How Iowa and Iowa State have fared when both teams were ranked

Tim Webber
The Des Moines Register

For the first time ever, both Iowa and Iowa State are nationally ranked in the top 25 of the Associated Press preseason poll and USA TODAY Amway Coaches' Poll.

Even during the season, this sort of pairing doesn't happen often. When it comes to polling, these programs are typically two ships passing in the night.

Take last season, for example: both teams spent at least four weeks in the AP rankings, but never together. Iowa entered the poll in week eight, then dropped out after week 10. Iowa State entered the next week, stayed through the first poll in December, then dropped out just in time for Iowa to regain a top-25 spot in the final poll.

In fact, according to College Football Reference, 2019 is only the fifth season in which Iowa and Iowa State have simultaneously been ranked in the AP's top 25. Here's how that worked out each of the past four times:

2017

Iowa's finish: 8-5, won Pinstripe Bowl

Iowa State's finish: 8-5, won Liberty Bowl

Led by current Chicago Bears rookie running back David Montgomery, 2017 saw Iowa State return to the AP rankings for the first time since 2005. A win against 4th-ranked TCU propelled the Cyclones to 14th in the country, which remains their highest ranking since 2002 (more on that team later). 

But the Cyclones lost three of their final five games — each by seven points or fewer — and fell out of the AP poll after week 11.

Week 11 happened to be the only week Iowa spent in the AP poll in 2017. They broke into the poll at No. 25 after a blowout win over No. 3 Ohio State, but were blown out in turn by No. 6 Wisconsin the next week. The coaches took a more cynical view of the Hawkeyes and never voted them into the coaches' poll throughout the entire season.

Despite sputtering down the stretch, both teams finished off their seasons with bowl wins: Iowa over Boston College in the Pinstripe Bowl, and Iowa State over No. 19 Memphis in the Liberty Bowl.

2005

Iowa's finish: 7-5, lost Outback Bowl

Iowa State's finish: 7-5, lost Houston Bowl

Expectations were high for Iowa in 2005 after three straight seasons of 10 or more wins. They started the season ranked 11th in the AP poll and 10th in the coaches' poll, and were up to No. 8 headed into the Cy-Hawk game on September 10.

There, the unranked Cyclones stunned the Hawkeyes 23-3, propelling themselves into the AP rankings (but not the coaches' poll) while Iowa began to spiral out of them. Iowa State spent three weeks in the AP poll before three straight losses to open Big 12 play knocked them out of it. 

Meanwhile, Iowa — who shared the poll with their in-state rivals for two weeks before dropping out themselves — managed to claw their way back up to No. 25 by December, but wouldn't return to the heights of the preceding years until 2009. 

2002

Iowa's finish: 11-2, lost Orange Bowl

Iowa State's finish: 7-7, lost Humanitarian Bowl

After a shaky start to the Kirk Ferentz era, Iowa started off the season 4-1 to give Ferentz his first appearance in the AP poll as the Hawkeyes' head coach. 

That one loss came against — who else? — Iowa State in that season's Cy-Hawk game. The Cyclones were in the midst of a hot start of their own, reeling off six straight wins to reach No. 9 in the poll. That's still the highest the Cyclones have ever climbed in the AP poll.

The two Iowa teams co-occupied both the AP poll and coaches' poll for five weeks — the longest stretch of simultaneous success for the two schools in history — but were headed in opposite directions.

After the Cy-Hawk loss, Iowa didn't lose again until the Orange Bowl against No. 5 USC. Iowa State lost six of their final seven games, including a Humanitarian Bowl loss at No. 18 Boise State, to finish the season with a .500 record.

1981

Iowa's finish: 8-4, lost Rose Bowl

Iowa State's finish: 5-5-1, no bowl

The end of the 20th century was a bit of a dry spell for Iowa State football: this would be the last time the Cyclones appeared in the AP poll until the end of the 2000 season. And as the Cyclones were about to enter a rankings drought, the Hawkeyes were emerging from one of their own, having not appeared in the poll since 1961. 

Under the guidance of third-year head coach Hayden Fry, Iowa may have returned to the ranking sooner if not for a loss to — you guessed it — Iowa State, the lone blemish on an otherwise undefeated start to the season that included wins against three top-10 opponents. 

Iowa State also enjoyed a strong start, losing just one of their first seven games and tying No. 5 Oklahoma. 

Both schools entered the poll in week five. Iowa would remain ranked for the rest of the season — save a two-week dip midseason — and finished the season by returning to the Rose Bowl for the first time since 1958.

Iowa State, like their other seasons on this list, stumbled toward the end of the season and fell out of the rankings in week nine.