Williams Blog: Tulsa is favored huh?

So yesterday afternoon, I was a guest on 1460 KXNO’s Miller & Brinson Show for the first time regarding the 2012 Iowa State football campaign.

During this 10 minute interview, we shockingly didn’t talk about Iowa State’s quarterback competition. We didn’t discuss Iowa State’s new offensive coordinator Courtney Messingham either. No, yesterday’s hot topic was none other than the Tulsa Golden Hurricane being an early off-shore favorite (two or three points depending on where you look) vs. the Cyclones in Jack Trice Stadium on Sept. 1.

If you haven’t seen it yet, CLICK HERE to view/and/or participate in a thread about this topic on our forums.

Just relax Cyclone Nation.

Should Iowa State feel a little bit jaded by this? Absolutely. According to these off-shore oddsmakers, a Conference USA team with (former Nebraska signal-caller) Cody Green as its quarterback is favored to win in a Big 12 stadium over a bowl team from a year ago.

But this is Iowa State we’re talking about here folks. Bowl team, yes. But a 6-6 bowl team at that. I’m not diminishing what  Paul Rhoads has done in three years. It’s remarkable. But on a national scale, a Tulsa program that went 8-4 last season and 35-17 the four years prior is just as big, if not a bigger “name” than Iowa State.

Consider this: That Tulsa is 1-17 on the road vs. BCS schools since the year 1997. The Golden Hurricane are 4-18 in road openers.

The Cyclones are all-in. This is a hard hat type of a program that Paul Rhoads is building. It’s blue-collar. This isn’t just talk because we’ve seen this mindset pay off over the years. These Cyclones thrive off of being the dog. Right Mike Gundy?

Every player on Iowa State’s roster came to Ames knowing that in a rich Big 12 Conference, the deck would constantly be stacked against them. The Cyclone Nation is about to venture into year four under Rhoads with what he’s referred to as his most talented team at Iowa State.

The Cyclones are perennial underdogs. It’s a group with a chip on its shoulder that is being led by one of the best motivating head coaches in America.

Iowa State is an underdog. What’s new? With a grueling fall camp ahead of this team, in this scenario, is a little extra motivation really a bad thing?

I. Think. Not.