You can go over recruiting rankings all you want and look at records but I really do buy into Iowa State’s coaching staff. It’s not a mistake that Matt Campbell gets linked to NFL jobs an incredible amount despite his record being far from outstanding.
Pretty much no Notre Dame fans are excited that a 10-2 season ends in Orlando for the Camping World Bowl against an unranked 7-5 Iowa State team, but it’s a Notre Dame game at the end of the day and the last one we’ll have until they open the 2020 season against Navy in Ireland.
We’ll all soak it up, even if commenters here and on the message boards are full of those complaining and claiming they’ll protest it by not watching.
The rest of the nation has been weighing in on all bowl games though and ranking them from worst matchup or the least-watchable to the best match-up and most-watchable.
Where does Notre Dame’s contest against the pass-happy Cyclones rank?
Here’s what everyone else says and remember, the ranking is out of the 39 total bowl games this season:
I bring up why the game scares me as a Notre Dame fan while Pete gives reason to why the Irish should roll.
As some of you are aware I do a weekly college football podcast with Pete Fiutak of College Football News.
Throughout the year we preview the biggest games, try to project the College Football Playoff and discuss the biggest stories of the week.
We are currently going through and previewing as many bowl games as possible. Some of the smaller ones get piled into previews for the entire day while other games get their entire own 10 minute or so preview.
We decided that although it’s “just the Camping World Bowl” that’d we’d talk a little about the match-up between 10-2 Notre Dame and 7-5 Iowa State.
I bring up why the game scares me as a Notre Dame fan while Pete gives reason to why the Irish should roll.
We also discuss the change at offensive coordinator as Pete talks me down from being a bit upset over what seems to be an incredibly unthorough search for a replacement.
For those that think the number is too low, remember that Iowa State has only lost one game all season by more than one possession.
Notre Dame makes their second ever trip to the Camping World Bowl (it was the Champs Sports Bowl when the Irish lost to Florida State in 2011) and take on a 7-5 Iowa State team that offers one of the nation’s best quarterbacks and is coached by one of the biggest, young names in collegiate coaching.
So how do the sports books see this one lining up?
Notre Dame (10-2) opens as a 3.5-point favorite over Iowa State (7-5).
For those that think the number is too low, remember that Iowa State has only lost one game all season by more than one possession. There also could be some reason to think this game means a lot more for Iowa State than it does Notre Dame, who won’t say it publicly but no-doubt wishes they were getting ready to take on Florida in the Orange Bowl.
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You may look from a far and wonder how in the world a 7-5 Iowa State was chosen to get to Orlando over 8-4 squads they lost to. You might not think of a traditional football powerhouse when you hear Iowa State but they’ve got a following that would lead you to believe otherwise.
When chinstraps are finally buckled, mouth pieces are in and the Camping World Bowl gets here on December 28, Notre Dame and Iowa State will be playing for the first time in each-others history.
What needs to be known about Notre Dame’s next opponent as preparations for the season-finale are now upon us?
Here are five things to know about the 7-5 Iowa State Cyclones.
If you’re a fan of “The Profit” on CNBC, you’re aware of who Marcus Lemonis is. The self-made billionaire takes over struggling family businesses, changes their ways of operations and helps them turn things around. Lemonis is also the CEO of Camping …
If you’re a fan of “The Profit” on CNBC, you’re aware of who Marcus Lemonis is.
The self-made billionaire takes over struggling family businesses, changes their ways of operations and helps them turn things around.
Lemonis is also the CEO of Camping World and been proud of his bowl game that Notre Dame appears headed for on December 28.
Who will Notre Dame play remains the question.
We went through the final expert projections earlier today but reached no ultimate conclusion, just that more people think Texas than anyone else and that the idea of Oklahoma State appears to have been eliminated.
Lemonis took to Twitter a short time and although he doesn’t have an answer, he seems to have a pretty good guess as to who will join Notre Dame in Orlando.
A disappointing loss against Iowa State, a lot went wrong for the Longhorns. The offense struggled and two mental errors cost Texas.
For the fourth time this year, Texas is on the losing side in frustrating fashion. Suffering a soul-crushing defeat to Iowa State on Saturday, a lot went wrong for the Longhorns. Offensively struggling all game and a couple of mental errors is the difference between a disappointing season and one with potential still in sight.
Here are three reasons Texas lost to Iowa State:
The offense’s poor play
Throughout the season, the Texas offense has been a strong suit for the team and the defense was the reason for the losses. Against Iowa State, the script was flipped. The Longhorns punted the ball a total of nine times and eight of them were after the offense went three-and-out. The inability to move the ball was something Texas had not shown all season.
