Being a longtime fan, I would be shocked if that happened. We normally tend to under perform in huge games like this. But who knows. Campbell has done a lot of things that nobody else has ever been able to do at ISU, maybe he can pull this off.
This doesn't seem right.
We had 0 big games like this last year.
In 2021 we crushed Kansas, Texas and TCU and beat #7 Oklahoma State.
In 2019 we lost to OSU on homecoming, so there might be one. Later beat Texas though.
In 2018, we lost to #5 Oklahoma after having no offense against Iowa, so I don't think that game qualifies. We crushed #6 West Virginia in a huge game. We beat a 5-2 tech team on homecoming. We crushed Baylor to get bowl eligible and then had an amazing rally to beat KSU in a night game.
In 2017, after stunning Oklahoma on the road, we curb stomp Kansas and beat #4 TCU. We did then lose to #12 Okie State.
So in the Matt Campbell era, there are really only 3 huge home games games where you can say Iowa State underperformed and only 2 were losses. 2019 against Okie State a late pick by Purdy did us in, but it wasn't like we laid an egg. OSU finished 8-4. 2018 against KSU was a win. KSU was an average team and so was Iowa State, so that's not really laying an egg. 2017 against OSU was against a ranked team who finished in the top 20.
In the Matt Campbell era, when looking at 'huge' home games, Iowa State has over performed far more than underperformed.