Iowa State hopes to change one-sided recent history vs. Kansas State

AMES - Coaching and teaching are one in the same.

They attempt to achieve goals through introducing material, completing repetitive exercises and eventually introducing newer and more complex material.

So when Kansas State week arrived, Iowa State football coach Matt Campbell used the opportunity to give his team a history lesson. And in terms of recent history favoring the Cyclones, there isn't much.

'It's kind of been one sided in a lot of ways,” Campbell said. 'My job each week is to educate our football team on the team we're playing and what makes them successful, what they do well and what at times they don't do well.”

Iowa State (1-6, 0-4) and Kansas State (4-3, 2-2) will meet for the 100th time Saturday at 11 a.m. (FSN), having played every year since 1917. The Cyclones lead the all-time series 49-46-4, but the Wildcats have dominated the last 25-plus years.

The Wildcats are 20-4 under head coach Bill Snyder, who arrived in Manhattan in 1989. He took a three-year hiatus from 2006-08, but is 7-0 since returning to the sidelines in 2009.

Kansas State has won eight straight games in the series - Iowa State's last win was Nov. 3, 2007 (31-20) - with seven of the eight decided by eight points or less. The reason Kansas State has won those games is simple: it knows the devil always is in the details.

'We've just got to finish the games,” said ISU linebacker Kane Seeley. 'They're big on their details, they're coached really well and they finish games and in those games we haven't finished, and that's what we've got to do and I feel like we match up well and we just have to finish.”

There is perhaps no better example of Kansas State's ability to finish games than the Farmageddon game last year in Manhattan.

Iowa State raced out to a 35-14 halftime lead, but saw Kansas State score 24 unanswered points in the final 30 minutes to win. The Cyclones' last five drives resulted in a fumble, punt and three more fumbles while the Wildcats scored 10 points in the final 42 seconds.

Of course, the majority of Iowa State's current coaches weren't involved in that game, as well as a number of players, but it still serves as an example. Don't assume any win is assured. Heck, for all intents and purposes, Iowa State saw two Big 12 wins slip away in the last month.

'I think it's just the team that plays until the end is going to be the one that ends up winning the game,” quarterback Joel Lanning said of the ISU-KSU series. 'They're going to show up the whole game and they're going to finish games. For whatever reason we just shut it down in the half (last year) and they showed up and got the job done.

'The last few years it's come down to a touchdown or point here and there. You've got to play the whole game and can't let anything slip.”

In a lot of ways, Campbell sees Snyder's Kansas State teams as something to emulate. The Wildcats are based on core principles of running the ball, not turning it over and controlling the tempo. Iowa State hopes to do all of those things a little bit better Saturday to earn its first conference win in nearly a calendar year.

'It's detail, it's preparation, it's your willingness to do the little things for 60 minutes,” Campbell said. 'Really, this team we're playing, that's what makes them a really good football team.”

l Comments: montzdylan@gmail.com