How Great is 8?

[JRE1975]

Eric said something on the radio pre-game about Since Earl Bruce left in the 70's Iowa State only one winning conference record until after Matt's 1st year. In 8 of the last 9 years we have had a winning conference record.

It is no longer unusual for us to have a winning road record.

I have not gone to a football game in the last 9 years where I went thinking we were going to get blown out!

When a top 10 comes into town, I now expect us to win, because we do it often enough to have fun!

I am very pleased that with all the injuries the last 2 years that we have 20 wins. Would I like to have more? Did I complain a lot with my friends about play calling, drops, and missed tackles? Yes, I did, but in the 48 years I have been buying season tickets, the last 9 years have been the promised land and I hope it continues.

 

[jbhtexas]

7 to 8 wins should be the floor, I have been a fan since the 70s, and those days are long gone. The sport and the conference has changed so much over the last decade that you just cannot compare where we were then to where we are now. Campbell must sit down with the staff after the season and talk about the number of injuries we have had the past couple of years, is it unavoidable, bad luck or something in our conditioning program. Same thing with the special teams errors that we keep making, is it lack of prep, do we need to hire a full time special teams coach or what. But with a team that is not going to out athlete most teams on the schedule we cannot continue to have special team miscues.

8 wins was nice, but to me at least this is one of those seasons we left another win or two out on the field, and need to fix those problems.

Yeah, the comparisons to the past are now basically apples to oranges affairs that are of little use for providing any kind of guidelines for ISU FB program expectations.

There are no more bluebloods in the Big 12. There are no more UT and OU with AD budgets twice that of the other schools. 4 of the current Big 12 schools weren't in a power conference just a few years ago. There is no more full round robin schedule where you have to play the bluebloods and the peaking programs every year.

There is no team in the conference that has FB facilities superior to any of the others. 5-4 conference record isn't nearly impressive as it used to be, and frankly should now be the floor.

The injury-riddled ISU defense finishes 5th in the conference for scoring defense. That is an awesome job by Heacok, the kids, and the other coaches in that unit.

The offense finishes 11th in conference in scoring offense, 2 TDs below the top two teams. Seems that 11th place is rather low, particularly in an established program with a Jr QB and experienced OL. I guess we'll see if anything is done to address this.

 

[Pizzapitter]

The day-year I fail to feel bad about an ISU 8-9 win season...the day I need to see a therapist.
Some of you, haven't been around long enough.
Now, let's proceed with what bowl we attend.
Let the ******** begin!
Jfc...........

 

[fsanford]

Mediocre, which this fan base keeps lapping up.

You had a rough week Clones win and Campbell not moving on.

Sucks to be you I guess

 

[isufbcurt]

Mediocre, which this fan base keeps lapping up.

Mediocre lol. Campbell has brought ISU FB to places that we've dreamed of. No other coach in ISU's history has done what he has.

 

[fsanford]

So I have lived though so many terrible seasons (born 1966 and ISU graduate in 1988). My wife and I were chatting about how an 8-win season would have felt when we were seniors in 1987 (3-8 season for football). Yet we both feel excited and disappointed with this year's 8-4 team. Should we feel 8-4 is the floor or is 8-4 an acceptable season with a 10-2 season once every five years or so about all we can ever expect at ISU? By the way, I fully applaud this year's team on eight wins.

Ovechkin is pretty damn awesome, oh you mean football..

 

[AlCyJim]

Just a touch older than you, 8 is a darn good season. I'm probably the exception on the board where I'm happy with good results in the major sports with out breaking the bank. ISU is really fortunate that we seem to do really well with less. As long as we are respectable in sports I'm happy. Someday I'd like to see us win a Natty personally I think that best chance at this moment is MBB. But I'm enjoying the high tide of Cyclone athletics.

started in 77 so some good teams but also have seen some bad and hoped for 3 or 4 wins.

 

[Pizzapitter]

Hey Kiddo's.
LSU. 7-5.
Clemson. 7-5. (I go on n on...).
But hey, we got waaay deeper pockets than them!

 

[twincyties]

I see both sides to this discussion.

For those of us who have been fans for 40+ years it’s really hard to erase those memories. Does it mean we don’t want to compete for conference titles and CFP births? No. It just means there is perspective there as a fan that you can’t totally shake.

On the other hand we’ve come a long way from that and have set new expectations. Operating with the attitude that 8 wins is great is guaranteed to not keep you there in today’s landscape.

i think part of the frustration this year were the bad losses. If we exceeded all expectations and won a couple games we weren’t supposed to get to 8 it probably feels a lot different. It’s very easy to look at this team after a 5-0 start and see 10 wins.

Not sure about others but that’s why 8 doesn’t feel great to me this year. At the same time, I can sit here and enjoy the fact I’m complaining about 8 wins when getting to 6 was a big deal for most of my nearly 5 decades cheering for th Cyclones.

 

[Erik4Cy]

The Strive for Nine is still alive folks!

And we ain't talking whatever Nine this is.

 

[Pizzapitter]

If only, we had a strong men and women's bb teams, + a strong wrestling team....lmfao...
You youthful veggies, drive me F-ing nuts

 

[cstrunk]

The only reason disappointment creeps into the conversation about this season is because we started 5-0 before losing 4 straight, injuries mounted up, and we lost a couple games that we still should have won. Some of that is out of our control. Like others said, yeah there were plenty of missed calls/drops/tackles. But we finished winning 3 straight games with two on the road.

