Iowa State’s focus narrows as games get bigger

AMES – Iowa State is a consensus top-20 football team eight games into the season.

The Cyclones are 6-2 overall and 4-1 in Big 12 play. They checked in at No. 16 in the coaches poll and No. 14 in the AP poll after beating then-No. 4 TCU 14-7 on Saturday.

Iowa State has two wins against top-five teams before the month of November, the first team to do that since the 2005 Florida Gators.

'The more you have success, the more the games get bigger,” coach Matt Campbell said. 'The more you learn how to negate that from your mindset and just worry about getting better as a football team – it's hard for a 37-year-old to 50-year-olds, let alone 18-to-22-year-olds.”

But it seems like Iowa State's players have negated that from their mindset. Quarterback Kyle Kempt didn't even realize it was Iowa State's sixth win, making the team bowl elgible.

Linebacker Joel Lanning said the goal used to be six wins. They would've been ecstatic achieving that goal in the past. Now, it's just another win.

'We're not done here,” Lanning said. 'We have other games that we're going to try and win. We want to win championships here and change this program around. We've got places to go. We're not satisfied with a six-win season.”

Campbell said as a coach all you want to do is get to the month of November with a chance to be playing for something. Iowa State is in a three-way tie for first place with four games left.

The Cyclones have a legitimate shot at making the Big 12 Championship game.

'We talked about that as our goal the day I got here,” Campbell said. 'You don't know when that's going to happen, but if you just put your head down, stay the course and really work – our kids have to take ownership in it. This is happening not because of coaching, but because of player leadership. Our kids, our senior class, our captains, those kids are leading the way.

'Those guys are making great decisions on Saturday night and on Sunday. Those are the guys when you go out to practice on Tuesday and Wednesday have that mentality.”

Iowa State travels to West Virginia next Saturday. The Mountaineers are fresh off a 50-39 loss to Oklahoma State. West Virginia quarterback Will Grier threw four interceptions in the game.

'It doesn't matter who it is, whether we're favored or not favored, it doesn't even matter,” Lanning said. 'We just go in the games thinking, ‘If we play our game, we'll give ourselves a chance.' That's the only mentality we have. We're worried about ourselves, we're not worried about anyone else are anything else. We're just worried about what this team can do and we'll go from there.”

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