It sure would have been nice if Seneca Wallace was still in the Heisman Trophy race — what a week this would be for ISU fans.

Unfortunately things didn’t go Wallace’s way, but with Iowa’s Brad Banks in the thick of the race, at least there is an Iowa interest.

It’s ironic that when Iowa State met Iowa on Sept. 14 of this year, it was Wallace that was all the hype and it was Banks’ fault the Hawkeyes lost their only game of the season that day, as he had two key fumbles in the second half.

One bad half of football aside, Banks and the Hawkeyes have proven to be worthy of their high ranking and high praise this season.

While all this is great for the Iowa program and good for the state, Iowa State couldn’t have asked for a worse year for the Hawkeyes to excel.

Before this season started, it was as though a new leaf had been turned in college football in Iowa. The Hawkeyes were expected to have a mediocre season while most were expecting great things from Iowa State.

Hype like this does wonders for recruiting and there is no doubt that a handful or more of solid high school football players throughout the country were beginning to look this way.

Wins over Iowa, Nebraska and Texas Tech early most likely improved Iowa State’s recruiting status even more. But in a matter of weeks, Iowa and Iowa State flip-flopped seasons.

While Iowa ran with it as high as it could go, Iowa State seemed to run the opposite direction.

Eyebrows began to raise toward Iowa on Sept. 28, when the Hawkeyes went into then highly-praised Penn State and beat them in dramatic fashion in overtime.

The downslide for the Cyclones began just two weeks later on Oct. 19 during a dreary day in Norman, Okla. Iowa State not only lost, but was embarrassed, 49-3, on national television.

From there the acceleration and descent of these intrastate rivals began moving at excessive speeds in opposite directions. Huge road losses to Texas, Kansas State and Colorado made the downhill slide that much more slippery for the Cyclones.

The Hawkeyes on the other hand, had decent victories over Michigan State, Wisconsin and Northwestern, and then went into Michigan and pounded the Wolverines.

Iowa topped its season off with a road victory in Minnesota, where the Iowa fan base was so strong they tore down the Gophers’ goal post.

Iowa State topped its season off with a home loss to Connecticut, the Huskies’ biggest win in school history.

One can almost say these two teams mirrored each other, only it’s one of those wacky mirrors you see at amusement parks that make you look really fat or really tall.

So where does that leave the state of recruiting in Iowa? While the Hawkeyes are playing in one of the top BCS bowls in a game many experts are claiming to be the best and most interesting, Iowa State is headed to the potato state, to play on a blue field.

Obviously Iowa is in the driver’s seat when it comes to recruiting in the state of Iowa at this point, but how bad is it going to be for Iowa State? The fact that Iowa State lost those Big 12 road games isn’t a big deal; rather, the way they lost could prove to be damaging.

I do my best to be optimistic and positive in my life, but I can’t help but use such negative words as embarrassing and dreadful when talking about Iowa State’s losses, most of which were witnessed on TV by a national audience.

I realize that Iowa State’s schedule was predominantly more difficult than Iowa’s, but at this point in the season, that doesn’t mean much. And when you lose games 49-3, 21-10, 58-7 and 41-27, schedules are the last thing anyone is thinking about.

At this point, Iowa State will probably find itself in a bit of a hole when going against Iowa for recruits. But there is a way things can begin to change and head back in the direction they were going before the season.

Both teams have one game left. As you’ll see in the Daily’s Bowl Edition on Friday, I chose Iowa to lose to USC and Iowa State to beat Boise State. But the manner in which this victory takes place is the key.

Blue field, black field, brown field, who really cares? Just beat the crap out of them.

As for Iowa, the Hawks haven’t seen action since Nov. 16. That is a long time for rust to gather, especially when going up against such a great team as USC.

For the sake of Iowa State recruiting, let’s hope USC hands Iowa the most embarrassing pounding BCS bowls have ever seen and people won’t believe the Iowa hype.

Oh yeah — I hope Nebraska loses its bowl as well, since there will most likely be lots of Big Red fans there.

Kyle Moss

is a senior in journalism

and mass communication

from Urbandale.