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AMES — “I’m the guy who comes in early and leaves late.”
Iowa State football coach Matt Campbell spoke those words in a one-on-one interview in 2019.
And he wasn’t just talking about himself. That devotion to “the process” has permeated his teams, past and present, and now the College Football Playoff-ranked No. 18 Cyclones find themselves back in the Big 12 championship for the second time ever — and the first time since Campbell helped lead them there while COVID ravaged the world one year later.
ISU (10-2) will face Arizona State (10-2) in Saturday’s 11 a.m. title tilt at At&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, with a guaranteed spot in the expanded 12-team playoff hanging in the balance.
“I think it’s fitting that even this isn’t easy,” said Campbell, whose team needed to wait until 12:44 a.m. Iowa time to be sure it would play for a league crown after beating No. 24 Kansas State, 29-21, Saturday on senior night at Jack Trice Stadium. “We’re waiting ‘till the midnight hour (and them some) to figure out exactly what that will look like.”
So it’s the Cyclones and the Sun Devils for all the marbles — just as preseason pollsters predicted.
Not.
ISU was picked to finish sixth in the preseason media poll. Arizona State was tabbed to end up dead last in the recently expanded 16-team league. Yet here they are, vying for conference supremacy and a CFP berth. The matchup itself speaks to the increasing unpredictable nature of college football, where NIL money, massive coaching contracts and ever-shifting rosters thanks to the transfer portal culminate to make anything to possible, season-to-season, and week-to-week.
“It has been a crazy journey to get to this moment,” said senior Cyclone safety Beau Freyler, who’s played hurt much of his career. “I couldn’t give more thanks and praise to my teammates and the coaching staff, and everyone (who’s) touched this program for all they’ve done to push us. It’s all them. That’s all I can say.”
ISU’s seniors made mammoth plays in Saturday’s win — and that trend started on the first play of the game.
*Kansas State quarterback Avery Johnson fumbled by attempting a backward pass and senior cornerback Myles Purchase pounced on it at the Wildcats’ 27-yard line.
Six plays later, ISU quarterback Rocco Becht connected with senior receiver Jayden Higgins on a 15-yard touchdown pass that gave his team a 7-0 lead.
“That’s may brother,” said fellow senior receiver Jaylin Noel, who joined Higgins in the 1,000-yard receiving club this season on a later nine-yard touchdown pass from Becht. “To see us both accomplish what we have this season, it’s been very special, and there’ll be more to come.”
*Senior defensive end Joey Petersen — whose dad and brother also played at ISU — recovered Kansas State’s second fumble, which was forced by freshman safety Ta’Shawn James. The Cyclones won the turnover battler 3-to-0 and are now plus-10 in that category this season.
“Honestly, I felt like we could have done better,” said Becht, who accounted for three touchdowns, two passing and one rushing. “The defense did a helluva job tonight stopping them, and we just couldn’t finish (all) the drives and execute. So I’ll be better next week and hopefully be a better leader for this team next week.”
*Senior cornerback Darien Porter burst off the edge to block a 21-yard field goal attempt midway through the third quarter, giving him an impressive total of five blocked kicks and punts in his ISU career. The kick careened off Porter’s helmet, and drew a raucous reaction from Campbell, who demonstratively waved his arms and pumped his fists.
“It was something that we noticed on film — a short edge,” Porter said. “So (we were) able to expose that. But even then, you think you’re gonna get there, but then you get there, and, ‘Wow, there it is.’ So (we were) just able to take advantage of that.”
Just as ISU plans to take advantage of another trip to “Jerry World,” where they came up slightly short in a 27-21 loss to Oklahoma in the 2020 league championship game.
“The reality of it is, is there’s a championship game,” Campbell said. “And if you earn the right to be in it, we get In it, and then we’ve gotta go win it.”
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