Kirk Ferentz sees Iowa similarities in Iowa State growth under Matt Campbell

AMES — The 2016 edition of the Cy-Hawk football game might as well have happened in 2006.

That is if you ask Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz, anyway.

What Iowa State brought to the field to begin last season is a far cry from what it brings now — and even what it brought at the end of last season. Year 1 to Year 2 under head coach Matt Campbell is a transition Ferentz said Tuesday he's impressed by.

Yeah, the Cyclones had a rough go of it to start Campbell's first season, but closed in much different fashion. As a guy whose tenure at Iowa started even rougher, Ferentz can relate.

'I'm not an expert, but just an outsider's opinion, it looks like they transitioned a lot faster than we did,' Ferentz said. 'It took us quite a while to get some traction.'

He's not wrong.

Of course, anyone paying attention at the time remembers the bleak year-plus in Iowa City. The Hawkeyes went 1-11 in 1999, with the lone win coming at home against Northern Illinois, and included a loss to Iowa State as well as blowout losses to No. 5 Nebraska (42-7), No. 2 Penn State (31-7) and No. 9 Wisconsin (41-3).

Year 2 wasn't a ton better, but showed promise. Iowa started 0-5, falling again to Iowa State and again taking a blowout loss to No. 1 Nebraska, 42-13. But on Oct. 7, the Hawkeyes got their first conference win and win against a ranked opponent in beating No. 25 Michigan State. They also got back-to-back conference wins against Penn State and No. 18 Northwestern. Of Iowa's five conference losses, two were one-possession losses in a 13-7 loss to Wisconsin and 27-24 loss to Minnesota.

Since then, of course, the Hawkeyes have only had a losing record under Ferentz twice.

As for Iowa State, you could basically apply Ferentz's Year 2 to Campbell's Year 1.

The Cyclones started 0-3 with losses to Northern Iowa, the 42-3 shellacking at Kinnick Stadium and a loss at TCU. After Campbell's first win as ISU head coach against San Jose State, the Cyclones lost five straight — but lost leads in the first three of those losses. Iowa State surrendered a 42-28 lead in a 45-42 loss to Baylor (17 unanswered fourth-quarter points), gave up a 31-21 lead over Oklahoma State in a 38-31 loss (17 unanswered fourth-quarter points again), then gave up 27 unanswered points to lose 27-6 to Texas.

The tide turned a bit against Kansas State, though. The Cyclones scored 16 straight in the fourth quarter but still fell 31-26 and held their own in a 34-24 loss to No. 12 Oklahoma.

Then came back-to-back conference wins against Kansas and Texas Tech. It was the 66-10 win against the Red Raiders that opened the most eyes to what was possible under Campbell.

Ferentz noticed.

'From my vantage point, midseason on, they were playing much better,' Ferentz said. 'The first half of the season, you take all those tapes, really and just throw them out. They are not much value for us to look at.

'People kind of started embracing what they were doing, what the staff was selling, at least watching on film. Started playing together and got really positive results. … And certainly we saw further progress Saturday. Looked like a really good football team on Saturday.'

To ask Campbell and Co., they see things in much the same way. It would be hard not to.

Standout running back David Montgomery, who rushed 14 times for 82 yards and two touchdowns last week against UNI, said the beginning of last season 'to an extent' seems much longer ago given all the progress, and cited leadership within the locker room as the reason.

Montomgery said the biggest difference he sees is in guys like Allen Lazard and Hakeem Butler heeding the request from Campbell to be active and present leaders.

'The leaders and the way we approach things now are completely different,' Montgomery said.

Campbell obviously wasn't around Iowa for the beginning of Ferentz's tenure, but said he had a 'tremendous amount of respect for Coach Ferentz and how he built that program, what they've done to sustain success in my opinion,' and added what Ferentz has done is 'a great beacon for any young coach out there.'

Saturday's Cy-Hawk game is a year removed from one that was not competitive. Given what Ferentz and Campbell both have seen in the last 12 months, the series not being competitive likely is a distant memory.

'I think the biggest difference for us is our process and how we prepare for games,' Campbell said. 'It's the maturity and mentality that is just light years compared to where we were a year ago to where we are today. I think a lot of that goes with expectations of what our young men in our program can expect from myself and our staff to now demanding those expectations from them.

'We've still got a lot of work to do in Year 2 for us. We're really excited about what our opportunities are in terms of continuing to get better week-in and week-out and understanding the process.'

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