One on One with Matt Campbell: Why the 33-9 bowl loss to Notre Dame helps light the path forward
- Thread starter The Rob Gray
- Start date
Thanks, Rob!
Yes, success in the past was built on seniors. On experienced players. And the 2020 edition will be absolutely loaded with experience, everywhere except the offensive line.
Huh. Given the them of your article, hopefully that doesn’t mean lots of false starts and holding penalties this Fall.
I’ve got faith. And, unlike some, I happen to like Jeff Myers as offensive line coach.
Funny story. Everyone gives credit to CMC and Tom Manning for knowing their way around an OL. But they blithely ignore the fact—especially after the Dave Andrews hiring—that the OL is so crucial that if Myers wasn’t very good, Coach Campbell would have upgraded that coaching slot as well.
After all, both he and Manning know OL coaching. So they can see every day whether he’s any good or not.
Come to think of it, Myers coached Julian Good-Jones into a first team all conference offensive tackle. Put that into your pipe and smoke it for a minute.
Thanks again, Rob!
Yes, success in the past was built on seniors. On experienced players. And the 2020 edition will be absolutely loaded with experience, everywhere except the offensive line.
Huh. Given the them of your article, hopefully that doesn’t mean lots of false starts and holding penalties this Fall.
I’ve got faith. And, unlike some, I happen to like Jeff Myers as offensive line coach.
Funny story. Everyone gives credit to CMC and Tom Manning for knowing their way around an OL. But they blithely ignore the fact—especially after the Dave Andrews hiring—that the OL is so crucial that if Myers wasn’t very good, Coach Campbell would have upgraded that coaching slot as well.
After all, both he and Manning know OL coaching. So they can see every day whether he’s any good or not.
Come to think of it, Myers coached Julian Good-Jones into a first team all conference offensive tackle. Put that into your pipe and smoke it for a minute.
Thanks again, Rob!
“The thing about it is you can go back two years and say, ‘Man, you were able to do some of those things really well with maybe lesser talent, but greater detail,’”
Bingo.
They'll need to get back to that for established success next season.
Even an average football team was more interesting than this winter's dealings so let's get to August and rev up the hype train again.
Bingo.
They'll need to get back to that for established success next season.
Even an average football team was more interesting than this winter's dealings so let's get to August and rev up the hype train again.
I know I'll be in the minority on this most likely, but I think we take another step back next season before possibly moving forward again the season after that.
Offensively, this new OL will be as bad or worse than last year. Just way too inexperienced. And without a good OL, you can throw everything else out the window.
And defensively, we'll be without both Lima and Johnson on the interior. So unless Bankston comes in and is a total beast, teams will be able to run on us all day IMO. Doesn't matter what your DE's are like.... if you can't clog up the middle, teams will just run it all over you.
The two most important position groups in football are the OL and DL. It has been proven since the game was invented that success depends on being able to run the ball and stopping the run. And OL and interior DL will be the two weakest groups on the team. This staff just can't seem to figure that out for whatever reason? They continue to get decent skill position players year after year, but none of that matters if you can't block.
Now rip away and tell me how much better this new OL is going to be, and how the interior DL is going to be better also this year. I'll listen, but it will take some seriously good persuasion skills for me to believe it.
Offensively, this new OL will be as bad or worse than last year. Just way too inexperienced. And without a good OL, you can throw everything else out the window.
And defensively, we'll be without both Lima and Johnson on the interior. So unless Bankston comes in and is a total beast, teams will be able to run on us all day IMO. Doesn't matter what your DE's are like.... if you can't clog up the middle, teams will just run it all over you.
The two most important position groups in football are the OL and DL. It has been proven since the game was invented that success depends on being able to run the ball and stopping the run. And OL and interior DL will be the two weakest groups on the team. This staff just can't seem to figure that out for whatever reason? They continue to get decent skill position players year after year, but none of that matters if you can't block.
Now rip away and tell me how much better this new OL is going to be, and how the interior DL is going to be better also this year. I'll listen, but it will take some seriously good persuasion skills for me to believe it.
I hope I'm wrong obviously. I hope this young inexperienced OL will be better than last year's, and that the interior of the DL will be better without Lima and Johnson. Because if not, then we won't be better than 7-6.
We all thought the MBB team could still be good this year after losing Babb, THT, Wiggi, Shayok, etc.... but what has happened instead?
Nothing good about losing 33-9. Not the extra 4 weeks of practice or whatever the scripted spin is we had to hear from CPR. It would be good if we won more games.
I'm just saying that if you expect them to be bad, you shouldn't ***** when they are bad.
We all hoped the team could still be good. It didn't work out. That's life of a fan.
Based on recruiting data of ISU and our opponents, ISU should be a 5-7 team each year. Right now ISU out recruits KU, 2 non con teams, KSU and Texas Tech. WVU and ISU were starting to get closer on talent level but WVU was still ahead.
ISU has a really good coach that can win with lower talent level. I think CMC will really have to work some magic this season with the OL and DL in the shape it is in to get to 7 wins this year. @clonedude is absolutely right about the lines. DL needs a big time presence up the middle, I hope that guy was recruited. OL needs instant help from a grad transfer.
