Big 12 College Football Team Preview 2024 Iowa State Cyclones

As a result of yet another NCAA investigation involving football players from the Cyclone and alleged gambling issues, the Cyclones were in big trouble. Their QB and multiple other starters were suspended for the season in July, pending the investigation. This was a harsh blow bearing in mind that major shake up in any team particularly before the start of the season is never a pleasant experience. Iowa State was staggering and the manner would have given the team death had it not been for the bold shots of the Cyclones.

Or, so they were supposed to be: Nonetheless, it is notable that throughout this pathologisation of human emotional experience, there is never any reference made to the ‘more positive’ light that cultural psychiatry purports to shed on human suffering.

Instead the Cyclones had a 7-6 record and they were in a bowl game that is a screenshot for the program. By all accounts the season was good, if nothing else, it was good when given the hand they were dealt. Last year camped brought success to Iowa State and this year Campbell looks to bring the team back into the national championship. However, can the Cyclones make a better year of it now that the secret is out of the bag?

History of Iowa State’s Football<Football is among the most beloved sports in the United States of America which is entertaining fans across the United States from the early days of the twentieth century.

For a team that was founded in 1895, one expects to see much less in Iowa State’s records. Individually, they had entered the AP Poll only once in between the formation of this particular poll in 1936 and 1975. Here, the author is stating that in many cases, even if Iowa State was moderately successful in the 1970s, the team only ended the season ranked once. As for the Cyclones, they’ve ranked only three times, for the whole year, with the most recent time in 2020, adjusting for COVID.

Current head-coach Matt Campbell has taken ISU to more successful heights the program has ever achieved in it’s history. He achieved the rank within the CFP poll twice in eight years and took the Cyclones to the six bowls – similar to the prior 13 seasons. Campbell enters his ninth year in Ames and that makes him the second most tenured ISU coach of all time, two seasons more and he gets the title.

The current record holder Clay Stapleton (Wyoming ’58-’67) had six seasons with losers during the total tenure of ten years.

Iowa State was a creation of the big 12 (big 6, 7&8 members) formattering the competition in 1928. Before that the Cyclones participated in the Missouri Valley Conference or MVIAA and the first ten years of its independence.

2023: Shock and Awe

As it seems, this Rocco Becht kid we have here is good. The true freshmen was given a starting position from the get go and passed for more than three thousand yards for twenty-three touchdowns and eight interceptions. The receiving corps posed as a real contender with Jaylin Noel and Jayden Higgins in the team. However, a leaky line gave too many inauspicious stuffs, and a primitive rush attack.

That is until Abu Sama III came into the scenario. Like Sills, Sama was a true freshman and did not really get much of a chance until the final game of the regular season, or ‘Farmageddon’ against Kansas State. In a blinding snowstorm the freshman reeled off to an utterly laughable 273 yards and three touchdowns in only 16 attempts. About a month ago, Sama opened for 110 yards on the ground against BYU. Two games out of the total 15 games a player plays through out a season represented 63% of his total yardage for the season.

There were major accomplishments of overcoming Oklahoma State, Kansas State, and TCU only to have the Cyclones loose to Ohio 10-7. In losses, Iowa State produced only 15. Shooting free throws : 4. 67 points per game; In wins, 39. 7! The year was ended with a 36-36 tie with Memphis in the Liberty Bowl.

Offensive Breakdown of Iowa State Cyclones

It is worth adding that no team in the nation has a higher return of production than Iowa State. After going through the specifics of the last year’s team, having a starting qb, rb, and right guard all being true freshmen make the team rather young. Of the starters on the offense side, two were linemen, one was a receptor and the other was a center all which were true sophomores. Thus, with no NFL-eligible contributors, as such, in the squad, Iowa State basically rolls it back to 2024.

Becht was very good for a starter given the little time that he had to prepare on the field. Slotted it down to drops, Becht succeeded in completing 72 percent of the passes. Only ten throws were considered turnover worthy by PFF, while Becht was rather conservative with an average depth of eight yards on the throws.

Sama should get most of the carries behind an O-Line that is far more experienced than the one that the Cougars had last season. Nine teams were worse at blowing a blocking assignment than Iowa State per Dr. Parker Fleming on Twitter (@statsowar) whose team, unenviably, blew an assignment on nearly every sixth play.

