Mt Union was the first D3 school to seek out D one transfers. For example they would get a senior or 5th year senior from Pitt that wasn’t going to crack the 2 deeps. They were not a legitimate D3 team, they would take the field with some D1 guys, and back then none of the other D3s had that. They had a major talent advantage. That doesn’t mean Campbell didn’t learn good X’s and O’s there and good football strategy, I can’t speak to that.
Has the Rot Started to Set In?
- Thread starter Gunnerclone
- Start date
We lost our starting QB, starting running back, starting TE, starting offensive lineman, and key defensive lineman and I still think we can go to a bowl game.
Our offense needs work and it must get better. If it does not, that is on Matt Campbell. But to have us in a position to recover from these losses and still have a successful season is a sign of the talent upgrade he’s done here.
7th in 2023. 9th for 2024
2024 Recruit Big-12 Football Team Rankings
In order to create the most comprehensive Team Recruiting Ranking without any notion of bias, 247Sports Team Recruiting Ranking is solely based on the 247Sports Composite Rating.247sports.com
2023 Overall Big-12 Football Team Rankings
In order to create the most comprehensive Team Recruiting Ranking without any notion of bias, 247Sports Team Recruiting Ranking is solely based on the 247Sports Composite Rating.
247sports.com
2024 Overall Big-12 Football Team Rankings
In order to create the most comprehensive Team Recruiting Ranking without any notion of bias, 247Sports Team Recruiting Ranking is solely based on the 247Sports Composite Rating.
247sports.com
What am I missing here?
At the top there is a drop-down for Overall, Transfer, or Recruit. Because of the transfer portal some schools are taking fewer high school recruits.2023 Overall Big-12 Football Team Rankings
In order to create the most comprehensive Team Recruiting Ranking without any notion of bias, 247Sports Team Recruiting Ranking is solely based on the 247Sports Composite Rating.
2024 Overall Big-12 Football Team Rankings
In order to create the most comprehensive Team Recruiting Ranking without any notion of bias, 247Sports Team Recruiting Ranking is solely based on the 247Sports Composite Rating.
What am I missing here?
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I mostly agree, but partly disagree. And that's only because its year 7 and I hear on podcasts and from fans well, we didn't play that bad etc.. year 7 and we're talking moral victories.
Yes. We're Iowa State. Yes, we're a young team. Granted. Noted. Appreciated. I don't have any aspirations to being a perennial Big 12 title game contender. Hell, if you could guarantee 7-5 with a chance of winning an 7-5 and either 8-5 or 7-6 after a bowl game I'd take that in a heart beat.
But it still is hard to swallow in year 7 to hear the head coach say in a game he's now 1-6 in, that we played the best we have since he's been here. To see next to no development on offense when the defense seems to be light years ahead in terms of evaluation, recruitment and development.
Rot might be the wrong phrase but at the same time I think there's something. IDK what... but I do think there's something. 4-5 years ago even though we weren't setting the world on fire I walked into every Saturday believing we had a chance offensively and defensively and could beat / compete with anyone.
The last 2-3 years I've felt like unless the defense holds people down, we can't win. Which is , OK, in a sense as some teams are notably stronger on one side of the ball than the other. Iowa being a perfect example. It just... it feels like the ceiling's lower. Maybe its more accurate to just think 6-6 as good as it gets at Iowa State. But 4-5 years ago I was in heaven as a fan because it felt like 7-8 regular season wins was at least POSSIBLE, maybe not likely, but POSSIBLE.
I will be incredibly happy to be wrong but getting to a bowl I see as incredibly difficult from what I've seen. Yes, execution will hopefully get better. But you won't get faster or noticeably faster during the season. Or a stronger arm or more explosive. A 4.6 generally doesn't run a 4.4 or 4.3 by season's end. If anything the wear and tear of a season tends to slow you down. So based on a lack of explositivity and ability to create big plays offensively, we're going to have to win 13-10. 10-7. And that's incredibly hard to duplicate well enough to win a minimum of 5 more games. Because the margin of error is razor thin when a game plays out that way. When you score 28 points and give up 27, still a thin margin of error, but you can win 28-27 or you can win 13-10. Right now, I don't feel like we can beat someone 28-27. We feel like a one trick pony.
Yes, we're Iowa State. We're very unlikely to be a college power in football. But Kansas, Duke, Colorado, Oregon State, Washington State, Wake Forest, Kansas State's winning again, etc... all these places are winning. None of them are football powers. All of them have their own limitations and hinderances to winning football games.
Again. Maybe all that's happened is the return to the norm and the mean. Maybe we overachieved for a time and now we're back to where we should be. IDK. But the hope I had for a brighter future for Iowa state football, at least, is fading. And its being replaced with, not apathy, but lowered expectations and less of an ability to get truly excited or upset. So on the road to apathy. But that's just me. And like it or hate that is my honest opinion of where I'm at.
If you want to blame anyone for kids being stupid, it's the compliance people, not the HC.
Hint: It's also not the compliance people's fault. You can't monitor everyone, every minute.
People seem to forget that Clanton and the special teams coach have only been here for 6 months. A good line and special teams along with continued defensive success, would make the way Campbell wants to play very successful.
You can say he waited a season too long but he did make the changes to improve in those areas.
You can say he waited a season too long but he did make the changes to improve in those areas.
Worse than that I believe.
Old Coach Campbell got forced to make a change, probably due to fan dissatisfaction.
