The Loss File

Greetings.

It occurred to me recently I didn’t know much about the games Matt Campbell has lost.

To be clear, I think this topic requires a lot of caveats.

• Iowa State isn’t Penn State.

• The talent gap exists and the resources - especially in Campbell’s early tenure - don’t compare.

• Holding Iowa State to the same expectations as Penn State is just a waste of everyone’s time. It would be like asking Mike Rhoades why Penn State men’s basketball hasn’t turned into Duke yet. It’s just missing the point.

So the fact Matt Campbell has lost a bunch of games [72-55 at Iowa State] doesn’t move the needle for me the same way it might at other places.

That being said, the entirety James Franklin Evaluation came down to the narrative around the games he didn’t win. That’s baggage he will always carry by his side. In turn, it might be informative to learn more about Matt Campbell’s own failures.

Nobody is disputing that he did a good job at Iowa State or that he was a reasonable hire for Penn State to make. That doesn’t mean Campbell doesn’t have bad losses under his belt or trends he will want to reverse in the Big Ten.

This list doesn’t encompass every loss — sometimes you just lose, sometimes the other team is really good — it’s meant to cover some of the trends and notable inflection points during Campbell’s tenure at Iowa State. What you want to make of them is up to you. No two seasons are the same, no two games are the same, no two programs are the same. This is just data void of nuance.

I don’t want to put a ton of stock in something that happened 10 years ago with a program in Square 1 of a rebuild, but for the sake of completeness…

• 25-20 loss vs. Northern Iowa - Iowa State scored 7 second half points.

• 45-42 loss vs. Baylor — Iowa State gave up 17 points in the fourth quarter.

• 38-31 loss vs. Oklahoma State — Iowa State gave up 17 points in the fourth quarter.

• 27-6 loss vs. Texas — Iowa State gave up 21 points in the third quarter.

• 31-26 loss vs. Kansas State — Iowa State was down 31-10 heading into the fourth quarter.

• 34-24 loss vs. Oklahoma — Iowa State was down 28-17 at half, scored 7 second half points.

• 44-41 loss vs. Iowa — Iowa State gave up long TD with 1:09 left to force OT, allowed 17 fourth quarter points after allowing 21 through three quarters.

  

• 49-42 loss vs. Oklahoma State — Iowa State led 42-34 with 8:38 remaining.

• 20-16 loss vs. West Virginia — Iowa State trailed 20-3 at half, shut out WVU in second half.

• 20-19 loss vs. Kansas State — Iowa State gave up 13 fourth quarter points.

• 17-14 loss vs. TCU — close game defeat

• 24-10 loss vs. Texas — Iowa State scored 10 points in a No. 16/15 matchup.

• 28-26 loss vs. Washington State — Iowa State trailed 21-10 at half, held WSU to 7 second half points.

• Win vs. Northern Iowa — Iowa State won but it took until double overtime.

• 18-17 loss vs. Iowa — Iowa State gave up nine points in the fourth quarter.

• 34-27 loss vs. Oklahoma State — Iowa State was down 21-13 at half, outscored OSU 14-13 in second half and lost.

• 27-17 loss vs. Kansas State — Iowa State scored 3 second half points.

• 31-14 loss vs. Louisiana — Iowa State scored 14 first half points.

• 24-21 loss vs. Oklahoma State — Iowa State was down 24-14 with less than a minute to go.

• 27-21 loss vs. Oklahoma — Iowa State was down 24-7 at half, and down 24-21 inside five minutes, gave up TD.

• 27-17 loss vs. Iowa — Iowa State scored 7 second half points.

• 31-29 loss vs. Baylor — Iowa State scored meaningless late TD.

• 38-31 loss vs. West Virginia — Iowa State had one offensive scoring drive in second half.

  

• 41-38 loss vs. Texas Tech — Iowa State was down 28-7.

• 28-21 loss vs. Oklahoma — Iowa State was down 21-7.

• 20-13 loss vs. Clemson — Iowa State was down 20-3.

• 31-24 loss vs. Baylor — Iowa State was down 31-14 in fourth quarter.

• 14-11 loss vs. Kansas — Iowa State scored 3 second half points.

• 10-9 loss vs. Kansas State — Iowa State scored 3 second half points.

• 24-21 loss vs. Texas — Iowa State gave up 75-yard drive inside 10 minutes to go, had ball with 4:40 remaining.

• 27-13 loss vs. Oklahoma — Iowa State scored 7 second half points.

• 20-14 loss vs. Oklahoma State — Iowa State scored 7 second half points.

• 14-10 loss vs. Texas Tech — Iowa State scored 7 second half points.

• 20-13 loss vs. Iowa — Iowa State trailed 17-3 at half.

• 10-7 loss vs. Ohio — Iowa State scored 7 points.

• 28-21 loss vs. Kansas — Iowa State was down 21-3.

• 26-16 loss vs. Texas — Iowa State was down 23-9.

• 36-26 loss vs. Memphis — Iowa State was down 19-0.

• 23-22 loss vs. Texas Tech — Iowa State led 22-17 with 2:11 remaining.

• 45-36 loss vs. Kansas — Iowa State was down 38-13 in second half.

• 38-30 loss vs. Cincinnati — Iowa State trailed 31-7 in first half.

• 24-17 loss vs. Colorado — Iowa State scored 7 second half points.

• 41-27 loss vs. BYU — Iowa State led 24-10 in second quarter, scored 3 second half points.