That line comes back essentially in tact, returning four ISU starters from a season ago and picking up returning veteran left tackle Jalen Travis from Princeton. Opener upward's James Neal transitions into guard, a more appropriate role after the up and coming junior yielded 16 QB pressures in 2023. Tyler Miller starting as the right tackle is all-conference.

Arguably, more interesting is the receiving corps this year. Higgins (983 yards) and Noel (820 yards) are part of the four main receivers from the last season, which scored 6 and 7 touchdowns correspondingly. Towards the season’s end Iowa State picked North Dakota State’s Eli Green and Army’s deep threat Isaiah Alston. By year-end, this unit may be the best and possibly the deepest in the Big 12 – not a designation handed out frivolously.

Meeting the Iowa State Cyclones Defense

Last year, the offense of Iowa State lost some NFL players which consequently affected the expected defense of the team. It declined from being ranked 19th in PPD allowed to a still reasonable 42nd. Thus, seven out of seven victories, Iowa State allowed their opponents to score not more than 20 points per game. Nevertheless, the Cyclones did allow 50 points for Oklahoma and 36 points in the bowl game to Memphis.

Eight of last year’s unit are back and they are APEX Beau Freyler. An all-everything candidate His 107 tackles were tops on the team and ranked second in the Big 12 and he added three interceptions. Safety Jeremiah Cooper intercepted the ball five times, broke up 10 passes and was an All-American honorable mention. As it stands only three players, who combined for more than 14 tackles, are leaving.

Secondary coach/tight end Jon Heacock has also been a part of Campbell for all eight years and is back for a ninth. Since 2017, Heacock tasked to lead the Iowa State with an average PPD finish of 24. 3 nationally. Assuming that facilities are back to status quo, this year marks that the Cyclones should be a fringe top-25 stop unit –assuming their talent returns.

At a minimum, one has to expect Iowa State to have at least three all-conference caliber defenders on its roster.

In the best case scenario, Iowa State would be the surprise team in the Big 12 conference playoffs.

You can see that there is loads of talent in this team. Campbell faces this year at a place which has traditionally been a challenge to embarrass and renews the services of his DC, Heacock. While a prominent star in OC Nate Scheelhaase disappears, Campbell was able to hire from within a longtime assistant Taylor Mouser. This offense should resemble and function similarly to the one that was in place during Scheelhaase’s time.

Other than a road date with arch-rival Iowa, the year begins fairly well for the Cyclones. They entertain FCS North Dakota, and Arkansas State and Baylor at home before a road game at Houston. Not only is a 4-1 start possible, but it is conventional wisdom in Columbia, Missouri.

That is, running back the same roster with some improvements like the WR Green and the OT Travis should give the same results. ISU strands Oklahoma and Texas from the schedule after beating them both last year as the two head to the SEC.

A good passing game combined with an electrifying back, if they manage to upgrade their previously questionable O-line instantly. If a couple plays bounce their way and the Cyclones are able to pull off at least one upset, Iowa State could be sitting at 8-4 come Bowl Season.

IOWA— STATE UNIVERSITY WORST CASE SCENARIO

That is why, despite as much talent as Iowa State does have, two significant obstacles can potentially ruin this whole season. First, the offensive line. If that unit does not improve ten fold then they will be citing more 10-7 and 20-13 type losses as the Cyclones this year that may likely be more than they wanted.

The other challenge that is worth addressing is the aspect of scheduling concerning the work. Although the initial 6 weeks are rather laid-back, things begin to heat up around week 6. The Cyclones travel to West Virginia – yes they are 4-1 in their last five games against the Mountaineers – then play UCF at home and Texas Tech, at Kansas which is at a rest disadvantage; and Cincinnati, Utah, Kansas State to end the regular season.

Moving on, a prediction of Iowa State’s first ten games should be such that if the Cyclones do not get five victories in these games, they may not be going to bowl. If the 50/50 games do not fall in favor of Iowa State and being a team recognized as a threat from the opponents this year the cyclones might be sitting at 5-7. If Campbell should lose another Ohio game then the record would be 4-8.

It, therefore, goes without saying that the range of outcomes for this specific team is mixed. The team has experience than last year, and talent is equally distributed on both sides of the football. But two enormous variables could make this a very frustrating season for Cyclone fans. $Wisconsin has a tendency to sleep-walk through the first half of Big Ten games before waking up in the second half.

2024 Iowa State Cyclones Schedule