AMES — Now outside of the College Football Playoff rankings following its 45-36 loss to Kansas, Iowa State looks to bounce back from its two-game slide against Cincinnati — who has never played in Ames — on Saturday night.

But for one coach on the Bearcats, this game against the Cyclones will be a homecoming of sorts, as Cincinnati defensive coordinator Tyson Veidt will be returning to Ames for the first time since he took the job with the Bearcats back in January.

Veidt will return to face the program he helped build with head coach Matt Campbell, all the way back from when they came together during their time spent at Toledo.

Although only being with Campbell’s Rockets for the 2015 season, Veidt was thought of as an integral part of helping build up a struggling Cyclones program.

In his seven years with Iowa State, Veidt had helped turn the Cyclones’ defense from an underwhelming unit to one of the most feared in the Big 12.

During Veidt’s time with the program, Iowa State’s defense led the conference in many categories including scoring defense, total defense, rushing defense and passing defense.

But perhaps his biggest achievements while being with the program have been in his time coaching up the linebackers.

During his tenure with the Cyclones, Veidt helped nine different linebackers achieve All-Big 12 recognition a total of 18 times, including three different starting linebackers who earned All-Big 12 accolades.

Some of the linebackers that Veidt had the opportunity to coach were former All-American Mike Rose, Gerry Vaughn, O’Rien Vance, Marcel Spears Jr. and current Los Angeles Rams linebacker Jake Hummel.

Not to mention Joel Lanning, who was a former quarterback for Iowa State, but had transitioned to linebacker in his final season and with the help of Veidt, became an All-American in 2017.

“Tyson [Veidt] did such a great job here,” Campbell said. “He was such a key figure to not only me as a person, but you are just so proud of what he earned the opportunity to go be a defensive coordinator in the Big 12.”

In Veidt’s first season calling plays for the Bearcats defense, he has helped them maintain a strong front against their opponents.

But for Campbell, one of the things that impressed him the most was the difference that Veidt has made for that Cincinnati defense in just the nine games he’s been there for.

“One of the things that they’ve done is just the statistics defensively,” Campbell said. “The jump they made from where they were to where they’re at is stagnant. It’s such a credit to [Veidt].”

While the numbers don’t show a drastic change, Veidt still has been able to fix a Bearcats defense from what it was a season ago to where it is now in nearly every category.

Just like Iowa State defensive coordinator Jon Heacock, Veidt has implemented the 3-3-5 defense for Cincinnati, so attacking this style of defense shouldn’t pose a lot of problems for redshirt sophomore quarterback Rocco Becht and the Cyclones offense.

“We have a lot of film on that defense just because Veidt was here last year,” Becht said. “We run technically the same defense, so there’s a lot of things that are similar and just a couple of wrinkles in there that are different.” 

“Plays-wise, we have had plays work in the past and have had success, so it’s just going back into our history and finding holes in that defense,” Becht said. 

Along with Becht, offensive coordinator Taylor Mouser knows exactly how passionate Veidt is when it comes to defense, as both coaches have spent eight years together on the same coaching staff until Veidt’s recent departure. 

“He’s going to try and murder us on Saturday, in a good way,” Mouser said. “I know how tenacious he is and how important football is to him. He’s such a good football coach.”

So by knowing how Veidt’s defensive schemes work, it will be up to Mouser to create plays that will help the Iowa State offense find success Saturday.

“For us, we just have to see what we’ve done best on offense and luckily for us, we’ve got to go against that defense in fall and spring when he was here,” Mouser said. 

The Cyclones will host the Bearcats for the first time at 7 p.m. Saturday in Jack Trice Stadium. The game will also be nationally televised on FOX.