Which Big 12 Rival do you most enjoy beating?

(This article originally appeared on www.big12-fans.com.)

Brian #1

Being asked which Big 12 opponent is the most fun to beat is kind of like being asked which of the five straight victories over Iowa was the most fun; the mere question brings back a flood of happy memories, and there are just too many choices.

My colleague Brad has separated schools in to their football and basketball programs, picking Kansas in basketball and Nebraska in football. This is fair, but I’m looking for a global answer here, so I’ve got to rule out schools where I don’t have any ill-feelings toward one of their two programs. This knocks off:

Kansas football: what did the Maneating Mangino ever do to anybody?
Oklahoma State football: kind of like watching Bobby Reid and Adarius Bowman, not gonna lie
Baylor basketball: Scott Drew is related to Bryce and Homer Drew of Valpo fame. That’s enough for me.
Texas football: They’re a lot better than everyone else, and Vince Young is probably the coolest dude I’ll never meet.
Texas Tech basketball: The general always has good teams, and has never thrown a chair at Hilton.
Texas A&M football: 12th man = cool.

So that’s half the league gone, and we’re left with: Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas State, Missouri, Oklahoma.

I’m going to throw out Oklahoma and Kansas State, because we just don’t have enough experience beating them in football in my lifetime for them to be seriously considered, and I’m going to throw out Colorado, because they’re typically so bad in basketball, and ISU pounded them at Hilton so many years in a row, that beating them has lost a lot of meaning.

Which leaves Missouri and Nebraska.

The 36-14 slaughter of Nebraska was one of my favorite Cyclone wins ever, as it represented such a watershed moment of the program truly “arriving” has a competitor in the Big 12. Marvin’s Miracle and the 35-27 conquest in 2004 are also high on the list. When it comes to basketball, the Devaney Center is pretty much a big warehouse with a couple rims, so its never been too special to get ‘er done in Lincoln, but who can forget the unreal victory there, when Tinsley inbounded to Martin Rancik with .9 on the clock, helping ISU win their second straight Big 12 Title?

My antipathy toward Missouri goes back to my early childhood. For some reason, in the early-mid 80s, ISU and Missouri got in to several brawls on the gridiron, and it seemed like every time the Cyclones and Tigers were playing, punches ended up being thrown. The teams in general have been bad together, good together, mediocre together, and almost every contest in the series seems to go down to the wire. There’s ISU’s 20-14 goal line stand in Columbia, Mizzou ruining our Big 12 North title, 17-14 in Ames, and of course this year’s epic Dan McCarney send off, 20-16, in Ames. On the basketball side, Brian #2 will chronicle one of the weirdest, longest games in Cyclone history (rest peacefully, Zach Fortune), and two of the most reviled coaches in the Big XII, Gary Pinkel and Quin Snyder. When one of those guys isn’t doing crack with his player’s girlfriend, the other is demanding apologies from officials and pretending like his team won a football game it fairly lost. I’m going with the Tigers here, and cheers to our next victory over that OTHER black and gold enemy.

Brian #2

My first reaction to the question of which Big 12 rival I most enjoy defeating was probably the same as almost any other Iowa State fan’s; Nebraska in football and Kansas in basketball. If I can only pick one between the two sports, though, it has to be Missouri.

It seems like there are a thousand reasons to hate Missouri. Gary Pinkel, them keeping us out of the Big 12 title game, their colors, Gary Pinkel, Quin Snyder in his day, and just the face that they come out in the shotgun on the goal line. In basketball, Missouri just pisses me off because they seem to have one of their average players go off against us every year. Marshall Brown, Thomas Gardner (before he blew up), and others just start bombing in threes with no abandon when the Cardinal and Gold are on the other side of things.

Missouri is also fun to beat because we have so many dramatic games against them. There is the goal line stand with the knockdown by Atif Austin, the 4 OT loss where Leonard Perry almost had to go in to play point guard, and this year’s basketball game at Missouri, where a last second Wesley Johnson tip-in won the game. The two teams seem to play close, fairly matched games more times than not, and those games are always more fun.

Don’t get me wrong, I certainly hate Nebraska and Kansas. Missouri, however, is a game that I always love winning because it is generally close to a measuring bar for our season, and they run in the middle of the Big 12 in football and basketball most seasons, meaning that a win over Missouri usually means that we will be going to a bowl game, or have a decent chance at the basketball postseason. So my reasons to love beating Missouri are not as emotional as my reasons for loving to beat some others teams, but Missouri is my favorite Big 12 Rivals to beat. It is not quite my Super Bowl, but it is always a pretty big game.

Brad

The question of which Big 12 rival I enjoy beating the most is a difficult one, and is dependent on the sport we are talking about. When it comes to basketball, nobody is more fun to beat than Kansas. During the fall on the gridiron, watching the Huskers to the west cry themselves to sleep is a victory in itself.

I had the privilege (misfortune) of living in Omaha, Nebraska during the 2004-2005 year. Don’t get me wrong—Omaha is a nice city with a lot to offer and, overall, the people are exceptionally friendly. But the utter arrogance and stupidity that permeates its college sports fan base is unavoidable.

First of all, the people aren’t loyal to a school—they are loyal to a winner. To be sure, 99% of the population cheers for Nebraska in football. When it comes to the second biggest Division I sport, basketball, they are all over the map. Creighton, North Carolina, Duke, and yes—KANSAS. So, it’s about the worst combination of teams that any single population could cheer for.

Of course, Nebraska football has a rich tradition that is to be admired. Lincoln, Nebraska claims to be the third most populated city in the country on a Husker game day. However exaggerated that is, there is no denying the passion of Big Red faithful. That doesn’t stop me from hating them—doesn’t even do anything for that cause, really. Nebraska has always been a winner, and a big one against ISU. During the 90s it had no trouble pouring it on until Jim Walden and Dan McCarney called for mercy—and then the Fuskers would score some more.

This all changed in 2002 when, due to the running ability of Seneca Wallace and a stout defensive effort, ISU outscored Nebraska 36-14. This prompted one of my all-time favorite Pete Taylor quotes: “This may not be the Nebraska of old, but it’s certainly the Cyclones of new.” That pretty much sums up the triumphant feeling we all had that day.

As for basketball, it boils down to the same arrogance of the KU faithful but, of course, arrogance is usually backed up. Kansas basketball has a tradition that is unquestionably in the top five nationally, with names like Fog Allen, James Naismith and Roy Williams. ISU has had considerable success against the Jayhawks and it feels oh so good. Early in the decade, Larry Eustachy guided ISU to five straight victories against KU, which would have seemed impossible. Roy Williams even remarked, “You know when you go up against Larry, you aren’t going to out-coach him”

Kansas basketball fans and Nebraska football fans are from the same breed. That breed is one we ISU fans would love to pummel into extinction, wishing them an infinite streak of losses.


Brian #1 is a freelance writer living in Chicago, and a regular contributor to Rivals.com and his website, briankgolden.blogspot.com. Brian #2 is a sophomore at Iowa State University majoring in finance and Spanish. Brad is a junior at Notre Dame, majoring in Economics and Philosophy.