Three reads on Louisiana

[NWICY]

This season, assuming we make it through it, is going to have a huge * on it anyways.

I'll take a NC with a * next to it.

 

[jmb]

Yeah that's incredibly dumb on his part. Weak attempt at saving face. No contact before a real life game, they deserved to get embarrassed like that.

It ranges from 400-700k/to get a cadet through the various service academies. I suspect he has a different standard of risk management.

 

[BWRhasnoAC]

I get the slow start history of Campbell's teams ... but safe to say since nobody can be there to watch this we will come out rolling and fully control this game. Another "could have been great" Cyclone moment but only this time greatness occurs and nobody is there to party.

I'm pretty sure they are going to be frothing at the mouth. This team's focus has been very high according to the coaches.

 

[JM4CY]

I'll take a NC with a * next to it.

Amen. * or no *, if that happens, there's going to be a lot of grown men crying, and I will be one of them.

 

[enisthemenace]

It ranges from 400-700k/to get a cadet through the various service academies. I suspect he has a different standard of risk management.

Did you watch that game? Navy couldn’t tackle or block. They were getting throttled out there, on both sides of the ball. Good way to set your players up for injury.

 

[Aclone]

We've been pretty inconsistent even during our recent streak of relevancy... and when have we ever aligned our good years with the years expectations were really high?

The more hype there is for us, typically the worse we do. With hype at an all-time high this year, this is truly a prove it year for those outside our fandom bubble.

I hope the guys are focused and locked in as we never do great with a target on our backs. Our best years are when we surprise people. This should be the first year we can really live up to expectations in quite a while.

I’ve said this before, but in response to this I’ll try to put it in a different way.

A. Matt Campbell represents a complete separation from every ISU coach since Earle Bruce left town. You can’t consider the previous history under Rhoads, Chizik, McCarney, Walden, Criner or Donnie Duncan.

It’s a culture change.

B. The slow starts under Matt Campbell have been as he’s been building a program. We’re at the culmination of that now—and let’s face it, while the cupboard wasn’t be nearly as empty as when Walden or McCarney took over, it wasn’t well stocked, either.

The Process is about to reach fruition.

An talented and experienced quarterback and running back, a blend of talented and seasoned WR’s, an offensive line that should be a big upgrade in talent—supported by a deep, richly experienced, tough as nails defense?

That’s a recipe for a good start.

 

[Sigmapolis]

I hope not. It's pretty normal if you ask me, minus playing Iowa and minus there being fans. The no fans part is huge though, probably not quantifiable the impact it will have, but you know the fans play a big part in hyping up the players

Agree, the only thing that would have a potential * would be the playoffs. Otherwise, the conferences (SEC, Big 12, and ACC) will be pretty much the same

One other thought...why start off with a team like Louisiana when there are a couple of dozen opponents that would be a more suitable first game opponent. Maybe they expected 25,000 fans? I choose to believe that the coaching staff things that this ISU squad is really good.

I'll take a NC with a * next to it.

You guys are assuming the season proceeds more or less as it is scheduled right now, that all the games are played, that nobody is losing significant contributors (or even entire units) or practice time to COVID outbreaks, and the full round-robin of the Big 12 gets played. I hope all those things happen for the sport... but...

This season is not going to be "normal" far beyond just the Pac-12, Big Ten, MAC, and MWC going missing.

 

[Aclone]

With only a ten game season, there’s going to be an asterisk after everything one way or another. Like when we “only” win thirteen games, Brock “only” throws for 4K yards, or Breece “only” runs for 1,500 yards.

Because there isn’t a full twelve game regular season being played. Not the same degree or quality of competition. Anyone who thinks there won’t be an asterisk next to any record involving the 2020 season is just fooling themselves.

 

[VeloClone]

With only a ten game season, there’s going to be an asterisk after everything one way or another. Like when we “only” win thirteen games, Brock “only” throws for 4K yards, or Breece “only” runs for 1,500 yards.

Because there isn’t a full twelve game regular season being played. Not the same degree or quality of competition. Anyone who thinks there won’t be an asterisk next to any record involving the 2020 season is just fooling themselves.

But to be fair, should there be? There aren't a lot of asterisks on the records of players who played back when there were 11 - and even 10 - game seasons.

 

[madguy30]

emotion and energy is going to have to be generated somehow. I'm worried that in cfb, more than most sports, energy is gleaned from the fans in the stands. Navy lost a "home" game last night, 55-3. I am pretty worried about our chances in this first game, I feel like Louisiana is gonna come in amped up and ready.

Hopefully ISU has gone live in practice before Saturday.

Pretty sure Navy's first play last night was Navy's first live play they've run.

 

[JM4CY]

I’ve said this before, but in response to this I’ll try to put it in a different way.

A. Matt Campbell represents a complete separation from every ISU coach since Earle Bruce left town. You can’t consider the previous history under Rhoads, Chizik, McCarney, Walden, Criner or Donnie Duncan.

It’s a culture change.

B. The slow starts under Matt Campbell have been as he’s been building a program. We’re at the culmination of that now—and let’s face it, while the cupboard wasn’t be nearly as empty as when Walden or McCarney took over, it wasn’t well stocked, either.

