I'm not much of a hater, I’m too much of a pragmatist. Hell, I even root for Iowa State when
they’re not playing Iowa because it makes our wins (and our losses) look better. Although I
might change my mind . Even during hate week, I still have to admit that Iowa State is fine. It
really is. It’s just that Iowa is better.

I don’t hate Iowa State. I have friends that went there. It has great academics veterinary and engineering programs. They even have a good pretty good football team that has played some great games: Oklahoma State last year; Texas in 2010; Nebraska in 2009. Iowa State truly has some incredibly memorable games, but the thing is, Iowa has memorable seasons. That is part of the reason why Iowa is better than Iowa State, at least in football.

So in the unlikely guaranteed event that somebody tells you that Iowa State is better at football than Iowa this weekend, here are some facts to change their mind have them ignore completely.

First, the analysis requires an assumption. If you don’t agree with it, you probably won’t accept my conclusion. For this post I am going to assume that the better team is the one that wins more often, scores more points, wins more conference championships, finishes the season ranked more often, and is better or equal in every objective measurement. That’s just my opinion and, as an American, it is your right to believe that the team with fewer points, wins, and accolades is a better team.

There are many facets to the Iowa versus Iowa State debate. Who has a better academic program? Whose overall athletics department is best? Who gets arrested least? I’m going to ignore all of that and focus only on football and specifically football performance (not recruiting,not arrests, etc.). Even within football, there are many ways to gauge the relative quality of a team. I’m going to concentrate on head-to-head matchups first. At times I’ll differentiate
between games before 1977 and games after 1977. The reason being that this is when Iowa and Iowa State renewed the annual rivalry game. I'll first lay out the statistics and then at the end make some observations.

Bring on the numbers:

Head to Head Overall: Iowa 39 wins – Iowa State 20 wins
1977–Present: Iowa 23 wins – Iowa State 12 wins

Conference Championships:

Iowa State: Back-to-Back Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association Champions in 1911 and 1912. Iowa State also shared the Big 12 North division title with Colorado in 2004, but was not invited to the Big 12 Championship.

Iowa: 1986 Western Interstate University Football Association Association; Either Western Conference or Missouri Valley Conference Championships in 1900 (shared) and 1907 (shared); Big Ten Championship in 1921, 1922, 1956, 1958, 1960 (shared), 1981 (shared), 1985, 1990 (shared), 2002 (shared), 2004 (shared); Iowa also has a disputed national championship in 1958 wherein one football writers organization voted Iowa to be the national championship.

Appearances in Final AP Poll Since 1977:

Iowa State: 1, #25 in 2000 (#19 in 1976)

Iowa: 15, six in the top 10 (also six more pre-1976, all in the top 10)

Fun facts about the head to head match-ups from 1977 onward:

1. Iowa State owns the only shutout, posting a 31 - 0 victory in 1978.

2. Iowa State's longest win streak is 5 games, from 1998-2002.

3. Iowa's longest win streak is 15 games, from 1983-1997.

4. During one five-year span (1983-1987) Iowa outscored Iowa State 258 - 54.

5. During a recent win streak, Iowa held Iowa State without a touchdown for seventeen straight quarters. That is an incredible streak.

6. Also incredible is that Iowa actually lost one of those games.

Observations

Looking from 1977 onward, Iowa is undeniably better as far as head-to-head statistics go. Iowa has won almost twice as many games and scoring nearly twice as many points on average. Iowa won 15 games in a row and, over this entire span, Iowa wins by more points. Iowa has won by 25 or more points 10 times, to Iowa's 1 time. If we look at post-season statistics Iowa has gone to, and won, more bowl games than Iowa State. Iowa has also gone to, at least by general consensus, better bowl games - 11 January bowls, compared to 0 January bowl games for Iowa State. Iowa also has been to two BCS bowl games, winning one. Again, Iowa State, with zero. Iowa State also hasn't won any conference championships since World War II, while Iowa has won 8.

Undeniably, however, Iowa State is making the rivalry more competitive. In fact, Iowa state holds a slight lead in wins over the last 15 years, 8 to 7. However outside of the head-to-head match, Iowa has obtained much greater success, winning a share of the Big 10 championship twice, going to multiple January bowl games, and finishing in the top 10 of the final AP poll four times).

There you have it, some nice rational logic to support your hate.

**Fine Print: All of this information was gathered from WIkipedia, ESPN, and some brief googlin' so there is a possibility it is not 100% accurate. I bet it is pretty close though. Also, this doesn't address the argument that "x conference is better than x conference." That is a topic for another day, especially considering that the results of head-to-head still prove that Iowa is a better team. Also, I don't quite understand any hatred or dick measuring outside of hate week. Neither of our teams has won a national championship. Neither programs get much respect from anyone in the SEC or the powerhouses of the Pac-12, Texas/Oklahoma, or from national media. Also, I'm not convinced that Iowa will win this Saturday. I'll go Iowa, 27 - 20.