Or this could be a motivating factor. What I find funny is Clough calls ISU an FCS school yet admits he went to an FCS school (UNI).
***2026 Iowa State Football Season Thread***
- Thread starter BigJCy
- Start date
The team bag man came to our table at Cy's House of Trivia, he said they've got a pretty good punter. If we play some D and flip the field with punting if the offense can get to the 40 yard line Konrady can score a lot of points. Hopefully that'll get us a winning season
One thing I miss about Matt, that Jimmy did not get into at media day, was mentioning players by name. That was always a tell sign of someone was set to break-out this fall.
Any updated projections on the depth chart?
www.ourlads.com
This seems to be a decent guess, with a couple notable exceptions
2026 Iowa State Cyclones Football Depth Chart | Ourlads.com
The most respected source for NFL Draft info among NFL Fans, Media, and Scouts, plus accurate, up to date NFL Depth Charts, Practice Squads and Rosters.
This seems to be a decent guess, with a couple notable exceptions
Im convinced that was just MC trolling. IIRC he didnt have a good track record or hit rate on those
Bill Connelly has his Big 12 preview out for ESPN based on his SP+ projections.
www.espn.com
2026 projection: 64th in SP+, 5.3 average wins (3.2 in the Big 12)
Matt Campbell's 10-year tenure at Iowa State was transformative, with 72 wins and the Cyclones' first two AP top-15 finishes ever. Now we'll see if his departure is just as transformative. Over the past decade, ISU's attendance and investment levels have soared, and it sure seems that the infrastructure has grown quite sound. But until someone else captains this ship well, we don't know anyone else can.
Campbell left for Penn State, and 55 transfers took off as well, about half of them for PSU. No offensive returnee had more than 87 yards from scrimmage (or any passing yards) or took more than 48 snaps on the offensive line. On defense, 23 players saw at least 100 snaps last season, and five return. None had even 250 snaps.
This is one of the biggest teardowns in the country, and it's up to Rogers to make something of it. ISU could certainly do worse. Rogers went 27-3 in two seasons at South Dakota State, winning an elusive FCS national title in his first year succeeding John Stiegelmeier. And in one season at Washington State, he improved the Cougars from 68th to 61st in SP+ despite his team ranking 130th in returning production.
Most of Wazzu's success last year came from Jesse Bobbit's defense, and Rogers brought both Bobbit and 12 former Cougars, including six linemen, with him. Ends Isaac Terrell and Malaki Ta'ase are excellent. Other Group of 6 transfers such as nickel Malcolm Jones (Jacksonville State) and corner Keyon Washington (Bowling Green) could be important, and Rogers loaded up on smaller-school stars too, including end Caden Crawford (South Dakota) and linebacker Tristan Exline (Texas-Permian Basin).
I'm guessing Bobbit can make something pretty solid of the defense, which is good because I'm not sure about the offense. Quarterback Jaylen Raynor comes to Ames after throwing for 8,694 yards and rushing for 1,707 more at Arkansas State, and the receiving corps could have potential with newcomers such as Omari Hayes (Tulane) and Cody Jackson (Tarleton State). Seven new linemen bring starting experience to the table, and grabbing Tarleton State sophomore tackle Braden Smith might turn out to be astute. But there isn't as much ready-made talent as on the defensive side.
2026 Big 12 college football preview, predictions, top transfers and more
Even with the change at QB, the Red Raiders are the team to beat, but contenders are out there.
Iowa State Cyclones
Head coach: Jimmy Rogers (first year)2026 projection: 64th in SP+, 5.3 average wins (3.2 in the Big 12)
Matt Campbell's 10-year tenure at Iowa State was transformative, with 72 wins and the Cyclones' first two AP top-15 finishes ever. Now we'll see if his departure is just as transformative. Over the past decade, ISU's attendance and investment levels have soared, and it sure seems that the infrastructure has grown quite sound. But until someone else captains this ship well, we don't know anyone else can.
Campbell left for Penn State, and 55 transfers took off as well, about half of them for PSU. No offensive returnee had more than 87 yards from scrimmage (or any passing yards) or took more than 48 snaps on the offensive line. On defense, 23 players saw at least 100 snaps last season, and five return. None had even 250 snaps.
This is one of the biggest teardowns in the country, and it's up to Rogers to make something of it. ISU could certainly do worse. Rogers went 27-3 in two seasons at South Dakota State, winning an elusive FCS national title in his first year succeeding John Stiegelmeier. And in one season at Washington State, he improved the Cougars from 68th to 61st in SP+ despite his team ranking 130th in returning production.
Most of Wazzu's success last year came from Jesse Bobbit's defense, and Rogers brought both Bobbit and 12 former Cougars, including six linemen, with him. Ends Isaac Terrell and Malaki Ta'ase are excellent. Other Group of 6 transfers such as nickel Malcolm Jones (Jacksonville State) and corner Keyon Washington (Bowling Green) could be important, and Rogers loaded up on smaller-school stars too, including end Caden Crawford (South Dakota) and linebacker Tristan Exline (Texas-Permian Basin).
I'm guessing Bobbit can make something pretty solid of the defense, which is good because I'm not sure about the offense. Quarterback Jaylen Raynor comes to Ames after throwing for 8,694 yards and rushing for 1,707 more at Arkansas State, and the receiving corps could have potential with newcomers such as Omari Hayes (Tulane) and Cody Jackson (Tarleton State). Seven new linemen bring starting experience to the table, and grabbing Tarleton State sophomore tackle Braden Smith might turn out to be astute. But there isn't as much ready-made talent as on the defensive side.
Is Montreze Smith listed as a starting LB a surprise? Kinda like seeing that honestly.Any updated projections on the depth chart?
2026 Iowa State Cyclones Football Depth Chart | Ourlads.com
The most respected source for NFL Draft info among NFL Fans, Media, and Scouts, plus accurate, up to date NFL Depth Charts, Practice Squads and Rosters.
This seems to be a decent guess, with a couple notable exceptions
Sorta like seeing Jace Gilbert listed as a 3rd stringer... he looked pretty good last year... so if we have 2 guys better than him... that's a good sign. Although the starter is Terrell, who is possibly our best defensive player, and the backup is Ta'ase who played well at WSU also.
What he was missing there was Michael Wagner.Is that Seneca?
That play has a Seneca "look" to it, that's for sure.Is that Seneca?
I mean, sometimes. For every nugget we'd get, we'd also get Campbell saying Easton Dean was the most talented TE he's ever had or whatever.
Said that Easton Dean would go down as the best ISU TE ever... lol.
I am glad he is gone as he made a lot of mistakes the last few years. Too many frat boy coaches on staff! CJR seems to have better staff
Good work on linking his video and getting him more clicks.
There's far better content out there.
My theory is Taco Tech voted ISU to win. Assuming coaches can't vote for their own teams, their ego is so big, they didn't want to give BYU or other teams a vote over them, so picked the team they thought would be last.
