Iowa State Cyclones football head coach Matt Campbell gets a greeting from fans during Spirit Walk before Iowa State and Baylor football at Jack Trice Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in Ames, Iowa. © Nirmalendu Majumdar/Ames Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
AMES — Matt Campbell deflected praise when he tied, then passed, Dan McCarney to become Iowa State’s winningest head coach earlier this season.
He shuns talk of the Cyclones’ 5-0 start — its best mark through five games in a season since 1980.
But Campbell embraces the “hard” truth that ISU (5-0, 2-0 Big 12) hasn’t won an outright conference championship in its 133-year history. In fact, he can’t stop talking about that painfully long drought when he’s meeting with his players and thinking of his team’s fans.
“I think the message is, nobody’s done it here,” Campbell said in advance of Saturday’s 7 p.m. (FOX) game between the No. 11 Cyclones and West Virginia (3-2, 2-0) in Morgantown. “And nobody’s ever been able to sustain it over the course of an entire season.”
ISU came close in 2020, advancing to its first-ever Big 12 title game against Oklahoma before falling 27-21. And Campbell leans into that 133 number to inspire his current Cyclones to trample obstacles and shatter self-perceived limitations. He doesn’t reference it lightly, either, as maintaining a singular focus on what lies immediately ahead remains his mantra.
“I think we have always been very process-oriented here, rather than being very outcome-oriented,” said Campbell, whose team is a three-point favorite against the tough-minded Mountaineers. “That’s really where we’ve tried to live.”
Now ISU attempts to survive its toughest Big 12 test to date in an effort to become 6-0 for the first time since 1938. West Virginia came back to beat Kansas at home in their lightning-interrupted conference opener, then went on the road to trounce Oklahoma State 38-14 last week. The Mountaineers feature the Big 12’s third-most productive rushing offense, averaging 223 yards per game.
“West Virginia will be another level of excitement,” said Campbell, who is 4-3 all-time against the Mountaineers. “They’ve got a phenomenal team. They’ve got one of the greatest fan bases in the country in terms of the pride they have for their (team).”
The Cyclones counter with the league’s best scoring defense (10.0 points allowed per game), passing defense (133.6 yards allowed per game), and total defense (271.6). ISU also possesses two of the Big 12’s most productive wide receivers, Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel. Higgins has caught a touchdown pass in a program-record seven straight games. Noel is tied for the conference lead in receptions spanning 40 or more yards with five.
“We’re always continuing to push each other, trying to figure out what we can get better at,” said Noel, who is averaging 18.8 yards per catch this season. “He pushes me to be my best every day because I know he’s gonna bring his best every day. Just to play with a guy like that — so talented — is an honor. Being able to, first, play with a guy like (former Cyclone star and current Houston Texan) Xavier Hutchinson and a guy like Jayden Higgins, it’s special.”
So is hearing that number 133. Not to dwell on it, but to recognize how difficult it’s been for ISU to win an outright conference title.
“(Campbell) says it every day: 133 years,” Noel said. “We honestly haven’t won (anything) here at Iowa State, but the teams in the past that have allowed us to get to this point, we appreciate them, and we’ve learned from them. We just want to remind ourselves every day that it’s been 133 years and nobody’s ever done it, and why not us to be the team to go do it now?”
Why not, indeed. But the Cyclones must surmount the numerous stumbling blocks lurking behind and within each of their final seven regular-season games. That’s why ISU embraces the “hard.” It can’t be dodged, but it can be tamed.
“One of the things that’s been a real joy for us being here is giving our fan base something to believe in,” Campbell said. “At first, I thought it was only giving our kids something to believe in until you really got here and understood the value of this community that has constantly showed up to support (us).”
