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COLUMN: My macro takeaways from Iowa State's time in Dallas

ChrisMWilliams

ChrisMWilliams

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Apr 10, 2006
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WILLIAMS: My Iowa State macro takeaways from Big 12 media days - Cyclone Fanatic

ARLINGTON, Texas — What an odd couple of days in the “Big D.” Here we are, about to (somehow) enter Iowa State’s eighth season under Matt Campbell (notable that he’s aging significantly better than your’s truly), and hardly anybody wanted to talk about football with the Cyclones at the Big 12’s...
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"Gone are the days when one or two reporters would want to talk to Iowa State’s head man."

Are they really? I've only interviews of the players and / or CMC I've been able to find are from CF or the Register.
 
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Daserop said:
"Gone are the days when one or two reporters would want to talk to Iowa State’s head man."

Are they really? I've only interviews of the players and / or CMC I've been able to find are from CF or the Register.
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What are they to report on? Campbell is a master of talking at length without actually saying anything at all.
 
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nfrine said:
"It is incredibly important to remember how many close games this program lost last season."

Kinda' hard to forget actually...
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I actually think people did forget and act like the whole season was a total 2003 style disaster.

They weren't very good for sure but they at least competed with exception really to the TCU game.
 
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Cyinthenorth said:
Yeah, I would love to sit in a room with both Campbell and Royce White and see who could say the most nonsense before my brain imploded.
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Well I don’t think Matt would talk about the length of his dong so I feel like we know the winner.
 
My expectations for this season have run the gamut. My brain said 5-7 wins would be logical. But we're ISU, so I settled on 4. Then the gambling allegations hit and I became extremely bearish. On my worst day, I was thinking 1-2 wins.

Now, I have no idea what to think. As CW pointed out, we lost A LOT of close games last year, despite our O being monumentally bad. The O simply couldn't be any worse than last year, no matter who is taking the snaps, could it?

Dammit. Here I go, getting my hopes up yet again.
 
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ruxCYtable said:
My expectations for this season have run the gamut. My brain said 5-7 wins would be logical. But we're ISU, so I settled on 4. Then the gambling allegations hit and I became extremely bearish. On my worst day, I was thinking 1-2 wins.

Now, I have no idea what to think. As CW pointed out, we lost A LOT of close games last year, despite our O being monumentally bad. The O simply couldn't be any worse than last year, no matter who is at the helm, could it?

Dammit. Here I go, getting my hopes up yet again.
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ruxCYtable said:
My expectations for this season have run the gamut. My brain said 5-7 wins would be logical. But we're ISU, so I settled on 4. Then the gambling allegations hit and I became extremely bearish. On my worst day, I was thinking 1-2 wins.

Now, I have no idea what to think. As CW pointed out, we lost A LOT of close games last year, despite our O being monumentally bad. The O simply couldn't be any worse than last year, no matter who is at the helm, could it?

Dammit. Here I go, getting my hopes up yet again.
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Absolutely it could be.
 
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nfrine said:
"It is incredibly important to remember how many close games this program lost last season."

Kinda' hard to forget actually...
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The three things I really want to see this year are: more offensive creativity, better game management by Campbell and his staff (clock management, TO usage, short yardage play calling), and competent specials teams.

Campbell's been great, but this team loses a LOT of games from being it's own worst enemy. You can't control the quality of your opponent and (to a degree) the talent disparity on the field (for or against), but you CAN control how well you maximize what you have. The offense lacked sensible protection schemes (when DEs can angle straight at your QB and be in his face in < 2 seconds that's a big ******* problem), routing trees, and hot routes when Dekkers was repeatedly pressured. The Oline wasn't very good but we made absolutely no adjustments (TE chips, more protection, misdirection/creativity) and became relatively easy to defend. Our STs have been a complete joke under Campbell, and his our inability to speed things up (clock management), not waste TOs (has there ever been a team that struggles getting plays in on time like we do), and run better short yardage plays (we are atrocious in 3rd/4th and shorts) are glaring weaknesses.

I want the team do "do well" but even more than that I want Campbell to consistently make teams beat us on the field rather than this team beating itself. Why? Once a coach/staff demonstrates those abilities they tend to carry over year after year. I'm tired of watching the team lose games due to things they could/should have control over.
 
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ZRF said:
This. Look no further than the horrid history of ISU's special teams and how fans (including me) have said "they can't possibly be any worse, right?"

Can't even count the number times I've ate my words there (this year/this coach/this team/blah blah blah).
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Yeah, I mean anyone who thinks the offense couldn't be any worse must not have been around in '03 or experienced or at least not been sober for the last several years of the Rhoads tenure. Good God we have definitely seen worse offenses than we saw out on the field last year. And this year we likely start out with a QB that has next to no experience at this level of football (Becht), if any at all (Kohl). We likely don't start the season with our RB1 (Brock) and obviously X isn't around to catch 100 passes this year. I am extremely nervous about the offense this year and feel like it could be a long season. I will watch either way, but my expectations for this team are as low as getting back to 4 wins being somewhat of a success story, depending on how bad the sports betting penalties are.
 
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madguy30 said:
Getting the ball what, 2, 3 times at midfield in waning moments of the game is a dream scenario for most teams. ISU found a way to turn it into a nightmare.
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Enter Manning.... the master of blowing offensive chances.
 
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