AMES, Iowa — Iowa State is coming off the team's best game so far in all three against TCU.
The Cyclones have shown they can bounce back, but now they're looking to take the next step by stacking wins. In order to do that, they'll have to do something they haven't done since September of last year: win on the road.
Iowa State's last road win came in their second game of the season last year against Iowa. Since then, the Cyclones have been on a six-game losing streak on the road.
"We haven't won a road game since Iowa last year so definitely that is a challenge," said Iowa State defensive lineman J.R. Singleton. "We got to bring our own juice. There's definitely challenges to that, but I think we got a tight-knit group and we got to lean on each other, lean on our old guys and just keep rolling.
They'll have a chance to redeem themselves this weekend when they return to the state of Ohio for the first time since their week three loss to the Ohio Bobcats.
They'll try to exorcise those road demons against Cincinnati in their first ever meeting as conference opponents.
"I believe it's easier to handle failure than it is to handle success, to be honest with you," said Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell. "I mean, I think if you've looked over the course of time, you know, I feel like our kids have always had the ability to respond when it hasn't gone well. You know, the need for this team is we're nowhere close to where we want to be or we believe we've got the ability to be and so even with a win, there's just so much teaching going on right now. There's so much growth that still needs to happen."
One thing that's worked in ISU's favor lately is that they've been getting guys back healthy, like Malik Verdon who got his first interception of the season against TCU after coming back from injury. They'll also be getting back offensive lineman Jake Remsburg, who is coming off of a six-game suspension for sports betting.
Campbell didn't give numbers on how much playing time Remsburg will get on Saturday, but said they're just trying to be smart about how they reintegrate him into the offensive line that is finally starting to gel.
Campbell was very complimentary on how Remsburg has handled the situation and said that just having his veteran presence back in practice is huge asset for the team.
Iowa State will take on Cincinnati on Saturday, Oct. 14 at 11:00 a.m. on FS1.