Iowa State football: Cyclones 2014 schedule is released

The Iowa State Cyclones’ football schedule was announced today, and a reloaded team will benefit with a much more manageable schedule compared to this year.

Oct 26, 2013; Ames, IA, USA; A general view of Jack Trice Stadium during the game between the Iowa State Cyclones and the Oklahoma State Cowboys. Oklahoma State defeated Iowa State 58-27. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports

Here’s the schedule released from the Cyclones’ official website:

• Aug 30th – vs North Dakota State
• Sep 13th – at Iowa
• Sept 20th – vs Toledo (Family Weekend)
• Sept 27th – vs Baylor
• Oct 4th – at Oklahoma State
• Oct 11th – vs Kansas State (Homecoming)
• Oct 18th – at Texas
• Oct 30th or Nov 1st – vs Oklahoma
• Nov 8th – at Kansas
• Nov 22nd – vs Texas Tech
• Nov 29th – vs West Virginia
• Dec 6th – at TCU

There will be a total of three bye weeks spread out during the season. Since the Big 12 doesn’t have a championship game on the final week of the college football season, many teams feature three weeks worth of byes during the season.

That creates a big advantage for the Cyclones to heal throughout the season, and they won’t be bunched up at the beginning of the season like they were this year.

Also, all the Big 12 high-scoring power houses are spread out. The Bears and Cowboys are back-to-back to open up the conference slate, but both Kansas schools break up the southern schools later on.

Iowa State also has the advantage in home games. This is a year where they fall on the side of having five home games during conference play (seven total), and with a road game against Iowa, they’ll only be leaving the state four times.