The Iowa State Cyclones Big 12 Woes, History and Current

There might be no more miserable fan base in all of college football than the Iowa State Cyclones. The team has been around full time since 1895, and was even coached for a short time by the legendary Pop Warner near the beginning. Yet with only mild blips of success here and there, a team that's been around for 110 years should have delivered more just by sheer chance.

Not only has this team never won a national title, or was ever in contention to play for one, but in 110 years they have outright won a conference title 0 times. That's right: zero. Since they have been affiliated with a conference since 1908, meaning that they are 0-99 straight out.

They were co-champions of the Missouri Valley Conference in 1911 and 1912. Since joining the Big 8, later to become the Big 12, they are 0-79. If that sounds really long, that's because it is the longest of any I-A team. In other words, everyone else has won something in that time.

Yet, unlike programs that do so poorly for so long and have no fans show up, the ISU fan base is ravenous and extremely supportive. During the 2006 season (a 4-8 debacle that resulted in Dan McCarney's resignation), the Cyclones were one of only 15 programs in the country whose average attendance was more than their official stadium capacity. Iowa State's official attendance for the season was 323,197, even though its cumulative stadium capacity for the seven combined home games was 320,698. And this was during a disastrous 4-8 season.

But there is no denying that Cyclones fans may be the most tortured fan base of any sport on any level in the entire country! Hope continues to run, despite a lot of history suggesting they should feel otherwise. Iowa State's all time conference records in the Big 8/Big 12 is, well, incredibly depressing for Cyclones fans. Here is the all time record of Iowa State against Big 12 teams (they were 1-7 last season).

The North:
Nebraska 16-83-2
Missouri 34-56-9
Kansas State 48-38-4
Kansas 34-46-6
Colorado 13-47-1

The South:
Oklahoma 5-66-2
Oklahoma State 17-23-3
Texas 0-6-0
Texas A&M 1-7-0
Texas Tech 1-6-0
Baylor 4-3-0