Iowa and Iowa State meeting in first-ever matchup as ranked opponents | College Football Enquirer

Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wetzel and Pete Thamel, and Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde discuss the much-anticipated matchup between 10 Iowa and 9 Iowa State in Ames this weekend, and what to expect in the first-ever matchup in which both teams are ranked.

Video transcript

[BAT HITS BALL, CROWD CHEERS]

- All right, we got Psi-Hawk game this weekend in Ames. We've been waiting for this for a year, even though I wish there was a better name than the Psi-Hawk. "Children of the Corn," something, you know? Our state fair is better than your state fair award, anything. "Children of the Corn."

All right, look, this is a massive game. Iowa State has national championship hopes. There's no question, playoff hopes at least. And losing this game would put them behind the eight ball because they probably still have to beat Oklahoma then twice.

Iowa, I'm sure, has playoff hopes also. It's just they're in the Big Ten. And the Buckeyes are standing in the way, among others. But this road opens up really big. And let's face it. Iowa State has these seasons less often than Iowa. How important is this game as a program for Iowa State in particular? And how important and satisfying would this be for an Iowa fan to just be like, hey, that's nice you had a big, big offseason, but get out of the way? We're still big brother around here. Pat?

- Oh, it's big. I mean, this is really fun because this has always been a very good rivalry. But most of the time, we don't pay attention to it. And now, this time, we're all invited in. This is a big national game. It's right there with Ohio State and Oregon as the two biggest ones of the season-- or of the week.

Game Day is going to be there. And I just think it's wonderful to have these two schools that really don't have any business being very good if you look at recruiting territory and things of that nature. For them to both be sitting in this position is very cool.

Kirk Ferentz has owned this recently. They've won at least four in a row. I'll have to look back and see beyond that. There have been some close games. The classic Iowa-Iowa State, 18 to 17 in 2019, 12 to 3 in 2018. So you get some slogs. And I have a feeling this one could be another slog, for sure. We'll get into breaking it down in Race for the Case.

But this is as good as the old Psi-Hawk is going to get and maybe as good as it's ever been. So I'm very excited for it.

- I mean, this is like the pod game of the decade, right? The pod hasn't been around for a decade. But is there a bigger game than the tap water faceoff that's coming this weekend? And it's shaping up a lot like these games have. Iowa State has had unbelievable early struggles. And we're going to break down the game early.

So Iowa State sputters around against Northern Iowa for four quarters. And then Iowa just blisters-- Iowa never blisters anybody. They blistered Indiana. And Iowa's won five games in a row.

I was lucky enough to go to four games in four nights this past weekend, opening weekend. And here's the thing you're reminded of. We knew, but you felt it again at Florida State, momentum shifts. McKenzie Milton comes in, oh. There's an aspect to college football where there's just that searing edge of momentum and home field advantage. It's just different. It hits different in college football.

So I'll be really curious with Ames electrified on Saturday, what that feels like and what kind of edge that gives them because it's gonna be a different crowd than the Northern Iowa crowd. This is a once-in-a generation moment for Ames, Iowa and for Iowa State. And that is really cool. That is what is great about college football is these small towns, they build, they hire the right coach. They get a couple recruiting wins. I think like Charley Colenor, their tight end, he could have gone to Michigan under Harbaugh's early time.

He goes there. He red shirts. But like, everything is together. All those guys come back. Rose on defense. Breese Hall comes back. Brock Purdy is one of the best quarterbacks since Seneca Wallace, probably. So everything comes together to deliver this moment in Ames. And that is really cool. And that's what I'm looking forward to seeing. It's awesome that Game Day is there.

That's a town that is going to show for game day. So I'm fired up. This is going to be one of the coolest games of the year. I can't wait to watch it.