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Expectations are incredibly low for the Iowa State Cyclones football team heading into the 2026 season.
It isnt all too surprising, given the current state of the program.
Matt Campbell did a great job building things up over the last decade, but he moved on this winter, accepting the head coaching position with the Penn State Nittany Lions.
Following Campbell to Happy Valley are most of the coaching staff and a large contingent of players.
More than 50 players hit the transfer portal, and a large portion committed to the Nittany Lions.
That left new head coach Jimmy Rogers and his staff with a ton of work to do.
To their credit, they found talent from all levels of college football to reshape the roster with.
It is anyones guess how things will come together, but one coach has supreme confidence in the Cyclones.
Iowa State predicted to win Big 12 by one coach In a recent Big 12 coaches' preseason poll conducted by On3 (subscription required), Iowa State was predicted to win the conference by one coach.
The Cyclones will beat the BYU Cougars, in the opinion of this coach.
Whoever made that selection is the only Big 12 head coach to select Iowa State to participate in the 2026 Big 12 Championship Game, let alone win it.
Eight of the 16 teams in the conference were represented in the voting, with BYU receiving the most total votes, with 13.
Six coaches selected them as the Big 12 champion, with seven believing they will make the title game but finish as the runner-up.
The Texas Tech Red Raiders were second with four title predictions.
The Utah Utes and Houston Cougars were the only other programs to receive multiple votes as conference champions.
Texas Tech and Utah were the only teams that multiple coaches selected as runner-ups, along with the Cougars.
Based on how other projections and predictions that have been shared, seeing one coach select the Cyclones as future champions is certainly eye-catching.
There are some outlets that are ranking Iowa State as the No.
16 team in the conference heading into the season.
There is a lot of uncertainty surrounding the team.
Unproven players at the Power 4 level litter the roster, and players will be stepping into prominent roles for the first time.
It will certainly be interesting to see how well their skill sets translate to this level.
But rebuilds like this arent foreign to Rogers and his staff.
Last year with the Washington State Cougars, there were 75 newcomers on the roster, and that team won a bowl game.
Kenneth Teape is an alumnus of SUNY Old Westbury and graduated in 2013 with an Honors Degree in Media Communications with a focus on print journalism.
During his time at Old Westbury, he worked for the school newspaper and several online publications, such as Knicks Now, the official website of the New York Knicks, and a self-made website with fellow students, Gotham City Sports News.
Kenneth has also been a site expert at Empire Writes Back, Musket Fire, and Lake Show Life within the FanSided Network.
He was a contributor to HoopsHabit, with work featured on Bleacher Report and Yardbarker.
In addition to his work here, he is a reporter for both NBA Analysis Network and NFL Analysis Network, as well as a writer and editor for Packers Coverage.
You can follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @teapester725, or reach him via email at [email protected].