Well, they’re back.
For the second time in the Matt Campbell era, Iowa State will play in a Big 12 championship game. It’s about to be an all-time week. Let’s dig into it.
The Arizona State matchup
While crunching numbers over the last few weeks, it became pretty apparent that should the Cyclones make the trip back to Arlington, they’d face one of three teams: BYU, Colorado or Arizona State.
The intrigue with Colorado comes with coach Deion Sanders and the range of reactions fans have when he’s in front of the mic. The program has a bunch of flash and arrogance, and you’re playing against one of college football’s elite players (Travis Hunter) that will likely win the Heisman. (I’m team Ashton Jeanty, just don’t trust the voters).
BYU had done nothing this season except for coming up clutch in major moments and almost always having an answer. No team had been able to take the Cougars’ final punch until Kansas upended them in mid-November.
Yes, Arizona State has got an elite talent, too, in running back Cam Skattebo – who I’ve probably mentioned ad nauseum in this column. He’s a workhorse who is going to take it to Iowa State’s defense. It’s just a question of how much the Cyclones can limit the damage.
Quarterback Sam Leavitt has had an exceptional year as well, throwing for 2,444 yards and rushing for another 350. His 21-5 touchdown-interception ratio speaks for itself.
It was going to be a hard game regardless, and Iowa State looked night-and-day better with its rushing defense against Kansas State. I still love this matchup, though.
The next College Football Playoff Rankings reveal
I want to think that we’re going to see an intriguing College Football Playoff rankings reveal this week. I want to see what the committee does on a flat top 25 ranking between BYU and Miami, or what college football’s version of the bubble looks like.
I think everybody wants that, at least those that aren’t fans of an SEC team, but it’s turned into even more of a glorified AP Poll as this season has gone on. And yet every week, I turn it on thinking it might be different. And I’m mad when it isn’t.
People should be mad Tuesday night, when the bubble is filled exclusively with 9-3 teams out of the SEC and a Miami team that is closer to 7-5 than it is 10-2 for those that watched the games. Right behind them will be BYU.
Sometimes I wonder what it would look like had Utah, Oklahoma State, Arizona and Iowa State been the 1 and 2-loss teams at the end of the year. Would the rankings look different? Maybe, but not by much the way these conferences are shaped and these narratives have formed over the year.
I hope some day we, as an industry in college football, can stop comparing teams with the label of the conference as if they’re all made equal. Unfortunately, those days look far away, and you’ve got to do something…
How the season finished & what could the Big 12 do?
Arizona State played six Big 12 teams with losing records on their schedule this season. Iowa State played five itself.
Of the four teams that finished 7-2, only one matchup occurred between a pair of them when BYU and Arizona State battled a week ago. That’s one reason the tiebreakers got as freaky as they did.
So what could the Big 12 do? I’ll go back to something I grew up with in what was called Bracket Busters.
The event, which former Missouri Valley Conference commissioner Doug Elgin had a hand in creating, had mid-major conferences match up top teams from their leagues to enhance resumes late in the season. On multiple occasions it played a hand in getting some teams into the tournament that would later make Final Four runs.
Why couldn’t the Big 12 work out something similar in football? Have the top four teams in the league face off in play-in games during ‘rivalry week.’
And before someone says that its more difficult to schedule football games than it is basketball, Coastal Carolina and BYU scheduled a game themselves in a 48-hour timespan. It can be done.
If the cards are going to be stacked against you, why not build a house out of the ones you’ve got?
Iowa State MBB debuts at No. 19 in NET Rankings
Monday marked the first edition of the NET Rankings for the season and Iowa State slotted in at No. 19. Nine Big 12 teams are in the top 50, although it’s sure to change with how early we are in the season so far.
The new AP Poll dropped Monday as well, and man, does it set up a massive Wednesday – both at Hilton Coliseum and in the sport.
No. 6 Iowa State will take on No. 5 Marquette in what is perhaps the biggest non-conference game that Hilton Coliseum has ever seen. (But make sure you have an ESPN+ subscription to watch – ridiculous).
Here’s a look at the slate:
Wednesday, December 4
5:30 p.m. | No. 15 Baylor @ No. 25 UConn (FS1)
6:15 p.m. | No. 10 Alabama @ No. 20 North Carolina (ESPN)
7:00 p.m. | No. 5 Marquette @ No. 6 Iowa State (ESPN+)
7:30 p.m. | No. 1 Kansas @ Creighton (FS1)
8:15 p.m. | No. 2 Auburn @ No. 9 Duke (ESPN)
That goes without mentioning Wednesday’s National Early Signing Day.
Like I said, it’s a big week. Buckle up.
