This would be my inclination as well. We all want to treat 2020 like it was representative but I'm not sure that's true. We were 5-4 in 2019 and 8-1 in 2020 (in conference). For 2021 I would've split that and said we lose 2 or 3 in the conference. We might still hit that or that might even be a little optimistic.
CMC's records at ISU are:
3-9
8-5
8-5
7-6
9-3
Before 2020 we had clearly settled in at 7-8 wins. I don't think 2020 was ISU suddenly becoming a top 10 team that would hit 9 wins every season. I think we took advantage of some good circumstances... and good for us! But now we're settling back to where we were, 7-8 wins (and "settling" there is fantastic in the context of ISU football).
The idea you propose above seems to be that we should be happy to be habitual 7-5/8-4 team. And on the whole, sure, why not.
But many of us also think that such "settling" could be complemented by a periodic outstanding season. I think that's a reasonable expectation. If you can't occasionally have high hopes, why do this at all?
Problem is, this should have been that year -- senior laden, top tier in the skill positions, positive momentum, etc, etc. If not now, when? Even (and perhaps especially) the coaching staff seemed to be hyping this. That's why our disappointment is reasonable and the whole "perspective" thing rings hollow.