Control freaks HATE being forced to do, well, anything.
So old Matt simply played the shell game on ISU's fans, aka the suckers.
You probably did nail the last part though.
He'll take the whole program down just trying to prove himself right.
I watched this last night because it gave me the warm fuzzies --
There were a few things I noticed about the memorable upset wins early in Campbell's tenure.
This doesn't count anything the past few seasons (I think it ends with the 2019 season before the 2020 COVID blowout) and is hardly some groundbreaking analysis, but a few things I noticed were...
-- The defense generated a high number of critical turnovers. It doesn't feel like the Heacock defenses, as lauded as they are, seem to generate nearly as many turnovers as they once did.
-- The offense had some dudes on it and usually more than one -- guys who are now in the NFL and frankly are always going to be difficult for college-level defensive talent to cover flawlessly. RBs like Montgomery and Hall, receivers like Lazard and Butler, TEs like Kolar, and of course Purdy at QB.
The team isn't creating turnovers like it once was and doesn't have any star power on offense. Obviously both of these can be traced back to the CEO, but those were just the noticeable differences I saw.
There were a few things I noticed about the memorable upset wins early in Campbell's tenure.
This doesn't count anything the past few seasons (I think it ends with the 2019 season before the 2020 COVID blowout) and is hardly some groundbreaking analysis, but a few things I noticed were...
-- The defense generated a high number of critical turnovers. It doesn't feel like the Heacock defenses, as lauded as they are, seem to generate nearly as many turnovers as they once did.
-- The offense had some dudes on it and usually more than one -- guys who are now in the NFL and frankly are always going to be difficult for college-level defensive talent to cover flawlessly. RBs like Montgomery and Hall, receivers like Lazard and Butler, TEs like Kolar, and of course Purdy at QB.
The team isn't creating turnovers like it once was and doesn't have any star power on offense. Obviously both of these can be traced back to the CEO, but those were just the noticeable differences I saw.
It seems like this year we are creating more turnovers but maybe that is just being skewed by Cooper. That is one thing I think that if you nitpick you could be critical of Heacocks defense. Been great at not giving up points and yards but haven't forced a lot of turnovers and setup our offense for easy scores. Combine that with poor STs and we aren't making it easier for our weaker unit. STs seems to be improved this year so we will see how that goes. Again that's being super nitpicky on an elite unit
I don't think it is nitpicky to assert (and perhaps correctly or not I'm not sure what the metrics are for this) that a defense can look good on total yardage and yards per play but ultimately not contribute to eventual victory as much as it might because it isn't generating high-leverage plays (defensive scores, turnovers leading to easy scores/short fields for the offense, morale and crowd boost of a big turnover, etc.). "Bend but don't break" is fine but plenty of excellent defenses planted their flag on generating critical turnovers.
The defense can’t take chances because the offense is so bad. Any kind of mistake like whiffing on a pick that leads to a wide open field for a touchdown is almost game over at this point.
That seems right regarding critical turnovers, but the data doesn't show a clear trend for turnovers overall.
Fumbles and interceptions forced per game by Iowa State's defense
2017: 0.6 fumbles, 0.9 interceptions
2018: 0.6 fumbles, 0.6 interceptions
2019: 0.5 fumbles, 0.5 interceptions
2020: 0.7 fumbles, 0.8 interceptions
2021: 0.3 fumbles, 0.8 interceptions
2022: 0.7 fumbles, 0.6 interceptions
2023: 0 fumbles, 1.5 interceptions
If I go out and get a DUI tomorrow I’m in real jeopardy of losing my job (we drive periodically for projects and have to be insurable). Should my manager be fired as well?
JFC he can't control what these guys did on their personal phones. The only thing the staff can di is inform and educate and that 100% took place. This is a really miserable take.
ISU's been low on turnovers forced/obtained rankings lately. They limit teams but do not disrupt them.
And when it does happen I don't recall a lot of 'go for the jugular' type approaches on offense after the change.
After the change you try for an explosive play to keep the opponent scrambling and I swear ISU has gone with the 2-3 shifts, bleed the play clock down dive off tackle on that first down several times.
The same goes for the first play after chunk yardage.
Repeating but it's the football version of calling an ISU time out after a dunk sets off the Hilton crowd.
On the reverse side, offensive turnovers per game:
2017: 0.1 fumbles, 0.7 interceptions
2018: 0.8 fumbles, 0.7 interceptions
2019: 0.5 fumbles, 0.7 interceptions
2020: 0.4 fumbles, 0.8 interceptions
2021: 0.4 fumbles, 0.7 interceptions
2022: 0.6 fumbles, 1.3 interceptions
2023: 0 fumbles, 0.5 interceptions
Another stat I noticed, addressing the failure to "win in the margins":
From 2017-2021, every year except 2020 averaged fewer than 5 penalties and 40 penalty yards per game (2020 was 5.1 penalties and 42.6 penalty yards per game). In 2022, those numbers were up to 5.6 penalties and 46.1 penalty yards per game.
I know everyone wants to take away the red flags from the Iowa game. But to me, thus far Becht has shown that he's a generally good decision-maker who is likely to keep turnovers significantly lower than last season. And while penalties were high in the UNI game (some weird calls, though), Iowa State only had 2 penalties for 24 yards against Iowa.
It's tough to enjoy college ball when your team is losing *and* playing borderline unwatchable style while doing it