If ISU wins 8 games this season, CMC should be Big 12 coach of the year no matter what. I am going in with the expectation of 6-6 and hoping 7-5. I have ISU starting out 4-1, beating SD, UNLV, KU and Tech. Losing to OSU and OU. Beat KSU, lose three straight to TCU, Baylor and Texas. Finish the season at home with a win against WVU for bowl eligibility.
ISU has a really good coach that can win with lower talent level. I think CMC will really have to work some magic this season with the OL and DL in the shape it is in to get to 7 wins this year. @clonedude is absolutely right about the lines. DL needs a big time presence up the middle, I hope that guy was recruited. OL needs instant help from a grad transfer.
If ISU wins 8 games this season, CMC should be Big 12 coach of the year no matter what. I am going in with the expectation of 6-6 and hoping 7-5. I have ISU starting out 4-1, beating SD, UNLV, KU and Tech. Losing to OSU and OU. Beat KSU, lose three straight to TCU, Baylor and Texas. Finish the season at home with a win against WVU for bowl eligibility.
You're definition of 'we all' and mine are very different.
I'd bet 'Let's wait to see when the season gets here' is also.
First of all, great feature Rob. It's great to get a sense of how Coach is viewing things. I think his sentiments are authentic even though it sounds like coachspeak to some. As disappointed as I was with the bowl outcome, I would agree there was plenty of fight from the guys and that game could have gotten a lot uglier than it did. I don't know what to expect for the coming season. I share concerns about the O line and will work to keep expectations in check (all bets are off come August though). It's great to have 7-6 as a disappointing season. But the flip side of that is the hope that there is a 9 or 10 win campaign lurking out there somewhere.... hopefully either 2020 or 2021. When it comes, I intend to appreciate it.
I agree with this, but will add that I think the following year can be an 9 win season, once these younger OL get a little more seasoning to go with a higher overall ceiling.
A 9 win season could happen as Purdy will be a senior, it will be all about the OL IMO. If that unit advances (as we've said for the better part of a decade :
I think it can happen...BUT the details need to be taken care of. There will still be a talent gap with most opponents but as I said, CMC is a darn good coach. Winning in Ames won't be easy but CMC has proven he can do it.It is possible that the O-Line could be close to last year. We have a center and guard returning. Hopefully we can find another guard and two tackles that can play up to last year's level. We will have a great group of D Ends. If we can get a little help in the middle the D will be Ok. I am hopeful.
d'accord! Beating Navy @ Liberty would have been better than losing to Notre Dame @ Camping World.
That being said, I am giddy as hell out of the State of the Football Team during the MC Era! I was in school and a young alum season ticket holder during the back-end of the Walden Era ('89-'94 under JW + September of '95 under DM). The End of Walden was awful. Last year was my first full season back as an Iowa State Football Season Ticket holder after 23.5 years in exile, and I enjoyed every single football game in Ames! It's like I jumped from the promise of the start of the DM Era in September '95 to the Modern MC Era! Just pointing out that a disappointing Bowl Game is just a Bad Day in Good Era!
Season Tickets have been renewed. Bring on the Coyotes! Let's Bowl AGAIN!
I’ll be honest, I expect both the OL and DL to be better in 2020 than both were in 2019.
According to Bill Connelly, returning production in the defensive backfield is more important than returning DL. And returning passing production from QB and WR is more important than returning OL. Obviously you need some minimal amount of talent on the lines to be successful, but when it comes to predicting success based on returning talent, it's all about the passing game.
Per the article, ISU returns 62% of offensive production.
ISU returns 73% of defensive production.
Using those numbers alone, we should expect ISU to improve about 4 net ppg next year. Consider also that according to his list we have the third highest total returning production in the Big 12 (behind OSU and Texas, and significantly more than Iowa), and it's looking more like there is potential for a big year next year if we can clean up the mistakes.
Per the article, ISU returns 62% of offensive production.
ISU returns 73% of defensive production.
Using those numbers alone, we should expect ISU to improve about 4 net ppg next year. Consider also that according to his list we have the third highest total returning production in the Big 12 (behind OSU and Texas, and significantly more than Iowa), and it's looking more like there is potential for a big year next year if we can clean up the mistakes.
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I think if this team gets back to fundamentals like CMC is saying they plan to, we could be in for our best season yet. I know people are worried about the lines, but we were worried about our lines in year two as well and had an 8 win season. The talent and depth is better than it has ever been in Ames and if the players buy into getting better at their craft everyday, there is no reason this team can't be the best to ever suit up in the cardinal and gold. Focus and effort win games.
So you thought they would be as bad as they are?
I didn't think they would be this bad, but I definitely thought we were looking at the NIT going into this season. I just know there were a ton of people on here that thought we'd be a NCAA Tourney team again. That was just wishful thinking IMO.
We lost WAY too much and didn't replace it with much of anything. I didn't expect much of anything from Nixon, but was hopeful Bolton would be a better player than he is
