AMES, IA – Hundreds of die-hard Cyclone fans, mainly students, came together to support Iowa State football in a unique way at Jack Trice Stadium on Saturday. Despite the rain, the sun didn’t have to be out for some of the students to have their “guns” out.
Originally started by students of Oklahoma State, college fanbases around the nation have seen an uptick in shirtless fan sections during the second halves of football games. Whether their team is winning or losing, they come together for the fun of it and to entertain those watching on TV.
Iowa State became the next example of the nationwide trend following Arizona State’s lone second-half touchdown in Saturday’s 24-19 loss. After the shirtless section was assembled, even with the mascot, Cy, the Sun Devils didn’t score another point from that moment on.
At the time, Iowa State was trailing 24-16 with less than eight minutes left in the third quarter. Iowa State sophomore Jack Witte was one of the hundreds of students who joined in the fun.
“Originally, I was up here at the top,” Witte said. “Then one of my friends had some spots down low, so we moved down there. Then we saw the boys up there, so we came up.”
When Oklahoma State originally started the trend, they did so with beautiful, sunny weather. The conditions that Iowa State went through, however, were not the same, but it didn’t stop the students from having fun in the rain.
“When you’re having fun, the cold doesn’t matter,” Witte said.
Cyclone fans Andrew Grant, Tuicen Augustine and Mason Pippett were all originally sitting in section ZZ, located in the northeast corner of the stadium.
“Tuicen [Augustine] said that we should start it,” Grant said. “Then we looked up at the corner and it was already going. So we’re like, ‘Heck yeah, let’s go join.’”
Despite how trendy the section was, some students chose not to join, including Christopher Striedl.
“I saw the original Oklahoma State clip and I thought that was pretty funny,” Striedl said. “I never expected that anyone would actually be doing it here, but it seemed like if there was ever a situation for it, where the team just needed a ‘lift,’ it’d be here.”
Striedl said that part of the reason he didn’t join with the rest was because of the equal importance of having students closer to the field level as well.
“We have to have people down here, too,” Striedl said. “We can’t just have everyone flood in from down near the front all the way up to the second deck.”
Striedl did say that if he had been originally seated further up, he would’ve considered joining in the fun.
“If I were in the 30th row, I probably would’ve went up there,” Striedl said.
Despite the energy shift that the shirtless fans generated, it wasn’t enough to lift Iowa State over its five-point deficit, as the Cyclones lost their fourth straight game of the season.
