Randy Peterson
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June 30, 2025
While hanging out at Iowa State’s Tailgate Tour function at Arnold Park’s iconic Roof Garden, someone inquired about the upcoming football schedule. After agreeing that the Cyclones will be facing one of their most challenging first five or so games, Mr. Typical Fan fired back:
“Yeah, and the Kansas State game is the most important game in a long time – maybe ever.”
You learn not to disagree with people attending functions like this – where reality often is either checked at the front door, or lost while standing in the beverage line. I agreed that yes, the season-opening game against K-State is important, considering it’s a Week Zero (I hate that phrase), season-opening game that will show everyone who has early speed in the Big 12 Conference. But how do you classify a game as a “biggest” until putting that game’s outcome into total-season perspective?
You can’t.
That 10-minute conversation sparked an idea, knowing darn well that, if the Cyclones beat the Wildcats, a postgame rehash at the popular The Bath Pub (near the stadium) could eventually get around to it being Iowa State’s best-ever.
Matt Campbell is fixin’ to coach his 10th Iowa State football season. Tenth. Cyclones football has become nationally relevant during his watch -- after (alleged) experts told us that would never happen.
So, during the buildup to A Decade with Matt Campbell, let’s come up with a highly debatable list of the Cyclones’ 10 best wins during this amazing run, in which Iowa State football rose from “laughing stock” to national stock . . .
So when/if Iowa State beats Kansas State Aug, 23 in Ireland, you’ll have something with which to compare it.
Everyone defines big wins differently (I tend to lean toward winning a game that’s more significant than most others). Let’s get that out there before you rip into the 10 with which I came up. So, with that in mind . . . .
**
No. 1: IOWA STATE 48, OKLAHOMA STATE 42
(2018 in Stillwater, Oklahoma)
Why this made the list: I was standing on the Cyclones sidelines with just a few minutes remaining in what became an historic result. A quarterback was born, so to speak. After one dismal possession, Campbell had seen enough.
Exit Zeb Noland. Enter Brock Purdy.
And the rest is history.
“Quarterback of the future,” Campbell told me, as he ran off the Boone Pickens Stadium field that Saturday afternoon in October.
He sent a little-known pump-faking quarterback onto the field – and the result was the emergence of a program that would go from “laughing stock” to nationally relevant.
Not only did Purdy, with just a few previous snaps on the ol’ resume, complete 18 of 23 passes for 318 yards and four touchdowns (and added a rushing score among his 84 ground yards) on a field where the Cyclones rarely performed well. He went on to lead Iowa State to 30 more victories (out of 47 starts) while re-writing the school’s quarterback record book.
Campbell’s team played in major bowl games. It played in its first Big 12 championship, won a New Year’s Six Fiesta Bowl – and then everyone close to the program collectively cheered as Purdy went from the final pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, to leading the San Francisco 49ers to 2024 Super Bowl.
Yeah, that coaching decision back in 2018 righted a Cyclones ship that’s still sailing the college football’s Seas of Success.
So Sez: “We didn’t know who he was,” Oklahoma State cornerback A.J. Green said. “When he came off the bench, yeah, we’re thinking that we’re fixin' to rack up takeaways with this guy right here. He came out and proved us wrong.”
**
No. 2: IOWA STATE 29 KANSAS STATE 21
(2024 at Jack Trice Stadium)
Why this made the list: The significance here, was what this home finale meant last season.
Senior Night was an opportunity to win a school-record 10 games. A berth in the Big 12 Conference championship game was at stake, as was staying relevant in the College Football Playoff selection discussion.
You certainly can argue this being No. 1. I went back-and-forth on it until wondering if Iowa State football would be in the place it’s in today, had Purdy not been a role model and king pen for this program’s future.
So sez: "We knew what was at stake moving forward, and we took that and ran with it," safety Beau Freyler said. "We were playing a game with all the chips on the table. We felt we left it all on the field."
