Breaking Down if Iowa State Cyclones Should Be Considered Early CFP Contender

Should the Iowa State Cyclones be considered a CFP contender in 2026 as of now?

Iowa State football coach Jimmy Rogers speaks during a timeout in the first half in the Iowa State and Iowa men’s basketball Cy-Hawk series at Hilton coliseum on Dec. 11, 2025, in Ames, Iowa. | Nirmalendu Majumdar/Ames Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

With the transfer portal coming to a close soon for the Iowa State Cyclones, the team has been able to be nearly completely rebuilt over the last couple of weeks. Now, the main question will be how good can they be?

Following the loss of Matt Campbell to the Penn State Nittany Lions, the Cyclones knew they were going to be a very different-looking team. Iowa State lost a ton of players in the transfer portal, including 16 starters. Replacing that amount of talent is undoubtedly hard to do, but new head coach Jimmy Rogers has done his best. 

While the Cyclones aren’t a team really capable of bringing in many five-star players, they have attempted to build a team that will have a surplus of depth in key areas. However, with so much turnover, it’s very challenging to predict what this team is going to look like and how they will perform under Rogers. 

David Kenyon of Bleacher Report recently wrote about some teams that are early contenders for the college football playoff. Unfortunately, the Cyclones didn’t make the cut. 

Uphill Climb for Iowa State

Nirmalendu Majumdar/Ames Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Even though they weren’t known as a great football program for a long time, Campbell was able to change that narrative for the Cyclones over the last 10 years. This has been a team that has been a frequent member of the Top 25 in recent years, but that will have to be regained with the new regime. 

From a talent perspective, this is a team that has some depth, but also a lot of question marks. Some of the players that have been brought in will be asked to take a step forward, coming from lower-level schools. However, a good coach like Rogers, along with his staff, can develop some of these players. 

As shown by what he was able to accomplish with less as the head coach for the Washington State Cougars, Rogers is capable of leading a team to be very competitive. Furthermore, as just recently shown by the Indiana Hoosiers, a program doesn’t need to be littered with five-star talent to win a National Championship. 

While the team might not be rebuilding, it would be a lot to expect them to be a contender for the college football playoff. A lot of things would have to go right for the program, and they would have to be one of the best teams in the Big 12 conference, which could be a stretch. Even though it might look unlikely now, anything can happen on the field, and the Cyclones will be out to prove people wrong.