While Iowa State tailback Troy Davis is making headlines on the football field, the university’s Academic Quiz Team is enjoying a season of success with their minds.

The team, made up of about 15 members, has been competitive every outing this year. ISU has won tournaments at the University of Iowa and the University of Missouri-Kansas City this year.

At the UMKC Shootout Invitational, ISU’s Dwijavanti Athreya, a junior in math, was named an All-Star and Robert Hentzel, a senior in physics, was named the tournament’s top individual.

Tim Carter, vice president of the Academic Quiz Team said, “Sometimes it takes up a lot of time with the tournaments, but it’s manageable and worth it. The team is really fun, but challenging, too. The Academic Quiz Team is kind of like ‘Jeopardy’ with a team aspect involved.”

Collegiate Academic Quiz competitions are comparable to “Quiz Bowls” on the high school level.

The types of questions asked at a tournament cover a range of topics from math and science to music and art history.

The tournaments are set up with a buzzer system. Two teams of four people compete against each other at a time. Two people from each of the teams go against each other in 12-question halves.

Two types of questions are asked: toss-up questions, worth 10 points, and bonus questions, worth from 20 to 30 points.

The president of ISU’s Academic Quiz Team usually decides who will be on each of the university’s team. ISU competes on the varsity and junior varsity levels.

The ISU Academic Quiz Team is part of the national organization of College Bowl Inc. ISU has qualified for the national tournament the past two years.