Cy-Hawk football series extended through 2023

Fear ye not, Hawkeye fans: Hate Week, and by extension, the annual Iowa-Iowa State football matchup, aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. The contract for the Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series has been extended through the 2023 season. The decision was announced jointly today by Gary Barta and Jamie Pollard.

Now, let’s address one thing quickly: why is it called the Cy-Hawk Series? I don’t care about alphabetical order; I think that the leader in all-time wins should get to decide whose mascot name goes first. Iowa holds a 42-22 advantage in this series, so from here on out, let’s rename it the Iowa Corn Hawk-Cy series.

On second thought, that doesn’t have as nice of a ring to it.

The Hawks have played the Cyclones annually since the series resumed back in 1977. While the Hawks may have the all time lead in the series, it’s tied at three wins apiece since 2011, but the Hawks have won in easy fashion the last two years, most recently winning 42-3. The teams will meet again in Ames this fall, and this latest extension will have them meet in Iowa City in 2022 and Ames in 2023.

This extension also guarantees SEVEN more years of inter-state rivalry goodness! Now, I know some of you don’t like scheduling Iowa State every year, but that’s a long time away. The storyline possibilities are endless!

By then, Iowa could win a Big Ten championship, maybe make an appearance in the College Football playoff. Maybe win the College Football Playoff, even. Who knows, maybe they’ll meet the Cyclones for the second time in a season there! I mean, their current rebuild does have National Championship pedigree...

What say you about the extension?