Matt Campbell’s exit sent Iowa State into a tricky stretch, but the Cyclones have handled it better than the circumstances might have suggested.
Campbell left for Penn State and took 24 players with him, while others moved on as well, including Wisconsin RB Abu Sama III. Iowa State also had to move fast on a coaching search in early December, which came late in the modern college football cycle, before landing Washington State’s Jimmy Rogers as Campbell’s replacement.
That kind of turnover can leave a program scrambling. Instead, Iowa State has opened 3-2 and, while that record is hardly eye-popping, the details matter.
Both losses have come against top 15 teams - No. 13 Utah and No.
14 Iowa - and the Iowa defeat was a three-point road loss. That’s not a collapse.
That’s surviving a brutal early schedule and still giving yourself room to grow.
There’s also the Penn State angle, and right now Iowa State can point to one thing the Nittany Lions don’t have through five games: a Power 4 win. The Cyclones earned that by beating West Virginia 45-42 on Saturday in Ames.
Campbell, meanwhile, made clear a few days after Iowa State’s season-opening win over Southeast Missouri State that he still keeps tabs on the people he coached. When asked if he would still be following ISU, he said, “The one thing that you always do, you’re tracking all your former players.
I think that’s one thing, the culture of the relationship that you had with so many great players. I think the only thing you saw is so many of our guys have a great day there last Saturday.
I think you’re more tracking the individual performance of your players. Across some other schools, too.
Guys had great games, great start to things. For me, it’s really about the people and about the players.
Really, you track those humans. You want the absolute best for them.”
In Other News...
Penn State Fans Wont Like What An In-State Rival Coach Said
Pat Narduzzi had plenty to say after Pitts close win over Virginia Tech, and much of it was bound to land with Penn State fans as a familiar jab from across the state. The Pitt coach addressed a controversial missed field goal in that game, then turned his attention to the AP Top 25, questioning Penn States placement despite the recent losses that have piled up for the Nittany Lions.
Narduzzi also used the moment to make a case for his own program, pointing to Pitts undefeated start and current ranking as proof his team deserves more respect. It was the latest reminder that the tension between Pitt and Penn State remains very much alive, with Narduzzi continuing a public back-and-forth that has long carried extra weight in a rivalry shaped by him and former Penn State coach James Franklin. [Read more 🡒]
Penn States Early Big Ten Slide Suddenly Looks Like A Bigger Problem
Two weeks into Big Ten play, the leagues shape is already starting to tell a familiar story at the top, with the conference heavyweights still looking the part while some of the preseason contenders are scrambling to catch up. Penn State is in that second group after an uneven start that has made the early standings feel less like a snapshot and more like a warning sign, especially with the Big Tens path to multiple College Football Playoff bids depending on its best teams stacking wins and avoiding the kind of stumbles that can linger all fall.
The Nittany Lions are not alone in that bind, but their position carries extra weight because expectations were so high before league play began. Washington is facing its own early trouble, and several coaching situations around the conference are already under a sharper spotlight, yet Penn States slide stands out because it changes the margin for error so quickly. If the league is going to earn the depth it needs at the top, the teams that were supposed to anchor it cannot keep giving ground this early. [Read more 🡒]
Penn State Just Lost The Spotlight For A Huge Michigan Trip
Penn States trip to Michigan on October 17 no longer has the feel of a late-night showcase. The Big Ten announced the game at Michigan Stadium will kick off at 3:30 p.m. ET, pulling it out of the prime-time window many had anticipated and shifting some of the national spotlight away from what had shaped up as one of the leagues more intriguing midseason matchups.
It still carries plenty of weight in the Big Ten race, though. Both teams are 0-2 in conference play, which is the first time that has happened to Penn State since it joined the league in 1993, and that makes the meeting even more important for two programs trying to steady themselves. Before that trip, Penn State gets its own marquee stage Saturday night, hosting No. 19 USC in a White Out game at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBCs Big Ten Saturday Night. [Read more 🡒]