ARMES, Iowa, Sporting Alert — The Big 12 conference opener for Texas and Iowa State will begin the college football Week 5 schedule on Thursday at Jack Trice Stadium.
Game time from Ames, Iowa, on Thursday is set for 8 p.m. ET and it will be nationally televised on ESPN and stream live by WatchESPN.
The Longhorns (1-2) are off to a similar start to the 2015 season when they finished 5-7 overall.
Last season they were 2-1 at this time, but also ended the turn under Charlie Strong with a losing 5-7 record.
New head coach Tom Herman was brought in to turn the program around in the summer and he will be desperate to get a winning streak going.
The last time Texas had a winning campaign was 2013 when it finished the regular season with an 8-4 record before losing to Oregon in the Valero Alamo Bowl.
Iowa State (2-1), meanwhile, is off to a good start this season, and is averaging 41.3 points per game on offense.
The Cyclones have always been strong at home in midweek night games and head coach Matt Campbell says they are ready to use it to their advantage again.
“One of the things that make (Iowa State) special is this fan base is electric.”
Iowa State shutout Texas 24-0 during the 2015 season, but the Cyclones have dropped five of the last six games overall, including last year when they were beaten 27-6 in Texas.
According to ESPN’s Football Power Index, the Longhorns head into Thursday’s game with a 65.3-percent chance to win and get back on track in the Big 12 conference race.
But although his team is the clear favorite, Herman warned that there will be no complacency.
“There are a lot of guys here that were there for 24-0 (in Ames in 2015),” the former Houston head coach said.
“There will be zero taking of (Iowa State) lightly.”
Herman also said the senior wide receiver Lorenzo Joe, who lost his little brother recently, is still in line to play on Thursday night.
Replying to questions on whether Joe would feature, Herman said: “As of now, yes.”
He also said: “I don’t know many details on that as of yet, but we do know that as a brotherhood, we’re going to rally around him and give him all the love and support that we can.”
The Cyclones will be looking to quarterback Jacob Park, who has already passed for 935 yards and 8 touchdowns, along with the somewhat underrated running back David Montgomery to lead the team.
—-Texas Longhorns Photos
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