The Key to Iowa State's Success... is Bacon?

For the first time in eighty-six years the Iowa State Cyclones have started the football season with a 6–0 record. To put it into perspective, the last time an Iowa State team started a year with six wins jazz was still a taboo genre of music in the United States. While many may say that the success of this 2024 team is due to veteran leadership, the development of quarterback Rocco Becht, and the continued success of the receiving corps, one element cannot be understated… bacon. Throughout the 2024 season bacon has been at the forefront of the Iowa State football team, and no, I do not mean redshirt junior linebacker Caleb Bacon, well not fully at least. Last year Iowa Pork Producers signed four athletes from the football team Myles Purchase, Tyler Moore, Tommy Hamann, and Caleb Bacon to launch their Purchase Moore Hamann Bacon initiative. The campaign quickly went viral and was lauded by Sports Business Journal as the best NIL deal of 2023. This year, the Iowa Pork Producers’ campaign has returned and alon