The season hasn’t even started yet, and the Cyclones are already in prime form.

Congratulations, Mr. Runk, on your alcohol-related citation at the WWF event on Monday. We’re very proud of you.

My main reason for concern is with the scheduling this year. We have always had a pretty bad football team, so I agree with the decision to put bad teams on our pre-conference schedule.

I mean, there’s no point in scheduling Florida State or Arizona, because they would never agree to come to Ames for a game, and we would enter conference play 0-3 guaranteed.

But why is Indiana State, a Division I-AA team, on the schedule? When I was a freshman in 1994, we played Northern Iowa, another Division I-AA team, and we lost. That pretty much ruined the season from that point on.

Now, I know I might be getting senile in my old age, but didn’t McCarney swear to never schedule another Division I-AA team again?

No good can possibly come out of this game. We have a good chance of going 3-0 in the pre-season, which would normally mean that three conference wins would qualify us for a bowl game, hypothetically speaking

Realistically, we probably have to get seven wins against Division 1 teams. It isn’t likely, but it is possible for us to beat Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma, to get us to six wins.

Here’s the rub. As Gene Smith and Dan McCarney well know, a victory against a Division I-AA team does not count toward the wins needed to qualify for a bowl game.

That means we need seven wins just to qualify, which would require upsetting someone like Nebraska or K-State (yeah, right). Since we have such a small fan base, I don’t think any bowl would consider inviting us unless we get seven wins against Division I opponents, which means two big upsets, plus winning all the games we’re supposed to.

Everyone in the football program knows that won’t happen.

But what happens if we actually lose to Indiana State, like we did to Northern Iowa in 1994? I’ll tell you: 0-11 and McCarney gets fired.

The lesson here: If you want a fluffy pre-conference schedule, consider the Buffalo Bulls, who are ranked 114 out of 114 in Division I.

Jacob Martzahn

Alumnus

Charleston, W. Va.