The Iowa State Cyclones will be heading into Week 13 coming off their bye in Week 12 and hoping to start up a little winning streak to end the year.
After the red-hot start to the campaign, the Cyclones went on a four-game losing streak, which crippled their chances of making the Big 12 title game and resulted in the overall season potentially being a bit of a disappointment.
Looking at a five-game losing streak in the face, Iowa State somehow was able to pull off an upset win against the TCU Horned Frogs on the road to secure their sixth win of the year and make them bowl eligible.
While it has been an up-and-down campaign for the program, they have a good chance of being able to reach the eight-win mark before bowl season, and that wouldn’t be a terrible year.
As the team was on their bye week, they did see how they are perceived nationally move a little bit. Chris Vannini of The Athletic (subscription required) recently wrote about his power rankings following Week 12 of the college football season. For the Cyclones, they were able to rise one spot to 38th despite being on a bye week.
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The move from 39th to 38th might not seem like a lot, but every spot counts for Iowa State, and they are hoping to continue to rise over the next two weeks. Coming up this week will be a matchup at home against the Kansas Jayhawks, followed by a road game against the Oklahoma State Cowboys.
Both of these games are going to be winnable for the program, with neither being ranked in the Top 50. Furthermore, as the team tries to continue to move up in the power rankings, they did see their rival, the Iowa Hawkeyes, drop drastically from 26th to 39th. Iowa State holds a win over the Hawkeyes from earlier in the year, and being ahead of them is a nice thing to see.
There are a number of Big 12 teams still ahead of them in the rankings, and it will be interesting to see how high the team might be able to rise with a couple of more wins. While making the Top 25 might be challenging, they will have a chance with two more victories. Hopefully, that will be a possibility, but the Cyclones will have to avoid a letdown.