Iowa State entered the year riding the momentum of a 2018 season that saw them score upsets over Oklahoma State and West Virginia before ultimately falling in an exciting Alamo Bowl to Washington State and finishing 8-5.
Thought by some to be an outside threat to challenge for a top-two spot in the conference year, the Cyclones had a bit of a rough start barely escaping their week-one contest over Northern Iowa before falling at home to Iowa two weeks later.
Like Kansas State, this match-up would be the first ever between the Irish and Cyclones. With Matt Campbell leading Iowa State (for now, at least) it could be a very highly respected offensive mind that Notre Dame would have to game-plan against all while it’d easily be the biggest bowl game Iowa State ever played in.
With it being a potential Super Bowl of sorts for them and an underwhelming final game for Notre Dame, my upset alert radar would be going crazy before this one.
How bad do we want it? (1-10): 1.5 This would be another no-win situation for Notre Dame while it’d be one of the biggest games Iowa State ever played in. Beat Notre Dame in a bowl game and Matt Campbell enters 2020 as the next great thing (even though plenty of folks already believe that to be true). In a game like the Camping World Bowl where the Irish are going to be understandably a bit disappointed to be at, I hate the idea of playing a team who would likely view it as program-changing. Not that Notre Dame isn’t better but I wouldn’t be thrilled with this match-up in any capacity, although potentially laughing at the guy down the street with an Iowa State flag that occasionally flies could be semi-fun.
Oklahoma State