8-4 (5-4) with wins over Iowa and KSU and a chance at 9 wins is a great season overall. Even if we finish 8-5, still good. NIL portal pending, I still think we'll have a good team next year that will have potential to challenge for a Big 12 Championship berth. Maybe we'll stay healthy for once and more balls will bounce our way.

 

[CycloneSpinning]

What a kick to the nads that Colorado loss is. Much different feeling playing for 10 wins than 9.

Yes it was. Win that game and the season does feel much different.

On the other hand, I would say it was an unbelievable job of righting the ship after the four losses. I thought there was no way we were going to win the TCU game. The defense really turned it around, and for that reason, I think 8 (with a shot at 9) feels pretty good.

 

[twincyties]

I don’t know what was more disappointing. Losing a terrible CU team, losing st home to a severely undermanned ASU team at home, or getting destroyed in the second half by BYU after a great start to that game.

 

[Freebird]

We are getting to be a spoiled fanbase with football, men’s and women’s basketball and wrestling. Who would you trade places with? I wouldn’t trade with anyone.

 

[isucy86]

I was looking at all the Conference standings and it is amazing the fine line between let's say 8 & 10 wins over a season.

7 to 8 wins should be the floor, I have been a fan since the 70s, and those days are long gone. The sport and the conference has changed so much over the last decade that you just cannot compare where we were then to where we are now. Campbell must sit down with the staff after the season and talk about the number of injuries we have had the past couple of years, is it unavoidable, bad luck or something in our conditioning program. Same thing with the special teams errors that we keep making, is it lack of prep, do we need to hire a full time special teams coach or what. But with a team that is not going to out athlete most teams on the schedule we cannot continue to have special team miscues.

8 wins was nice, but to me at least this is one of those seasons we left another win or two out on the field, and need to fix those problems.

Logically, I agree. ISU can take that next step. Just find the right coach (LEADER). Matt Campbell is the road map.

But...

1. Iowa State is located in a state that produces only a couple 4-star+ athletes a year and around 8-10 P4 level scholarship recruits.
2. The differences between being average & great can be thin. That's why Matt Campbell talks about winning in margins. Look at teams like Texas, Oklahoma, Houston, Virginia- they've only outscored Conference opponents by 20-30 points over 8/9 games.

A team like ISU is going to have 4-6 games decided by less than a TD. So a fine line between a 4 vs. 9 win season.

 

[1SEIACLONE]

I was looking at all the Conference standings and it is amazing the fine line between let's say 8 & 10 wins over a season.

Logically, I agree. ISU can take that next step. Just find the right coach (LEADER). Matt Campbell is the road map.

But...

1. Iowa State is located in a state that produces only a couple 4-star+ athletes a year and around 8-10 P4 level scholarship recruits.
2. The differences between being average & great can be thin. That's why Matt Campbell talks about winning in margins. Look at teams like Texas, Oklahoma, Houston, Virginia- they've only outscored Conference opponents by 20-30 points over 8/9 games.

A team like ISU is going to have 4-6 games decided by less than a TD. So a fine line between a 4 vs. 9 win season.

I said at the start of the season, that this team will go as far as Rocco would take us, and I think that is the way it turned out. When he was on, there is not a team in the conference that we could not beat, but when he struggled, we struggled to put up points on anyone. Throw in the defense struggling in games at Cincinnati and BYU, special team mistakes and injuries it was nice to get to 8 wins. But there was no reason to lose to Colorado. They only won one conference game all year, win that and we are sitting here today with nine wins.
Going forward there is no reason ISU cannot be in the mix for the conference championship every year, not win it, but be in the mix. It will all depend on the QB play.

 

[isucy86]

I said at the start of the season, that this team will go as far as Rocco would take us, and I think that is the way it turned out. When he was on, there is not a team in the conference that we could not beat, but when he struggled, we struggled to put up points on anyone. Throw in the defense struggling in games at Cincinnati and BYU, special team mistakes and injuries it was nice to get to 8 wins. But there was no reason to lose to Colorado. They only won one conference game all year, win that and we are sitting here today with nine wins.
Going forward there is no reason ISU cannot be in the mix for the conference championship every year, not win it, but be in the mix. It will all depend on the QB play.

Totally agree, the Big12 is wide open.

QB is always the key to an offense along with average+ OL & WR groups. This year I feel our WR group was average-. And I still think our OL needs to get better.

But if ISU wants to be a 9-10 win team, the defense needs to take the next step. Instead of giving up 23ppg in Big 12 play, can that get down to 175ish? IMO that comes down to a defense that sacks & pressures the QB more. And getting more athletic at LB. Feel like we are lacking an Alvin Bowen type athlete in that group.

 

[12191987]

“******** programs care about 8-4” is a quote reserved for athletic directors ready to pay $50M to make a coach go away.

Edit: ******** fan sites censor the word ********.

 

[madguy30]

If we win our bowl game that is 9 wins. We won 11 games last season.

20 wins in a 2 year period is freakin' awesome for ISU (and quite honestly the vast majority of CFB teams) no matter what anyone says.

We are getting to be a spoiled fanbase with football, men’s and women’s basketball and wrestling. Who would you trade places with? I wouldn’t trade with anyone.

There's a lot of programs that aren't doing well after coaching changes in addition to NIL stuff and instead of 'what happened to that program?' for ISU you can say 'well, they're still pretty good to very good'.