Cyclones Secure Visits From All Three Academies

AMES, Iowa ? Iowa State football fans will get to watch all three service academies ? Air Force, Army and Navy ? play football at Jack Trice Stadium in the next decade. That puts Cyclone fans in unique company.

The Cyclones will host Army (2009), Air Force (2014) and Navy (2018) and, thus, join Wake Forest as the only institutions in the nation who will entertain each of the academies on its campus in the next decade.

Iowa State Athletics Director Jamie Pollard announced that the institution has recently finalized a home-and-away football series with Navy ensuring that all three academies will visit Ames. Pollard also noted that ISU has recently completed another two-year deal with UNLV.

“We are extremely pleased to be able to deliver these highly coveted non-conference games to our fans,” Pollard said. “There is strong competition to arrange football games with our country's service academies and hosting all three in the next 10 years is noteworthy and exciting.”

Here are the games against the academies on Iowa State future schedules:

Army ? Sept. 26, 2009 in Ames
Air Force ? Sept. 7, 2013 in USAFA, Colo. and Sept. 6, 2014 in Ames
Navy ? Sept. 22, 2018 in Ames and Sept. 7, 2019 in Annapolis, Md.

Neither Navy nor Army has ever played a football game in the state of Iowa. Air Force faced the Cyclones in Ames in 1975 and played at Iowa in 1958.

“My first game as the Iowa State University Athletics Director was at Army and the experience of visiting an academy was something I will never forget,” Pollard said. “It's very exciting to know that two more Cyclone teams, as well as thousands of Cyclone fans, will have the opportunity to enjoy a similar experience with road trips to Navy and Air Force in the coming years.”

Pollard notes that football scheduling is extremely competitive, very complex and critically important in sustaining a strong fan base and adding to the student-athlete experience.

“It's an honor for our institution to host Army, Navy and Air Force and I know that our fans will enjoy the match-ups,” Pollard said. “The added bonus is our student-athletes, as well as our fans, will have the opportunity to witness the pageantry and prestige these three service academies offer during the football season.”

On the heels of this season's extremely well-attended and popular trip to UNLV, the department has already inked another two-year deal with the Runnin' Rebels. Iowa State will host UNLV on Sept. 19, 2020 and the Cyclones' return trip to Las Vegas is scheduled for Sept. 18, 2021.

“More than 10,000 Cyclones made it to Las Vegas this fall for our football game, so I can confidently say this trip is a wonderful outreach opportunity for our institution,” Pollard said. “The pre-game hype and excitement for Cyclone fans certainly rivaled a bowl game in many respects and we're pleased to get another visit set up.”

For a complete list of Iowa State's future schedules, click here and sort by season at the top of the page.

Iowa State University Athletics

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