Peterson: Iowa State ventures Saturday into the Big 12's land of the unknown newcomers

AMES − From an Iowa State football standpoint, we saw this week coming a long time ago. Even before Oklahoma and Texas announced they were fleeing to the SEC, we knew the Cyclones' Big 12 Conference schedule eventually would change.

We didn’t know when or how it’d be different than what we’d experienced since the Big 12's first football season in 1996. We didn’t know if it would change for the better or for the worse. We just knew that nothing lasts forever in the college sports world, where players can move from school to school (and to school), like the people who coach them − and where schools can be in a conference one day and then in another league the next.

So sometime Friday afternoon, Matt Campbell’s improving Iowa State football team will hop a chartered plane, jet to Cincinnati and begin final preparations for Saturday’s 11 a.m. venture into the newcomer part of what’s become a 14-team conference.

More: Everything you need to know about Saturday's Iowa State football game vs. Cincinnati

It's exciting, yes, Iowa State facing the hometown Bearcats. It’s Campbell, members of his staff and some players returning to their native state for a second time this season. It’s an Iowa State first, facing the former American Athletic Conference team. It’s especially stimulating coming off last Saturday’s 27-14 victory against TCU at Jack Trice Stadium.

For the Cyclones, Saturday’s game on FS1 at 38,000-seat Nippert Stadium is the first of four that will define what happens after the regular season.

More: Matt Campbell on Jake Remsburg's return ahead of Iowa State's game against Cincinnati

Why just those four? Because playing at Cincinnati, at Baylor, at home against Kansas and at BYU seem better suited for Cyclones victories than facing Texas (at Jack Trice) and playing at Kansas State in Games Nos. 11 and 12.

You’ll never hear that from Campbell. Coaches aren’t usually into spoon-feeding verbal momentum into the mouths of future opponents, but look at the newcomers’ won-lost records:

BYU, UCF, Houston, Cincinnati. They’re all oh-fer in the Big 12 − except for BYU, which beat Cincinnati 35-27.

What about the four additional newcomers joining for 2024 and beyond, you ask? They’re a non-daunting 12-11 overall – with Utah’s 4-1 residing on one end, and 1-5 Arizona State hanging out on the opposite.

More: Peterson: Big 12's expansion is big for basketball and Arizona-living conference fans

Of those 16 that will form the Big 12’s near future, we don’t yet know which teams will comprise the Cyclones’ schedule. We don’t even know if the league will return to divisions for the first time since 2010 – or even how many conference games each team will play.

What we know is that Campbell’s team kicks off this latest round of expansion on Saturday – in his home state and against a coach with whom he shared a Toledo sideline in 2009. Campbell was the Rockets’ running game coordinator and offensive line coach in Tim Beckman’s first season as the head coach, while now-Cincinnati coach Scott Satterfield was the passing game coordinator.

“Scott’s going to run the football,” Campbell said during his Tuesday press conference. “They’re tough. They’re going to challenge you on every play.”

Coaches knowing each other and having worked with each other is a by-product of college football’s always-changing landscape. It’ll change even more in 2024, when the Big 12 is Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, TCU, West Virginia, Baylor, Texas Tech, UCF, Houston, Cincinnati, BYU, Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah.

And in 10 years, who knows what conferences will look like? No one.

Television networks have clout, you know, since they’re paying heavy to broadcast games. Gonzaga to the Big 12 is even kicking up again, and it’s only a matter of time before the UConn chatter resurfaces.

About the time you’ve got this conference thing figured out, stuff changes.

“We had a vision, we had a strategy and effectively we’ve been able to execute it,” commissioner Brett Yormark said during an August Zoom conference with reporters. “Initially, I wasn’t sure if we’d go to 14 or 16. I think 16 was kind of the dream scenario, candidly.”

Where does it end?

It doesn’t. I didn’t even ask Campbell to predict, knowing that his answer would be something like he’s just trying to get his young team through another day’s practice.

More: Everything you need to know about Saturday's Iowa State football game vs. Cincinnati

Don’t think for a moment, however, that Saturday’s game is only about the Cyclones keeping alive hopes for a bowl game. It is, but there’s also the recruiting factor:

Ohio is fertile high school football territory – especially for a Power Five coach who grew up in that state. Seven players on this season’s roster are from Ohio.

That’s why the addition of Cincinnati not only was major for the Big 12, but also significant for Iowa State.

“We can continue to at least show our (recruits), 'Hey, we’re playing close to you,'” Campbell said.

And if you win?

That certainly can't hurt when it comes to recruiting in a state where every major football coach knows the location of the state's hotspot high schools.

Iowa State columnist Randy Peterson is in his 51st year writing sports for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at rpeterson@dmreg.com, on X @RandyPete, and at DesMoinesRegister.com/CyclonesTexts

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa State football enters the Big 12 newcomer world at Cincinnati