Unbeaten Iowa State Loses Both Starting Cornerbacks for Season With Knee Injuries

The Cyclones are nearing the halfway point of what so far has been a terrific season.

Jeremiah Cooper and Jontez Williams (pictured) will miss the rest of 2025 for Iowa State. / Lily Smith/The Register / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Iowa State has enjoyed a mostly endless flow of good news throughout its 5–0 start this season—but on Wednesday that stream came to a stop.

Cyclones starting cornerbacks Jeremiah Cooper and Jontez Williams are out for the season due to separate knee injuries, coach Matt Campbell told reporters Tuesday via the AP. Cooper suffered his injury—a tear to his ACL—in practice, while Williams injured his ACL Saturday against Arizona.

The team is allowing just 14.2 points per game this season—its fewest since 1977. Cooper picked off the eighth pass of his four-year career against Iowa on Sept. 6, while Williams intercepted the fifth pass of his three-year career Saturday.

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Iowa State is currently ranked No. 14 in the country at 5–0, and with a win at Cincinnati Saturday can secure bowl eligibility for the eighth time in the past nine years.

From a broader College Football Playoff standpoint, the now-shorthanded Cyclones get two ranked teams—BYU and Arizona State—at home in back-to-back weeks on Oct. 25 and Nov. 1.

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