The Process is about to reach fruition.

An talented and experienced quarterback and running back, a blend of talented and seasoned WR’s, an offensive line that should be a big upgrade in talent—supported by a deep, richly experienced, tough as nails defense?

That’s a recipe for a good start.

It’s not that I think your wrong or don’t hope it happens, but you may want to look around your house and find your nutcup, it doesn’t sound like you have it nearby.

 

[clonedude]

I would love to know how often the people on here that predicted ISU to win by 2 or 3 TD's ended up being right? I would guess less than 10% of the time.

 

[Jer]

I agree with much of this, but I am not sure this season feels highly anticipated. Maybe you have a different read on it than me, but I think most of us are just holding our breath that we make it through the season safe and sound and have games, both for our entertainment and for the financial health of the university going forward.

I have not seem much fretting or speculation on here... at all... about how good we are going to be, wins and losses, and potential opportunities in front of us (such as winning the Big 12 regular season). Those were all the talk last year, but it seems this year we are all just going to be glad if we get to have football whatsoever.

We are ranked preseason and the talk of ESPN several times over the weekend as a dark horse contender for both the Big 12 and to sneak into the playoffs because of that. Last night during the BYU Navy game they said much of it yet again.

I love the attention and respect, but I also know when the eyes are on us, we typically lay an egg. When the eyes are elsewhere, we surprise the world.

Some could say that trepidation is a disease inflicted on any Iowa State, Cubs, or Vikings fan after 20-30 years. Luckily I don’t like baseball much and am a Packers and Eagles fan

This might be the first time I can ever remember in either football or basketball where the local hype is less than the national hype - but I think that’s largely due to everything else in 2020 keeping anybody from expecting anything.

 

[clonedude]

I know this is so cliche, but I will be happy if we win by 1 point against this team in the first game of the season.

We had no business beating UNI last year, they had us beat.... and don't remind me about the Drake game.

I'm hoping we'll be more ready for this team, but history shows it will be tight all the way. CMC is a conservative head coach. I wish he wasn't, but he is. Which means most teams will hang with us when they shouldn't.

 

[Jer]

I’ve said this before, but in response to this I’ll try to put it in a different way.

A. Matt Campbell represents a complete separation from every ISU coach since Earle Bruce left town. You can’t consider the previous history under Rhoads, Chizik, McCarney, Walden, Criner or Donnie Duncan.

It’s a culture change.

B. The slow starts under Matt Campbell have been as he’s been building a program. We’re at the culmination of that now—and let’s face it, while the cupboard wasn’t be nearly as empty as when Walden or McCarney took over, it wasn’t well stocked, either.

The Process is about to reach fruition.

An talented and experienced quarterback and running back, a blend of talented and seasoned WR’s, an offensive line that should be a big upgrade in talent—supported by a deep, richly experienced, tough as nails defense?

That’s a recipe for a good start.

I love the optimism and really respect it.

I’m not an optimist or pessimist, I like to think of myself as a realist. However, when it comes to expectations, the hype is 99% of the time going to be greater than the results for any non blue blood program, and the doom in game threads is 99% of the time going to be worse than reality.

I don’t disagree that Campbell has put in a new culture, but we still have to actually take that next step. We are at a disadvantage to many schools in terms of resources, recruits, etc so our margin is very small and always will be. That means the culture has to be about discipline, doing the little things, and playing mistake free. That doesn’t happen overnight and we still have a ways to go to “prove it”. I believe this year COULD be a big step in the right direction.

 

[NorthCyd]

I’ve said this before, but in response to this I’ll try to put it in a different way.

A. Matt Campbell represents a complete separation from every ISU coach since Earle Bruce left town. You can’t consider the previous history under Rhoads, Chizik, McCarney, Walden, Criner or Donnie Duncan.

It’s a culture change.

B. The slow starts under Matt Campbell have been as he’s been building a program. We’re at the culmination of that now—and let’s face it, while the cupboard wasn’t be nearly as empty as when Walden or McCarney took over, it wasn’t well stocked, either.

The Process is about to reach fruition.

An talented and experienced quarterback and running back, a blend of talented and seasoned WR’s, an offensive line that should be a big upgrade in talent—supported by a deep, richly experienced, tough as nails defense?

That’s a recipe for a good start.

This all sounds great. If the reality on the field starts to bear that out I will begin to believe.

 

[CyGuy5]

Maybe it’s countless painful experiences, but I really don’t like this matchup for Iowa State. In an already weird season it doesn’t take much for things to go wrong, and we all know Iowa State starts the year pretty poor. This team was absolutely horrid in the margins last season and you have to be good in the margins to win in a season like this. In addition to that, in previous years we’ve seen a very small section of the playbook opened up before conference play. Hopefully Campbell/Manning don’t hold back a lot of the playbook like they have in recent years because I could see things going awry pretty easily.

 

[CyArob]

This game is going to be very uncomfortable. That's my prediction.

 

[Frak]

I feel like this team is more dialed in than past ISU teams. Definitely more than most of our opponents. We'll see if that translates...

 

[iowastatefan1929]

i was thinking isu wins by 14
leaning now towards Louisiana by 6
might be the best qb we we face all year
and they will run him all day recklessly