Running backs Roschon Johnson and Keaontay Ingram struggled, combining for 14 carries and 27 yards. Quarterback Sam Ehlinger had the same amount of rushing yards as the two combined but on 12 carries. Even when designed plays were called for Ehlinger to run it, he got stuffed.
Throwing the ball, Ehlinger only completed 55% of his passes. In the first half, he was only able to get out 12 attempts due to the constant three-and-outs. He has been the glue to this offense all year and when he does not play well, the entire offense suffers. That was evident in Saturday’s loss.
Deshaunte Jones’ 75-yard touchdown
Going into halftime, Texas finally got some momentum, scoring a touchdown in 30 seconds to cut the Iowa State lead to three before the break. Texas kicked the ball off to start the second half and ruined all the momentum they had built up. On the first play of the third quarter, Purdy escaped pressure by scrambling to his left, launched the ball downfield, and found a wide-open Deshaunte Jones.
Iowa State beats #19 Texas 23-21 on a game-winning FG at the buzzer Brock Purdy : 30/48 for 354 yards, 2 TD's & an INT Deshaunte Jones : 7 catches for 144 yards & a TD pic.twitter.com/uvzenN1jhB
Without this total collapse in the secondary, Iowa State is going for a game-winning touchdown instead of a field goal in their final drive. The Cyclone offense struggled the rest of the second half, kicking two field goals, punting the ball four times, and turning it over on downs once. If the Longhorn defense does not allow that touchdown, the game could have been different.
Jumping offsides on the field goal attempt
After scoring touchdowns on two straight offensive possessions, the Texas offense went three-and-out (again), giving Iowa State the ball back with three minutes left in the game. After a couple of big plays from Brock Purdy and a pass interference call against Caden Sterns, Texas stopped the Cyclone offense and forced a field goal with two minutes and 16 seconds left in the game. Theoretically, that would have been enough time for Ehlinger to go win the game for himself.
However, Joseph Ossai jumped offsides on the field goal attempt, giving Iowa State a fresh set of downs from the Texas 20. Using their timeouts on the previous three plays, the Longhorns had no way of stopping the clock to give themselves an opportunity to win the game. The Cyclones were able to drain the clock down to four seconds before Connor Assalley hit the game-winning field goal from 36 yards.
This loss was a detrimental one to the Longhorns who are nearly out of the Big 12 Championship discussion. A miracle would be required and is looking more and more unlikely. Beating Iowa State would have allowed the Longhorns to control their own destiny, but now can only play the role of spoiler to Baylor.
Texas will face Baylor on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CST on FS1.
Texas travels to face Iowa State in a huge game for the Longhorns. Here is how Twitter is preparing for this afternoon’s matchup vs ISU.
Texas has a huge game this afternoon as they travel to Ames, Iowa to face Iowa State. Today is a must-win for the Longhorns as they must win out to make it to the Big 12 championship game. Coming in as underdogs, Texas has a lot to prove against the Cyclones.
Here is how Twitter is preparing for the matchup against Iowa State:
Chip & Joanna, the couple from HGTV's Fixer Upper, picked Texas to beat Iowa State on College Gameday this morning. If you're into that. (I'm a Flip or Flop guy, so…)
Baylor Vs OU next week. Huge! Iowa state Vs Texas next week HUGE. Baylor must win game to stay ahead of Texas in BIG12 final race and Iowa state with one chance left to stay in the race also. Texas needs this win away before heading to Baylor. Brutal next two games.
Only meeting 16 times, Texas has dominated Iowa State. With ISU only winning twice, the stakes have been raised the past two years.
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Texas plays a crucial road game against Iowa State and must win if they want to stay alive in the Big 12 championship picture. These two teams have a short history as they have only met a total of 16 times. The Longhorns dominated the begging of the series, winning seven straight. Even after an Iowa State win in 2010, Texas continued to win, beating the Cyclones seven out of the last eight.
Here is the series record between the Longhorns and Cyclones:
All-time series record: Texas leads 14-2-0
Largest wins: Texas 56-3 in 2007, Iowa State 24-0 in 2015
Latest Texas win: Nov. 17, 2018
Last season’s matchup with Iowa State was a ranked matchup as No. 13 Texas played host to the 18th ranked Cyclones. This was a strange game for the Longhorns, as both Sam Ehlinger and Shane Buechele got snaps.
Ehlinger was only able to play in the first half as he picked up a shoulder injury. Before he was forced to leave the game, he was able to get the Longhorns off to a strong start, scoring 17 points on five drives. He went 12-15 with 137 yards and a touchdown. He was also effective on the ground, having 32 yards and a touchdown.
