Iowa State released its 2011 conference football schedule Thursday morning.

The Cyclones will play a round-robin, nine-game schedule to match the Big 12’s new 10-team format.

Four of the games — against Texas, Texas A&M, Kansas and Oklahoma State — will be played in Jack Trice Stadium, while the other five games will be played on the road.

“We had productive discussions regarding future league schedules,” said ISU Director of Athletics Jamie Pollard in a release. “It’s exciting to begin a new era of Big 12 football with a complete round-robin schedule for all schools.”

Earlier in the week, the Cyclones released their 2011 non-conference schedule that included home games with in-state rivals Northern Iowa and Iowa to start the year before traveling to Storrs, Conn., before beginning conference play.

“Iowa State fans will benefit from the new format as league members from the old South Division will make far more frequent appearances in Jack Trice Stadium,” Pollard said. “The balance of the schedule is good for us as we have one of the Oklahoma schools, one of the Kansas schools and two (of the four) Texas schools at home and on the road each season.”

Past Big 12 schedules featured a rotation between opponents in the North and South divisions. 

Iowa State would face Texas, Oklahoma and Texas Tech back-to-back years and then face Texas A&M, Baylor and Oklahoma State the next two seasons.

But, with Nebraska leaving the conference for the Big Ten and Colorado departing for the Pac-10, the Big 12 decided to go to the nine-game format, forcing its teams to drop a non-conference game to meet the NCAA-required 12-game schedule.