Cyclones learned from 11-win season, but Big 12 title game loss still stings

Just two Iowa State football players have started more than 17 consecutive games entering the 2025 season.

Who are they?

Now-seasoned and record-setting junior quarterback Rocco Becht and stalwart senior offensive tackle Tyler Miller.

The 6-foot-1, 210-pound Becht and the 6-9, 330-pound Miller have each taken the field for the ISU offense’s opening snap 27 straight times — and the physically mismatched duo is otherwise perfectly aligned as the Cyclones strive to remain a Big 12 championship contender.

“We had a team meeting (earlier this month) and Coach Campbell was talking to us,” Becht told reporters at Big 12 media days last week in Dallas. “(We) kind of felt like last year was kind of like, you know, we ended the season with a bowl win, but did we really end the season on a good note? We all kind of thought about it and, you know, we didn’t. We lost the Big 12 championship and that’s what we wanted.”

That loss — a humbling 45-19 setback against Arizona State — has served as a focal point for ISU’s players the entire offseason. It’s driven them and grounded them. It’s been dissected and examined.

The overriding lesson? Don’t take anything for granted, even as the Cyclones are broadly expected to be among the top-five contenders for a Big 12 title again this season.

“The last time we were here (in Dallas) we left kind of broken-hearted,” Miller said at media days. “That’s just another example of our motivation for this season. We’re continuing to work in the offseason no matter what. Just because we got there last year doesn’t mean we (will) get there again.”

No kidding. The Cyclones have played — and lost — in the Big 12 championship game just twice in program history. Both appearances have come under head coach Matt Campbell, who said it would be “foolish” to not make returning to the league title game for the second year in a row the primary goal for his team.

“(If) you step into this city and don’t feel a kick in the gut, then I think you’re a fool,” said Campbell, whose team opens this season against fellow Big 12 title contender Kansas State on Aug. 23 in Dublin, Ireland. “One thing that I love about this team is everybody sprinted back to the facility in January. Nobody moseyed back. From a coaching staff, from a players standpoint, I think everybody came back with purpose.

‘I don’t think anybody was satisfied about what was accomplished a year ago. I think everybody was very proud of some of the milestones that we hit and I think we learned a lot about ourselves last year. The amount of adversity we had to go through last football season was the most adversity I’ve ever had to deal with — and the ability to weather that storm and grow through it was awesome.”

So two things can be true at once. ISU can and should celebrate the array of program firsts the 2024 team achieved, including an unprecedented 7-0 start and first 11-win season. But the Cyclones also should also embrace and learn lessons from the shortcomings that were on full display in that blowout loss to the Sun Devils that kept them one step short of a first league title.

“We got embarrassed on live television in front of everybody in the biggest game of our life,” senior safety Jeremiah Cooper said. “We carry that with us and we use that as motivation.”

As for the adversity Campbell spoke of, that came in the form of injuries — particularly at linebacker and safety. But ISU grew from that trying experience, as well, and now may be as deep as ever in the heart of its defense.

“You’ve seen that (linebackers) room be as talented and competitive as a room probably has been since I’ve been here,” said Campbell, who’s entering his 10th season as the Cyclone’s head coach.

Will that added depth help boost ISU back into Big 12 title contention for the second straight season?

Stay tuned. The first game is now less than 40 days away and the first quarter of the regular season will be grueling.

“It’s all coming fast for this football team,” Campbell said. “But I think this group at least has the lessons learned to be able to handle the challenges in front of us.”

Comments: robgray18@icloud.com