Getting to Know U(niversities)- Current Big 12 Members: Iowa State University

A new conference home for TCU means that there are a whole host of new teams to be aware of. Some of them we are well acquainted with, others we've managed to face only once, but for all of them it's a good time to get reacquainted and maybe learn a new thing or two about our new and old conference mates. For that, Frogs O' War is proud to present the facts, stats and trivia of our big 12 brethren. Make the jump if you will, and see what there is to be seen about the second school to be profiled: Iowa State University.

Tale of the Tape: Iowa State University

Location: Ames, Iowa

Stadium: Jack Trice Stadium (Dedicated to Iowa State Running Back Jack Trice, more on him later.)

Overall Record: 481-575-46.

Championships: Two conference championships (both Big Eight), one division championship (Big 12).

Conference History: Independent from 1895-1907, joined the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association/Big Six/Big Eight (1908-1998), founding member of the Big 12 (1999-present).

Traditions: Playing for weird and/or ugly trophies. There's the weird Telephone Trophy with Mizzou, the uninspired bowling trophy-esque original Cy-Hawk Trophy with Iowa. Which was replaced with the perhaps too inspiredIowa Corn Cy-Hawk Trophy which was vigorously shouted down and replaced with an even more boring trophy than the original. Fortunately the great minds of Iowa have been voting on a new trophy this year, and hopefully it will redeem itself.

Rivals: Kansas State Wildcats in Farmaggeddon- the best name of any rivalry ever, period. The Missouri Tigers in the Telephone Trophy showdown (which nobody seems to remember, since everyone is focused on the Mizzou/Kansas Border War), and Iowa State's archrival the Iowa Hawkeyes. The Cyclones have more than a smidge of a little brother attitude to them, once wearing jerseys that read "Beat Iowa" rather than Iowa State, but they still don't have a fight song which is wildly unsuited for playing the other eleven (now twelve!) teams on their schedule, like some teams. So props for that.

You may remember them from such TCU games as: TCU has played Iowa State three times, winning each. The teams have played in Fort Worth, in Ames and in the 2005 Houston Bowl, with only the Houston Bowl finishing with Iowa State within double figures of TCU.

Have they been looking at other conferences?: Nope. Iowa State is better off than Baylor if the conference collapses, but despite being a high level academic institution and a part of the AAU the Big Ten isn't interested, and they don't have the tradition and fanbase to be appealing to any other major conference. They were likely going to be joining us in the Big East in a best case scenario with the death of the Big 12 or in the MAC if the cards didn't fall right. As a fan of a team that was once cast aside in similar fashion I was definitely pulling for good things for Iowa State, and the fact that we're now conference buddies makes it all the more important that we hope for a good conference home for Iowa State for decades to come.

What else is "need to know" about Iowa State University?: I briefly mentioned Jack Trice in the stadium section, but his story is one that needs telling at length. Jack Trice was the first African-American football player for Iowa State University back in 1923, playing his first game in Iowa State's third game of the season- St. Louis cancelled their game with Iowa State rather than play against an African-American player. The opponent was the university of Minnesota, who would end up getting a reputation for rough play against African-American players due to the Trice game and their later treatment of University of Iowa running back Ozzie Simmons. During the second play of the game Jack's collarbone was broken, but he claimed to be all right and asked to be put back into the game. In the third quarter while blocking, Trice went down and was trampled by three Minnesota players. Despite again claiming to be fine, Trice was sent to an area hospital, where he was pronounced fit to travel. Two days after the game, Jack Trice died from internal injuries suffered during the game. As a result, Iowa State cancelled their previously annual game against Minnesota and the two teams didn't play again for over seven decades. Iowa State named the field after him in 1984 and the entire stadium was renamed Jack Trice Stadium in 1997- the only stadium in FBS to be named after an African-American.