Iowa State Draws a Mixed Big 12 Outlook Heading Into 2025

The Iowa State Cyclones enter the 2025 season hoping to build on the success of last year, which featured a trip to Dallas for the Big 12 Championship and to Orlando for the Pop-Tarts Bowl. While the latter resulted in an exciting win over Miami, the former was a missed opportunity to crack into the expanded College Football Playoffs.

In 2025, the Cyclones have tools in place to continue to trend upwards, most notably with the third season having Rocco Becht under center. The defense has been solid under defensive coordinator Jon Heacock, but they will need more out of their pass rush in 2025.

Of course, the Big 12 is finding its footing in a new landscape. Iowa State jumped out to an early lead to claim some credibility in the conference, but Arizona State’s impressive postseason performance has them positioned as heavy favorites in the conference. Texas Tech, BYU, Baylor, Utah, and TCU all have promising squads, too, which makes a return trip to Dallas for the Cyclones anything but a guarantee.

CBS Sports laid out the best and worst-case scenarios for each program in the Big 12, suggesting that the Cyclones could secure their first back-to-back 10-win season or slump down to a disappointing 7-5 season.

As successful as Iowa State has been under Matt Campbell, it wouldn’t be the first time the Cyclones crashed back down to Earth after a promising season. In 2020, the Cyclones finished 9-3 and won the Fiesta Bowl. But in 2021, they fell to 7-6 and followed that season with a 4-8 finish in 2022.

Still, as competitive as the Big 12 could be in 2025, the Cyclones carry some advantages in their schedule layout. They get BYU and Arizona State at home, and their toughest conference road games are TCU and potentially Colorado, depending on how well Deion Sanders reloads after losing his two biggest stars. Nonetheless, a trip to Dublin to take on the Kansas State Wildcats looms large to open the season.

Of course, a road trip to Iowa is never easy, but that contest shouldn’t hamper their potential to get back to Dallas too much, save for it being the start of a tailspin into conference play, which seems unlikely.

Regardless, to achieve that best-case scenario and make program history, the Cyclones need production out of guys not named Becht. The quarterback being the most trusted piece of the operation is a good sign, but how he meshes with transfer receivers Chase Sowell and Xavier Townsend is crucial to replicating last year’s success. So too, the running game doesn’t need the second-coming of Breece Hall from the combo of Carson Hansen and Abu Sama III, but they need the two promising backs to provide the offense a comfortable balance.

There’s plenty of reason to feel optimistic in Ames, but until the Cyclones prove their worth in Dublin and translate that into a strong run through the conference, that optimism can certainly be categorized as ‘cautious.’