Does Campbell really do more with less???

[Blandboy]

More or less true.

 

[FilthyShadow]

Campbell takes good players that fit his culture and blueprint. And makes them better and turns them into great players.

Teams like Texas and Michigan take a collection of great players and can’t figure out how to fully integrate them into their system. So they will always be “good” but rarely great.

Give me Campbell’s approach all day long.

Oh Gawd, that sounds just like the guy in IC.

 

[CloneLawman]

Oh Gawd, that sounds just like the guy in IC.

Except no racism or nepotism as part of the culture.

 

[bozclone]

I think Texas is doing less with more. I think CMC is really good at maximizing the development of his players.

 

[CyclonesForever]

Looks at average recruiting rankings for Iowa State compared to the rest of the conference...

Yes.

 

[Thomasrickj]

That Northwestern comment didn’t age well as they lost to a very bad Michigan State team.

 

[isutrevman]

I believe he does more with less. Recruiting stars is one metric, but if you look at NFL draft picks for Texas and Oklahoma, they clearly have had an “NFL talent” advantage over ISU.

I agree, putting players into the NFL is a better gauge for a program's talent level than computer rankings. Up to this point, we still haven't put many players into the NFL. That should change in the next 2 years hopefully. KState, for example never excelled with recruiting rankings but they were still putting players into the NFL consistently which showed they had talent, they were just JUCO guys or under the radar high school players. Same thing with Iowa. They don't do THAT much better than us in recruiting rankings, but their list of NFL players dwarfs ours. An indicator of Iowa State actually improving their talent level will be increasing the number of players we have in the NFL. Right now I'm guessing we're at the bottom of P5 teams. We need to start having 2-3 players drafted every year, not one player ever 4-5 years like we've been doing.

 

[Carnegie]

Former 1990s Husker player and current radio host Damon Benning asked a talented RB from Northwestern during Big 10 media day (Paraphrasing) "At what point are you tired of Northwestern being labeled as an underdog or overachiever?". The response was "yesterday". Despite Northwestern winning 10 games 3 times the last decade and also posting a 9 win season they are still viewed IMO by a decent amount of people in the Big 10 as overachievers. A Fitz does more with less mantra is prevalent. I don't follow NW closely enough to know a lot about the program and it's moving parts. A hawk fan I know acknowledges that any year they have a good QB, they tend to be a legitimate problem for the Big 10.

As for ISU, Purdy, Hall, Kolar and many defensive players are just as talented as anyone else in the league. How many times have we seen a streak of lightning by the name of Vance, Eisworth, Rose run down some fast skill player from OU/UT in the backfield for a loss or no gain? That's the norm now. Were Butler & Montgomery not as talented as anyone else? They gave ISU a pair of problematic skillsets for DCs around the Big 12, and ISU had a stout defense in 17/18.

I believe that OU, UT, OSU do have somewhat more talented players not seeing the field compared to ISU's depth chart. Quality and/or quantity. Obviously this is not a great Texas team. OU may be finding their stride right now, but they also have played bums the last few weeks. Jury is still out on how good OU is. Regardless of how good or not good those teams are from a historical standpoint, I don't feel like ISU is at a major disadvantage anywhere on the field vs them.

This is not a referendum about Campbell and how he should be winning 10+ games a year without question, or how ISU missed the boat the last couple season by not having a breakout season. But I do feel we should be moving past the narrative of "doing more with less". ISU also has state of the art facilities for player training. The opportunities for greatness at ISU are real and they are now with this roster and staff. Not to say ISU can't be better. I think the main issue is consistency for ISU. ISU seems to play at a high level for a quarter or a half, but often does not have a great game from start to finish. Perhaps something that OU or OSU are more capable of.

If you agree that ISU does more with less, than what is needed to have "equal" with the others at the top?

Very much agree with this line of thought.

Also, seems to me that there are a lot of very good athletes out there who have low star ratings or not ratings at all, after all there can me only a certain percentage of "star" ratings. Iowa State seems to find them.

Note this article which helps explain: https://www.sbnation.com/college-fo...ecruiting-stars-rankings-high-school-football