Cyclones look to continue their rise in the Big 12 with one of the nation’s most experienced teams

Iowa State improved from four to seven wins last season, and the Cyclones are in position to build on that number with a manageable schedule and a bevy of experienced players.

The Cyclones bring back 19 starters, tied with Iowa for third most in the nation behind Virginia Tech (22) and Oklahoma State (21), according to 247Sports.

Ninth-year coach Matt Campbell said for a program that must rely on player development rather than recruiting five-star athletes to have success, retaining talent is one of his most challenging tasks in the transfer portal era.

“We just are not going to ever be the people that have the most money or most NIL money,” Campbell said. “We’ll have to be the team that develops our players better than anybody. When we have been at our best, we’ve been older and been able to keep our guys and get older.”

Quarterback Rocco Becht, the Big 12 offensive freshman of the year, leads an offense that returns running back Abu Sama, all five linemen and the top four receivers. Safety Beau Freyler, who had three interceptions and team-leading 107 tackles, is among nine returning starters for a defense that has led or ranked second in the Big 12 five straight years and six of the last seven.

“I think there’s no way we would have been able to keep or retain the players in our football program, and the quality of players in our football program, if we didn’t have a great locker room and (players) believing in the coaches and in their teammates and themselves,” Campbell said. “So we’re really fortunate for what we have.”

Overachievers

Iowa State has exceeded its expectation in the Big 12 preseason media poll in five of Campbell’s first eight seasons. A year ago, ISU was picked 10th and finished tied for fourth after improving from 1-8 in conference play in 2022 to 6-3 last season. The Cyclones are picked sixth this year.

Rocco’s roll

Becht was in line to be a backup quarterback last year until Hunter Dekkers was caught in a state gambling sting targeting athletes at ISU and Iowa.

With Dekkers suspended, Becht won the job in preseason practice. He threw a touchdown pass in his first eight games, completed 75% of his passes in five games and finished as the school freshman record-holder for completions (231), passing yards (3,120) and passing touchdowns (23). Becht threw 23 touchdowns, was intercepted eight times and did not fumble.

Campbell said Becht improved as the season progressed.

“And to me it’s a confidence factor, I think, of playing in those big game moments and being the guy with the ball in the hand making all those decisions,” Campbell said. “I think we saw really from the midpoint season on, this guy just really start to flourish and have comfortability in the role of being the starting quarterback.”

Fast work

The Cyclones expect to have a quick-strike offense again. Eight of their touchdown drives lasted less than a minute, most among Big 12 teams and third-most in the power conferences.

The team’s 13 scrimmage plays of at least 50 yards were their most since at least 1971.

Iowa State tied with Old Dominion for most scrimmage plays of 60 yards or longer (nine) and was second behind Oregon in most pass plays of 60-plus yards (six).

Defense saves best for last

Iowa State has allowed just 324 second-half points in its 38 games since 2021, an average of 8.5 points. Opponents averaged just 10.2 points in second halves last season.

The schedule

The Cyclones’ schedule has them playing their first five Big 12 games against opponents picked behind them in the preseason poll. Their toughest games are at the end, Nov. 23 at Utah and Nov. 30 at home against Kansas State. They open Aug. 31 at home against North Dakota and visit Iowa the following week for the annual CyHawk Game.

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