The 2018 Iowa State Cyclones football team represented

Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the ...

in the

2018 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2018 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the highest level college football competition in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in 2018. The regular season began on August 25, 2018, and ended ...

. Competing as a member of the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...

(Big 12), the team played its home games at

Jack Trice Stadium Jack Trice Stadium (originally Cyclone Stadium and formerly Jack Trice Field, sometimes referred to as "the Jack") is a stadium located in Ames, Iowa, United States. Primarily used for college football, it is the home field of the Iowa State Cyc ...

in Ames, Iowa. They were led by third-year head coach Matt Campbell. They finished the season 8–5, 6–3 in the Big 12, which was the most conference wins in a season in program history. They finished third in the Big 12, behind No. 4

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

and No. 14 Texas. They were invited to the

Alamo Bowl The Alamo Bowl is an NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game played annually since 1993 in the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. Since 2010 it matches the second choice team from the Pac-12 Conference and the secon ...

where they lost to No. 13 Washington State.

Previous season and offseason

The

2017 Iowa State Cyclones football team The 2017 Iowa State Cyclones football team represented Iowa State University in the 2017 NCAA Division I FBS football season. Competing as a member of the Big 12 Conference (Big 12), the team played its home games at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames ...

finished 7–5 in the regular season and 5–4 in

Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its f ...

play giving them a fourth-place finish in conference standings. Allen Lazard,

Kamari Cotton-Moya Kamari Cotton-Moya (born December 11, 1994) is a former American football defensive back. His accolades during his college career include 2017 First-team All-Big 12, 2016 Second-team All-Big 12, and Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year in 2014. ...

, and David Montgomery received first team All-Big 12 honors and Jake Campos, Chase Allen,

Joel Lanning Joel Lanning (born November 18, 1994) is a former American football linebacker who is currently a graduate assistant for the Iowa State Cyclones football team. He played college football at Iowa State University. He was selected as a first-team ...

, Brian Peavy, and JD Waggoner received second team All-Big 12 honors. Matt Campbell was also named Big 12 Coach of the Year. Additionally, Joel Lanning was named a first team All-American.

Departures

2018 recruiting class

Incoming transfers

Award watch lists

Listed in the order that they were released

Big 12 media poll

The Big 12 media poll was released on July 12, 2018 with the Cyclones predicted to finish in seventh place.

Schedule

Iowa State announced their 2018 football schedule on October 26, 2017. The 2018 schedule consisted of seven home games and five away games in the regular season. The Cyclones hosted Big 12 foes

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the B ...

Texas Tech Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...

, Baylor, and

Kansas State Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...

and travel to TCU,

Oklahoma State Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

, and

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. For their non-conference schedule the Cyclones hosted

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals * A male duck People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family name * Drake (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * ...

and

Akron Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city ...

as well as traveling to in–state rival

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

. Originally, Iowa State planned to play South Dakota State on September 1 to open the season, however, the game was canceled shortly after kickoff due to bad weather. Iowa State was to host Incarnate Word on December 1, however, Incarnate Word was not able to play after qualifying for the FCS playoffs. They replaced Incarnate Word with Drake.

Personnel

Roster

Coaching staff

Game summaries

Game 1: at Iowa Hawkeyes

Game 2: Oklahoma Sooners

Game 3: Akron Zips

Game 4: at TCU Horned Frogs

Game 5: at Oklahoma State Cowboys

Iowa State's Freshman Brock Purdy replaced

Zeb Noland Zebuliah Noland (born August 16, 1997) is a former American football quarterback who works as a graduate assistant coach for the South Carolina Gamecocks. He played college football for Iowa State and North Dakota State, before drawing media atte ...

at quarterback and passed 18-for-23 for 318 yards and produced four touchdowns. He then ran for another 84 yards and another score. The final score was a loss for the Cowboys at 48-42.

Game 6: West Virginia Mountaineers

Game 7: Texas Tech Red Raiders

Game 8: at Kansas Jayhawks

Game 9: Baylor Bears

At the beginning of the second half, Baylor's Chris Miller got a flag for a late hit against Iowa State running back David Montgomery, pushing him into a Gatorade cooler, escalating tensions. Later, Baylor linebacker Greg Roberts threw a punch at Montgomery and he responded with another punch. Both were ejected from the second half of the game and Montgomery was ejected from the first half of the Texas game the following week.

Game 10: at Texas Longhorns

Game 11: Kansas State Wildcats

After a slow start, Kansas State held a solid lead for most of the game. Kansas State had racked up a 17 point lead with only 12 minutes remaining in the game. From there, Iowa State's Mike Rose grabbed a loose ball for a touchdown and the Cyclones controlled the game to rally with 21 unanswered points. The final score was an Iowa State victory, 41-38. The Cyclones broke the 9 year losing streak against the Wildcats. This game was also the last game Kansas State coach

Bill Snyder William D. Snyder (born October 7, 1939) is a retired college football coach and former player. He served as the head football coach at Kansas State University from 1989 to 2005 and again from 2009 to 2018. Snyder initially retired from the p ...

coached before retiring.

Game 12: Drake Bulldogs

Game 13: Washington State Cougars

Statistics

Scoring

;Scores against non-conference opponents ;Scores against the Big 12 ;Scores against all opponents

Rankings

Awards and honors

Players drafted into the NFL

TV ratings

All totals via Sports Media Watch. Streaming numbers not included. † - Data not available.

References

{{Iowa State Cyclones football navbox Iowa State Iowa State Cyclones football seasons

Iowa State Cyclones football The Iowa State Cyclones football program is the intercollegiate football team at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. The team is coached by Matt Campbell. The Cyclones compete in the Big 12 Conference, and are a Division I Football Bowl Subd ...