowa will entertain Miami of Ohio at 6:30 p.m. Both games are on FS1. Two weeks later, the teams go head-to-head in a game you'll be hearing even more hype about in the next few weeks for one big reason. Pre-season rankings.

Iowa and Iowa State have NEVER both been ranked in the USA Today Coaches Preseason Poll... until this season, that is. The Hawkeyes are #19 in the poll, with the Cyclones five slots below at #24. Iowa State hasn't ever been ranked in this preseason poll before, and Iowa's last preseason ranking came in 2016. Let the already crazy hype that surrounds this game every season, be even greater. I LOVE IT... until the week of the game when the anticipation nearly kills me.

Two of the games stars (above), Iowa's defensive lineman A.J. Epenesa and Iowa State quarterback Brock Purdy, figure to be big factors in the game. Kickoff in Ames on September 14 is at 3 p.m. The game will be televised by FS1. Who's ready for some football?!