Without Ehlinger, the Longhorns struggled, punting on four out of their six second-half drives. The other two ended with a Daniel Young fumble and a Shane Buechele 27 yards touchdown to Lil’ Jordan Humphrey. On the other hand, the Texas defense was outstanding, stopping an Iowa State offense that was averaging 427.2 yards over their five-game winning streak, to 210 yards. David Montgomery only ran for 33 yards as the Cyclones struggled running the ball.
The 24-10 win ended up being huge for the Longhorns as it was the reason they made it into the Big 12 championship game. Had Iowa State won the game, the Cyclones’ win against Kansas State the next week would have propelled them into the title game. Instead, Texas went on to beat Kansas and played in its first Big 12 championship game since 2009.
Latest Iowa State win: Oct. 31, 2015
2015 was a miserable year for the Longhorns and the matchup against Iowa State was no different. Going into the game, the Cyclones were 2-5, on a three-game losing streak, and allowing nearly 34 points a game on that streak.
Naturally, a Texas offense being led by Tyrone Swoopes and Jerrod Heard at quarterback put up a goose egg. Swoopes and Heard threw for 85 yards on 12-22 passing. The running game was not much better, as they averaged 3.7 yards per carry. Swoopes led the team in that category, rushing for 58 yards on 10 carries.
Iowa State’s offense pounded the ball on the ground, as they had 54 rushing attempts. They got 238 yards on those 54 attempts and added on two touchdowns. Running back Mike Warren had a career-high 32 carries with 157 yards and a touchdown. Quarterback Joel Lanning was a mediocre 19-37 with 188 yards and a touchdown.
After defeating the Cyclones four years in a row, Texas shut out on the road, 24-0. It was their second time being shut out in two years after going a decade without it. Texas ended the season at 5-7, the first of back to back Charlie Strong 5-7 seasons.
Texas will play Iowa State on Saturday at 2:30 PM CST on FS1.
Oklahoma about suffered an epic collapse against Iowa State. Here are the final game grades, report card for Saturday’s game.
As Lincoln Riley says, “The game is never as good as you thought, and it’s not going to be bad.”
On first glance, Iowa State stayed with what was working and ended up making a game out of one that didn’t seem to be close. Oklahoma had an atrocious fourth-quarter, but it didn’t feel like they played bad during the first three quarters.
After every game, Sooners Wire’s Kegan Reneau will rewatch and provide his final thoughts before moving on to the next one.
Here are the grades for the unit and the grades for individuals who ended up on the stat sheet or were noticeable for Oklahoma. These grades reflect how the Sooners played on that game indicative of the perception Reneau expects them to play.
QUARTERBACK — C-
Jalen Hurts — C-
We are at the point where it is acceptable to ask:
What would this offense look like with Spencer Rattler or Tanner Mordecai?
Jalen Hurts should have thrown a pick-six and two more interceptions against Iowa State.
His running ability has brought a different variable to Lincoln Riley’s system, but his inability do dissect coverage and consistently hit vertical throws has done more harm than good. Has it limited the offense’s ceiling? That’s something I pondered with prior to the season, but CeeDee Lamb’s and Charleston Rambo’s yards after the catch have inflated the numbers for this offense.
No, this isn’t me calling for a quarterback change. This is me stating the reality that this offense is different and Jalen Hurts will never be the quarterback Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray or the future quarterbacks will run.
RUNNING BACK — A
Trey Sermon — N/A
Kennedy Brooks — A
Rhamondre Stevenson — N/A
T.J. Pledger — N/A
So, this is what happens when one of the best running backs in the country get the ball …
H-BACK — B
Jeremiah Hall — B
Brayden Willis — B
Solid day. Nothing stood out as bad and both made a couple plays.
WIDE RECEIVER — B+
CeeDee Lamb — A-
Charleston Rambo — B
Trejan Bridges — B-
Nick Basquine — N/A
A.D. Miller — B-
Theo Wease — N/A
CeeDee Lamb is the best receiver in college football. No ifs, ands or buts about it. That fumble cost him an A+.
Some of the blocking in the running game did not hold up.
TIGHT END — B
Lee Morris — B
Morris is becoming more and more useful for Riley as the season has gone on.
OFFENSIVE LINE — B-
Iowa State has one of the most underrated defensive lines in the country and the Oklahoma offensive line held its own. Nothing too flashy. Lot of the success in the running game was based on play design, but the offensive line did what its job is supposed to do.
OFFENSE — 81
Not its best day at the office, but Oklahoma did what many can’t against Iowa State: Chunk plays and points.
