To begin the week, Iowa State coach Paul Rhoads stood behind a podium and delivered the news conference of the year so far in the Big 12.
Rhoads revealed that on top of having a new starting quarterback in Joel Lanning, the Cyclones would have a new offensive playcaller moving forward, too. Mark Mangino was out, a move so stunning that many of the players learned of it by reading the Twitter timelines of Iowa State’s beat reporters.
And so, after a pair of dramatic personnel changes, the Cyclones — and maybe the Rhoads era at Iowa State — have seemingly arrived at a crossroads heading into Saturday night’s meeting with Texas.