STILLWATER, Okla. - It was exactly 10 years ago to the day that Matt Campbell stood inside the Bergstrom Football Facility for the first time and described both a mantra and a mandate for Iowa State football.
“My job is to continue to grow that foundation and continue to take it to an elite level,” Campbell said then. “In life, change is inevitable. Change happens.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“But greatness is a choice.”
A decade later, there may be no better example of both the change and choices undergone by Cyclone football than the collective shoulder shrug after a Big 12 road win delivered an 8-4 regular season to Iowa State.
The Cyclones’ 20-13 win Nov. 29 over a hapless Oklahoma State won’t be mentioned whenever Campbell’s career is ultimately honored in Ames, and the 2025 campaign will probably be remembered more for what it failed to achieve.
Both, though, are a testament to the program Campbell has built and this team that he’s guided.
“I’m really proud of (this team),” Campbell said, “and it’s what I feel our program has always stood for and to be able to see it come to life with this team was really awesome.”
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe Cyclones’ win over the Cowboys really wasn’t that far off from the season as a whole – it wasn’t really what anyone was hoping for, but it was ultimately successful, even if it left you wanting more.
Iowa State passed for just 113 yards and let a Cowboys team that hasn’t won a Big 12 game in two years hang uncomfortably close for uncomfortably long, but, when the clock hit zero, the scoreboard was on the Cyclones’ side.
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“We did a really good job in protecting the football, getting the ball where it needed to be and making the plays that (were) needed,” quarterback Rocco Becht said. “All that matters is getting the win, no matter what the stats look like.”
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementIs the result all that matters? For Saturday? Mostly. For the season? Hardly.
Iowa State linebacker Cael Brezina (9) wrestles the ball loose from an Oklahoma State WR at Boone Pickens Stadium on November 29, in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Iowa State scored four plays later.But before we talk about what wasn’t, let’s add a little context.
The Cyclones will head to their bowl game with a chance to win a ninth game for just the fifth time in school history. On the heels of a record-setting 11-win season, no less. This win on the road against Oklahoma State may easily be categorized as “ho-hum,” but it wasn’t so long ago that Iowa State football would go years between conference road wins.
Campbell’s tenure at Iowa State will be celebrated for the Big 12 title game appearances, the Fiesta Bowl win and last year’s double-digit victories – and whatever comes in the future - but it may well be defined for how it has redefined disappointment.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAt that introductory press conference 10 years ago, an 8-4 season and a winning Big 12 record would have been cheered on as an all-timer.
Now, though, it’s blase. Frustrating, even.
And with good reason.
The Cyclones started the season with a win on an international stage against a conference opponent and then ran their record to 5-0 overall and 2-0 in the Big 12. They looked and played the part of a Big 12 – and national – contender.
Then it all fell apart during a four-game losing streak that was fueled by poor play and mounting injuries. Even more distressing was Becht, fighting injury and ineffectiveness, suddenly and precipitously losing his confidence and productivity.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe team and its star quarterback were in freefall.
“Honestly, it was really hard,” Becht said. “There was a dark spot I felt like I went into in that four-game losing streak mentally that I didn't think I was going to get out of.
“My teammates having my back, not giving up on me, that meant a lot to me.”
They had Becht’s back and each and every other Cyclones’.
It is no small feat to pull out of a nosedive and stay aloft the way Iowa State did over the final weeks of the season.
“To think about where we were and where I was,” Becht said, “to come out and end the year winning three games, it’s pretty special.”
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementIt’s not special like a Big 12 championship, but it does speak to a locker room and culture that makes the idea of a Big 12 championship feasible and possible.
Iowa State isn’t going to talent its way to success. It’s not going to spend itself into contention.
It needs something extra, something special. Even when it doesn’t all come together as it did in 2020 and 2024, the evidence of its existence is still there. When your grandest hopes for a season are crushed, it’s pride and determination that keep you going.
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Pride in your program. Determination to keep it moving forward, even if it's by small steps instead of leaps and bounds.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“It’s really hard to go through a four-game losing streak and come back and win three games in a row,” Becht said. “A team that has a bunch of injuries on it, we’re dealing with a lot of stuff. For the guys to continue to come to the facility and want to work and want to get better, that shows a lot about the people we have here in this program.
“It’s not going to stop there. We’re going to continue to win. I have no doubt when we go to this bowl game, everybody is going to be ready for that game because we want to get that ninth win.”
That ninth win that a decade ago would have been a prize. Now, it’ll be mostly dismissed.
“The outside world makes us feel like we have five wins,” Becht said. “For us to stay in the facility, for us to focus on each other and know how special this season has been for us during the ups and downs is something we’re going to look back on for a while.”
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe 2025 Iowa State football season did not achieve all that it set out to, or even what felt so possible just two months ago. That’s disappointing. It’s frustrating. It’s maddening.
That’s OK. Perspective works both ways. You can be happy that you’re unhappy with eight wins.
As a fresh-faced, dark-haired 36-year-old coach once said, change is inevitable. Something that a slightly more grizzled, noticeably grayer 46-year-old coach would probably agree with.
“We’ve got a really good football team that’s got the ability to continue to grow forward,” Campbell said. “We're going to have to see if we can keep those guys and keep making sure we can elevate ourselves and grow ourselves forward right now.”
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementIowa State columnist Travis Hines has covered the Cyclones for the Des Moines Register and Ames Tribune since 2012. Contact him at [email protected] or (515) 284-8000. Follow him on X at @TravisHines21.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa State football finishes 'rollercoaster' regular season | Hines
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