Yes, That Just Happened.

Bedlam. (Picture by Brandon McCauley)

Well, who saw that coming? Not Nostradamus. Not Miss Cleo. Not Cyclone Fanatic. Maybe Cyclone Jerry. But he's picked Iowa State in 500 straight football games. His record is exactly the same as ISU's during that time...

It is, simply, the greatest win in Iowa State football history. Maybe Iowa State sports history. The Cyclones beat the #2 team in the nation, and turned the college football world upside down. The BCS is now back to being a mess...

#2 Oklahoma State arrived in Ames averaging 52 points a game, but needed double overtime just to hang 31 on Iowa State. In the process, 28 year old OSU quarterback Brandon Weeden had his Heisman trophy hopes intercepted by a Cyclone defense playing out of its head, and eventually into Weeden's...

Was Okie State looking ahead to Oklahoma? Maybe, but the real bedlam happened on the Jack Trice Stadium field after the Cowboys lost. Was the gut-punching tragedy of losing two women's basketball coaches in a Thursday night plane crash a distraction? No doubt. It's cruel and unthinkable that Oklahoma State has been hit hard twice in ten years. I'm sure the Cowboys had heavy hearts. But I don't think that's why OSU lost. I received tweets from fans before the game who thought OSU would be even more focused and determined. They wanted to win for many reasons. The effort was there...

And Iowa State won even though it missed many early opportunities. Didn't you think the Cyclones would regret those? I did. But ISU kept coming, kept believing...

All Jared Barnett does is win. Since being named starting quarterback, Barnett is 3-0. That's even better than Tebow...

Lost in all this, Iowa State is now bowl eligible. Forget eligible. With that schedule, Iowa State is going to a bowl...

Paul Rhoads is now going to turn up as a candidate for many coaching jobs. He was warm after ISU won at Nebraska, Texas, and Texas Tech. Now, after engineering his first big upset at home, he's on the hot list. I think Rhoads is the rare coach who might see ISU as a destination job---it's one of most difficult gigs in country---but you can be sure he's going to get a significant raise soon. Rhoads is the lowest paid coach in the Big 12. Not for long. The winning is the main reason, but a new record for ISU season attendance doesn't hurt either. Cyclone fans love the guy. It's easy to see why. Rhoads always plays to win, and never fails to show how much he cares. See another emotional locker room speech for proof:
https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10100342216168020

It's nights like this that makes sport the ultimate reality show. You just never know. Cyclone fans, enjoy it. Moments like this don't come along very often...