**
No. 3: IOWA STATE 23, TEXAS 20
(2020 in Austin, Texas)
Why this made the list: Playing in a conference championship football game is a big deal. For the Cyclones, reaching that hallowed turf was especially big, because they’d never done it. Accomplishing the fete on the road – against the almighty Texas Longhorns and in their iconic stadium – put this one over the top.
Breece Hall muscling 3 yards through the middle of the line for a touchdown with 1:25 to play, gave Iowa State its first lead. A few stadium clock ticks later, after Latrell Bankston's 4-yard sack of quarterback Sam Ehlinger, followed by Cameron Dicker’s missed a 58-yard field goal attempt for a chance to tie -- Iowa State’s sideline erupted.
A Cyclones victory for the ages. Iowa State had clinched its first Big 12 championship game spot.
So Sez: “It’s five-star culture, versus five-star players,” was the Breece Hall quote that continues to define Matt Campbell’s football program.
**
No. 4: IOWA STATE 34, OREGON 17
(2020 Fiesta Bowl)
Why this made the list: Absolutely, the Cyclones’ first New Year’s Six bowl victory was a big one. The program’s biggest during their postseason resume, to be precise, but for a reason beyond bringing home the trophy.
This was significant also because Campbell and his staff followed it up with an outstanding recruiting class that would continue the tradition started when Purdy became the starting quarterback.
The significance of this victory was a 2022 recruiting class that included such stars as Rocco Becht, Dom Orange, Will McLaughlin, Gabe Burkle, Carson Willich, Jeremiah Cooper, and Tyler Perkins.
Let us not forget that Mike Rose, Purdy, Chase Allen, Sean Foster, Charlie Kolar and Greg Eisworth were among players who decided to return for Super (COVID-related) Senior seasons. That was big, too, showing confidence in a program that was trending positive.
So Sez: "So grateful for the commitment of so many to continue to want to build our program together," Campbell said. "Our foundation has been built on loyalty and faithfulness, and it will continue to be our guiding light. Humbled and grateful to continue to lead to be different."
**
No. 5: IOWA STATE 38, OKLAHOMA 31
(2017 in Norman, Oklahoma)
Why this made the list: Why would it not make the list? It’s not every day you beat Oklahoma. When you beat the nation’s third-ranked team with a backup quarterback and on the Sooners’ field – it’s a biggie.
Just 17 games into his Iowa State career, Campbell coached a masterpiece that showed fans just where this program was heading.
Remember, this game culminated a week in which starting quarterback Jacob Park left the team for personal reasons, and was replaced by third-string walk-on Kyle Kempt. Oklahoma’s quarterback was soon-to-be Heisman Trophy winner Baker Mayfield.
So Sez: “This isn’t the pinnacle,” Campbell predicted after the game. “We learned, we grew, we got better, and all of a sudden, now we give ourselves a chance to understand what true success really looks like. This is just a journey.”
**
No. 6: IOWA STATE 30, WEST VIRGINIA 14
(2018 at Jack Trice Stadium)
Why this made the list: You say you still weren’t sold on Iowa State’s three-man defensive front that coordinator Jon Heacock came up with midway through the previous season? You had to be sold, after this rousing victory against one of the best quarterbacks and offenses in the nation.
After the Cyclones’ big victory over the sixth-ranked Mountaineers, you knew this new-fangled defense was for real. Seven sacks for the second game in a row. Holding quarterback Will Grier to just 100 passing yards. Limiting an offense that averaged 525 yards to just 152.
Furthermore, this was Purdy’s first start. David Montgomery rushed for 189 yards. Fans rushed the field.
So Sez: "We’re still a young team in a lot of ways,” Campbell said after the game. “You hope the trajectory is going forward. This group uniquely has really gotten better every week."
**
No. 7: IOWA STATE 37, OKLAHOMA 30
(2020) at Jack Trice Stadium
Why this made the list: Down 11 points in the second quarter, all signs were pointing toward starting the COVID season with two losses in the first three games. Well, Breece Hall wasn’t having anything to do with it.
