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AMES, Iowa — Iowa State football players get a short history lesson almost every day from Matt Campbell.
Very short.
“133 years!” the coach might say or shout at practice or during a meeting.
ISU has played 133 seasons and is yet to win an outright conference championship, and Campbell’s message is meant to inspire rather than call to mind more than a century of mostly dismal football on the plains north of Des Moines.
“Why not us be the team to go do it now?” senior receiver Jaylin Noel said.
The Cyclones have won their first five games for the first time since 1980, and a win at West Virginia would make them 6-0 for the first time since 1938.
At No. 11 in The Associated Press Top 25, they have their highest ranking since they opened No. 7 in what turned out be a disappointing 7-6 season in 2021 following their first appearance in the Big 12 championship game.
Campbell calls Iowa State a development program, one where mostly three-star recruits require a year, two or even three to become major contributors.
Consider the Cyclones went 4-8 and won one Big 12 game in 2022 for the worst season since Campbell’s first team went 3-9 in 2016. Last year, they went to a bowl and finished 7-6 in a season in which five projected starters were suspended as a result of a state investigation into sports wagering among college athletes. Nine starters on offense and nine on defense from that team are on the team that’s unbeaten so far.
The Cyclones are winning with a versatile offense led by a steady second-year starter in quarterback Rocco Becht, explosive receivers in Noel and Jayden Higgins, and an improving running game. The defense leads the Big 12 in total yards, passing yards and points allowed despite a run of injuries to linebackers.
Campbell indicated his rallying cry about making history doesn’t conflict with…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/matt-campbell-rallying-cry-no-212538622.html
Author : NBC Sports
Publish date : 2024-10-09 21:25:38
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