I'm going to add two things to the conversation that will seemingly contradict each other.
First, our schedule is actually pretty favorable this year for once. A lot of new coaches around the league, nice bye week timings, and home/away match ups. I could see us finishing with 10 wins including the bowl game.
With that said, Campbell continually preaches the Process, and I don't think a lot of fans understand what he really means by it--and thats okay. Everything in that last paragraph has nothing to do with the process. Injuries, fumbling away a game or two, having off nights, hoping other teams have down years... none of that is part of the process.
The process is about improving and developing our own team. Is Iowa State getting better? We could go 6-6 next year and still be on track if our team believes in the process. We could go 10-2 and be off track if our team stopped believing in the process.
The truth is, winning and losing isn't a part of the process.
Rhoads stole a lot of wins early in his career that got everyone excited, but it became pretty clear by 2013 his teams weren't built on any solid foundation. We weren't building depth or a culture that would facilitate winning for years to come. Campbell is clearly doing that.
So with that said, we could win anywhere from 6 to 11 games this year but realistically our program isn't a house of cards. We're going to be even better in 2020 and thereafter so as fans we can just enjoy the ride. As long as Campbell is here we're going to be really good with a punchers chance at the conference championship each year depending on how our team responds, which way the ball bounces, etc.