Against one of the nation’s finest rush defenses, the emerging sophomore rushed for 139 yards and two touchdowns. Iowa State outscored the Sooners 31-13 over the game’s final 34 minutes.
It was the Cyclones’ first home success against Oklahoma since 1960. Iowa State became 2-0 in the Big 12 for the first time since Dan McCarney’s team opened 3-0 in 2002.
So Sez: “There would be a party, if we didn’t expect success, but this team and this culture has moved from hoping to have success, to expecting to have success,” Campbell said.
**
No. 8: IOWA STATE 20, IOWA 19
(2024 at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City)
Why this made the list: Sometimes there’s more to defining significant than an opponent’s rating and the name on their jerseys. Sometimes, it’s just a feel-good, confidence-gaining storyline that makes something important.
That’d be Cyclones kicker Kyle Konrardy, whose 54-yard field goal with six seconds left was the difference in a game Iowa State rallied from a two-touchdown deficit with 5 minutes left in the third quarter.
The Snap. The Hold. The Kick.
The first successful field goal of someone’s life – on the field of the home team, and in the state’s big rivalry game.
The redshirt freshman went on to make 20 of his next 25 attempts during a season that included four wins by three points or fewer.
So Sez: “I told him right before he walked out there, that this is just like practice, because he hits those all the time in practice and he has no doubt,” quarterback Rocco Becht said. “I just tried to clear his mind, and make it seem like it was practice.”
**
No. 9: IOWA STATE 42, MIAMI 41
(2024 Pop-Tarts Bowl)
Why this made the list: Copying and pasting what I wrote after this game, after becoming tired of people claiming the only reason ISU won, was because Miami’s quarterback opted out after helping his team to a three-point halftime lead:
“Don’t tell me the outcome of Saturday’s Pop-Tarts Bowl, a 42-41 last-possession victory against 15th-ranked Miami, meant nothing,” I pecked during my prior professional life. “The game, and how it played out, emphasized what those of us who know the program well, already knew:
“That Iowa State now has the championship-level program you, your neighbor, your stylist, your bartender, and your alleged expert of choice, didn’t think would be possible.”
This win showed that Campbell’s program has become everything that everyone said it’d never become. The rise from that metaphorical grave. A school-record 11 wins after the third bowl success under Campbell. Two conference championship game appearances in Campbell’s nine seasons. No longer a Big 12 patsy. Smack dab in the middle of college football’s playoffs discussion until the final day. The Cyclones – they have risen . . . Indeed.
So Sez: “When we came to Iowa State, I think, (people) said, man, you're going to the coaching graveyard,” Campbell told reporters after the game. “To be able to now, nine years later, sit here and look what these young men stand for and what so many before them have done. . . . To watch great, unbelievable selfless leadership -- it's hard to find that today in our culture, and try really hard to find it in our sport.”
**
No. 10: IOWA STATE 21, MEMPHIS 20
(2017 Liberty Bowl in Memphis)
Why this made the list: This fifth road victory of the season tied a school record, and yes, this was a true road game, considering it was on the field of the opponent. The outcome, against the No. 19 team, was Iowa State’s third of this eight-win season. All this was significant, because this was just Campbell’s second season as the coach.
Allen Lazard, in the final game of a wonderful career, tied a Liberty Bowl record with 10 catches for 142 yards and one touchdown. In being selected the game's MVP. Linebacker Marcel Spears was defensive MVP after recording 11 tackles, including 2.5 tackles for loss, and a sack.
So sez: “This is the new Cyclones,” Iowa State athletics director Jamie Pollard said after the game. “Our fan base has a lot to look forward to.”
**
So, what about Farmageddon?
There’s certainly Top 10 room for it, if Iowa State wins, but how high?
You can figure that out after the season.
(Columnist Randy Peterson can be, and has been, reached at randypete4846@gmail.com or at any Okoboji-area beverage/food establishment between the hours of open and close.)