Iowa State Cyclones Not Close to Making Return to AP Poll Top 25

The AP Poll Top 25 remains far away for the Iowa State Cyclones football team.

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The Iowa State Cyclones have been showing some signs of turning things around on the football field.

After losing four straight games, the team snapped its losing streak in Week 11 when it went on the road to face the TCU Horned Frogs. That built some positive momentum heading into their Week 12 bye ahead of their game this weekend against the Kansas Jayhawks.

It was Senior Day at Jack Trice Stadium, and the players who were taking the field for the final time as a Cyclone were sent home happy. Iowa State convincingly won the game, 38-14, making it two wins in a row and improving its record to 7-4.

Despite the improved performance, the Cyclones still aren’t close to reclaiming a spot in the AP Poll Top 25. The latest poll had 12 more teams receiving votes beyond the top 25, but Iowa State was not among them.

Iowa State not close to Top 25 ranking

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Three of their Big 12 rivals, the Arizona State Sun Devils, Arizona Wildcats and Houston Cougars, all received votes. Inside the top 25 are the Texas Tech Red Raiders, BYU Cougars and Utah Utes, coming in at Nos. 7, 11 and 14.

There weren’t many changes in the top 11 this week, with the Ohio State Buckeyes maintaining their hold on the No. 1 spot. The Indiana Hoosiers and Texas A&M Aggies are the only other teams to have received votes to be No. 1.

While the top remained basically unchanged, there was a lot of shuffling done in the second half of the rankings. The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and USC Trojans had the largest drops, falling seven and four spots, respectively, after losing to the Pittsburgh Panthers and Oregon Ducks.

The victory on the road for Pittsburgh pushed them back into the top 25, along with the SMU Mustangs. They took the spots of the Missouri Tigers and Houston.

Iowa State has two more chances to improve ranking

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Being so far away from the Top 25 voting likely means the Cyclones may not get back into the rankings at any point this year. But if they want to continue moving up, they will have two more chances to improve their standing.

Iowa State is playing its final game of the regular season next weekend against the lowly Oklahoma State Cowboys, who fired head coach Mike Gundy earlier in the season and have struggled throughout the campaign.

They will be participating in a bowl game next month as well. Projections about who their opponent will be have been coming out, and a game against a top-25 team could help catapult them back into the conversation as a ranked team down the line.