Randy Peterson
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December 23, 2025
Hey New Mexico football fans:
I hope you’re handsomely tipping your server, which in this case is Iowa State, because:
You wouldn’t be playing in the Rate Bowl without the Cyclones’ coaching transition and injuries causing the school to decline a bowl invitation.
That’s right, because conventional bowl wisdom figured this Dec. 26 game in Phoenix to be the Big 12 vs. Big Ten matchup it was set up to be – and in this instance, Iowa State against Minnesota, in a rematch of the 2009 Insight Bowl won by the Cyclones, 14-13, in Tempe, Arizona.
You recall that game, cinched when Ter'ran Benton recovered a Gophers fumble at the Cyclones’ 15-yard line with 4 minutes remaining.
Sure you do.
A 2025 bowl appearance in Arizona was supposed to be a 25-year celebration of Iowa State’s first bowl victory – a 37-29 success of Pittsburgh in the 2000 Insight.com Bowl (in Phoenix), that clinched a nine-win season for coach Dan McCarney’s team.
Most significant victory in Iowa State football history?
It certainly was, at the time.
Iowa State-Minnesota this week would have been a big deal – at least an intriguing one, involving teams from neighboring states that haven’t played each other since that Insight meeting.
I even suspect a trip to Arizona would have been the only bowl trip many Iowa State fans would even have considered, given some had already travelled to Dublin, Ireland for the season-opener.
Iowa State always represents itself well in Arizona, and given the Cyclones are 3-0 in Arizona bowl games – that would been added incentive for fans escaping the winter elements of the Midwest.
I understand declining just hours before the bowl selections were announced. After deep thought, I get it, considering the circumstances. In wake of the sudden coaching change, and the hurt player and fan feelings that accompanied it – thanks, but . . .
Ain’t happening, and I hope Lobo fans don’t forget that, while soaking up the Valley of the Sun’s warmth, and while:
Enjoying pizza and refreshments outdoors at Grimaldi’s Pizzeria in Old Scottsdale . . .
Hiking Camelback Mountain . . .
Watching the sun set, outdoors, while sipping a beverage at The Phoenician . . .
Visiting Taliesin West, where (my favorite) architect Frank Lloyd Wright wintered, and . . .
While golfing anywhere and everywhere.
Under Jimmy Rogers, there will be more Iowa State bowl opportunities – maybe even back in Arizona, where all (or at least most) bowl games should be played.
And speaking of Rogers . . .
You’re bothered by the new coach ending his introductory speech to fans at Hilton Coliseum with “beat the effin’ Hawks?”
Gimme a break.
You mentioned the kids in the crowd.
But wait a minute . . .
I don’t hear outage when college basketball student sections holler “bulls. . .t” in unison when a ref makes a bad call.
Or when a TV camera closeup catches an upset coach saying something so blatantly disrespectful, that it doesn’t take a lip reader to decipher?
You think it’s cute.
Or if you’re a NASCAR fan who pays for in-car live race radio transmission, where it’s common for drivers to use words and phrases as colorful as the cars they’re paid handsomely to drive.
It’s part of the sport, you say.
You’re right . . .
Just like bowl season opting out is becoming.
(Columnist Randy Peterson, a past Iowa Sportswriter of the Year winner, can be reached at randypete4846@gmail.com or at any Okoboji-area beverage/food establishment between the hours of open and close.)