Cyclone grid fans giddy with 2020 success

   

Steve, me and Kirstin at a 2018 Iowa State football game.

    Iowa State football fans are in uncharted, heady territory as accomplishments pile up for the 2020 team:     

    * It is currently Number 6 in College Football Playoff rankings, the highest football ranking in Iowa State Cyclones history.

    * The Cyclones beat Texas in a come-from-behind win, and beat Oklahoma at home. This is the first time Iowa State has defeated both the Longhorns and the Sooners the same season. It is also the first time in 40 years that the Cyclones beat Oklahoma at home in Ames, Iowa.

    * It is on a five-game winning streak, including, most recently, a 42-6 pasting of West Virginia.

    * Are led by quarterback Brock Purdy and running back Breece Hall, both of whom are experiencing career-best years.

    * Have an exciting offense and stalwart defense, with a team that so far has taken on challenges with a serious attitude. The Cyclones have managed to avoid being affected badly by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

    * Will face Oklahoma on Saturday, Dec. 19 in the Big 12 Championship game. If Iowa State can beat Oklahoma a second time, it will have the school's first conference championship since 1912. 

    My personal interest in football dates to age 12, when my Dad bought me a table-top game for Christmas and taught me how to play. Emery Cox loved college football; he played both ways at his college (Washington & Lee University in Lexington, Va). He also followed the NFL.

    When Dad and Mom moved to my mother's hometown, Minneapolis, they went to University of Minnesota games where they rooted for the Gophers. That, interestingly, influenced my decision to go to Iowa State University, back in 1976. I wanted a good journalism program, which it had, as well as a good big-college football team.

    In 1976 that was Earle Bruce, who compiled a .429 winning percentage and was named Big 8 Coach of the Year in 1976 and 1977 before he left for Ohio State. He was followed by Donnie Duncan and a series of coaches who were not too successful, overall. 

    After I graduated in 1980 Dad suggested the two of us get ISU season tickets. We did that for years, but the teams were not so good. Coaches were Jim Criner and Jim Walden.

    Walden was the subject of a Dec. 2 story in the Washington Post, "Ex Iowa State Coach Wowed by Cyclones Success." The Associated Press report says the 82-year-old now lives in Idaho and watches every Cyclone game on television. He has long wanted the team to have this type of success, he said, stating strong admiration for the job done by Matt Campbell.

    Count me among the longtime fans who love what has happened this season and credit Matt Campbell and his crew. The coach now has a winning percentage of .510; a rate not seen in Ames since the Earle Bruce era.

    But I also respect the football success built in Iowa City, first by Hayden Fry, and currently by Kirk Ferentz. A winning college football team is now expected on the east side of the state.

    I hope Matt Campbell can replicate such long-term success in Ames.

    Postscript: Avid Iowa State fans in the Quad-Cities might be interested in a terrific website: Cyclone Fanatic. Publisher Chris Williams and his team of "fanatics" does a great job on all Iowa State sports topics. Find it here: cyclone fanatic.com




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