WATCH: 49ers QB Brock Purdy dons Iowa mascot head after losing Iowa vs. Iowa State bet with TE George Kittle

Although they are teammates on the San Francisco 49ers, quarterback Brock Purdy and tight end George Kittle played college football at rival institutions — Purdy at Iowa State and Kittle at Iowa — before making their way to the NFL. Purdy and Kittle placed a friendly wager ahead of Iowa’s 20-13 victory against Iowa State in the annual Cy-Hawk college football rivalry game last weekend, and it was Purdy suffering the consequences this week after his Cyclones fell to Kittle’s Hawkeyes. 

The consequence? Purdy found himself showing up to a 49ers press conference Thursday wearing the head piece of Iowa’s mascot, giving everyone in the room a good chuckle before Purdy traded the head piece for a hat and addressed reporters. 

Purdy attended Iowa State from 2018-2021 before San Francisco selected him with the final pick of the 2022 NFL Draft. He emerged as the Cyclones’ starter several games into his freshman season and never relinquished that role, passing for more than 12,000 yards in his Iowa State career.

Mirroring his freshman year at Iowa State, Purdy became the 49ers’ starter midway through his rookie season in 2022 after Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo both suffered season-ending injuries. San Francisco reached the NFC Championship Game, losing to the Philadelphia Eagles in a game that saw Purdy exit early with an elbow injury that required offseason surgery. 

Kittle played at Iowa from 2012-16 before the 49ers selected him in the fifth round of the 2017 NFL Draft. He has since become one of the top players at his position, earning Pro Bowl honors four times already in his NFL career. He was a first-team All-Pro selection in 2019, a season that saw the 49ers reach the Super Bowl before falling to the Kansas City Chiefs.