Not really. I'm always excited for the Clones. Even through last year: most of the home games were sold out, we were competitive in the majority of them, have a passionate coach who cares about the program, and got rewarded with the WV game being the most exciting game of the season. What's not to like?
People just need to temper the expectations. I'm not saying we should accept losing and become a culture of losing in Football, but realistically we do ok most years while playing in one of the toughest conferences in the nation (it's not like we are racking up conference losing streaks like KU) and not being the hotbed for highly rated recruits. We do the most with what we have. Maybe Lazard coming on board and the addition of Mangino turns a few more recruits our way. Who knows...
A friend of mine jokes with me that a 6-6 season at ISU is a successful season and when we had Seneca Wallace and the Davis brothers felt like ISU was playing in the NC game. And you know what, I'm not offended because it is true. An 8-4 season would be like going undefeated for other schools. We'll always be the underdog school and I for one enjoy the role and take it for what it's worth.