Texas Football: Iowa State looking to make history vs. Longhorns

In multiple respects, head coach Matt Campbell and the Iowa State Cyclones are looking to make history in Ames this weekend as they take on new head coach Steve Sarkisian and the Texas football program on the night of Nov. 6. Texas doesn’t really have any momentum heading into a key meeting on the road at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames against what is sure to be a motivated Iowa State squad.

Facing Iowa State in Ames in November after they’re coming off a loss like they had last weekend on the road in Morgantown at the hands of the West Virginia Mountaineers seems like a very daunting spot for Sark and the Longhorns to be in. That’s not to mention the fact that this was a wild week of practice for the Longhorns.

In the last few weeks alone, Texas lost the likes of freshman linebacker Terrance Cooks and junior safety Tyler Owens to the NCAA Transfer Portal. It seems like Sark and the Longhorns also almost lost redshirt junior wide receiver Joshua Moore to the transfer portal too. But Moore stuck around with the Longhorns heading into the Iowa State game through a crazy week of practice for him individually.

Nonetheless, Texas is trying to snap a three-game losing skid dating back to the loss in the Red River Rivalry game to the Oklahoma Sooners last month. Since that loss to Oklahoma, Texas has lost another two games in similar, and just as frustrating, fashion.

Steve Sarkisian and Texas football hoping to avoid making history in the wrong sense vs. Iowa State

In the losses to Oklahoma, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, and Baylor Bears, in the last three games, Texas has experienced a double-digit second-half collapse in each. That is the narrative that the Longhorns are looking to shed this weekend. And hopefully, that will be a narrative that Texas leaves altogether in the month of October.

But there could be history in the making as Texas takes on Iowa State on Nov. 6. If Iowa State beats Texas on Nov. 6, this would be the first four-game losing streak in Big 12 play in more than one decade. It would also be the first time that Texas lost four Big 12 games in a row, with the fourth loss coming to an unranked opponent since the team joined the conference more than 20 years ago.

This is not history that Texas is looking to make obviously.

On the Iowa State side, they already made history in the series with Texas last season. When Iowa State beat Texas last season, it was the first time the Cyclones beat the Longhorns two times in a row in the history of this series.

Texas can at least stop the losing skid, and stop from making history in a very bad way for them as a member of the Big 12, by upsetting Iowa State on the road this week. The 4-4 (2-3 Big 12) Longhorns kick-off against the 5-3 (3-2 Big 12) Cyclones at 6:30 p.m. CT at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames on Nov. 6.