Peterson: Iowa State coach Matt Campbell was blunt with postgame comments after Ohio loss

ATHENS, Ohio – Matt Campbell was blunt with his comments after Saturday’s 10-7 loss at Ohio. Very blunt, compared to the way Iowa State’s coach usually is during postgame interviews.

Was he trying to motivate his team, which enters nine Big 12 Conference games in a row on Saturday with a 1-2 record?

Was he bothered with the way his team played against a MAC opponent?

Was he being truthful after his team’s rushing game hit rock bottom for this season, and maybe even seasons prior?

I’ll lean with all of the above, because what the eighth-season Cyclones head coach said was reality. And if you watched the game, either in person or on the tube, there’s no sugar-coating it.

The rushing part of this offense was abysmal. It was like the guys in charge of making backs like Cartevious Norton and Abu Sama go were someplace other than Peden Stadium.

Just 38 rushing yards in one game? That’s not a misprint. It’s the fewest Cyclones rushing yards in a game since getting 26 last season in a 14-11 loss at Kansas. (Yeah, I too thought it would be more seasons ago than that.)

More: Iowa State football mailbag: Where do the Cyclones go from here after a loss to Ohio?

And the Big 12 starts on Saturday?

“It’s disappointing, because we know we’re better than this as an offense,” Campbell said.

Disappointing, indeed.

Fixable?

That’s the Cyclones’ hope, but for how many games have we been waiting for the offensive line and the rushing game to improve? Since Breece Hall turned pro after the 2021 season, that’s how many.

I mean, really, Iowa State’s longest rush Saturday was 11 yards, by Norton, and he was one of the handful of players who had food poisoning shortly after landing in Columbus late Friday afternoon. Really?

Eight of the Cyclones’ 23 rushes were between zero and a minus-4 yards. That’s ridiculous.

Quarterback Rocco Becht leading the Iowa State rushers with 31 yards on nine carries? Embarrassing, and that’s not throwing the Cyclones’ quarterback under the bus.

Speedy Sama’s rushing total being three rushes for minus-five yards?

Again, that’s not as much on the ball carriers as it is on the guys supposed to be playing with violence – expected to be providing at least something of a running lane.

Instead of that, it was take handoff – and run for your life.

“The simplicity of it is that I thought their kids wanted it more,” Campbell said after the game.

Ouch.

“They were the more physical team,” he went on.

Ouch again.

More: Peterson: Iowa State must rebound quickly from its embarrassing rushing effort vs. Ohio

“At the end of the day, to win a football game, I don’t care who it is or where it is, your physicality has to show up,” the coach continued. “Your want-to has to show up.”

Ditto the ouches.

“A lack of consistency and a lack of urgency, especially in some areas, continue to show up,” he said. “That’s unacceptable.”

That’s right.

“We’ve got to get it fixed,” Campbell said. “It’s our responsibility. It’s really my responsibility. It’s my responsibility to get the football team to play. It’s my responsibility for them to have a sense of urgency. There’s nobody to blame but myself.”

I’ll have to take that at face value. Campbell obviously knows his team and his staff better than we do. He’s being accountable. That’s expected. He’s deflecting heat the team is getting from loyal fans who want more.

I understand that, too.

At some point, however, players must do their part.

“In the beginning of the week, we had good practices,” Becht said. “Last week (against Iowa), we didn’t have that urgency.”

They certainly lacked urgency again Saturday, and as for the finishing plays comments – some offensive plays were finished before they even started.

“We have the guys to do it,” Becht said of a successful running game. “We’re going to fix it. We’re going to get better.”

As far as a running game that’s currently a non-factor, there’s no place to go but up. Anything positive is better that what we saw Saturday.

Oklahoma State comes to Ames for Saturday’s 3 p.m. game at Jack Trice Stadium. For the Cyclones to start 1-0 in the Big 12, a lot must change in the days leading up to the game.

“There’s a lot of good stuff,” Campbell said, obviously not talking about the rushing factor. “I thought Rocco played his tail off. We made some plays defensively at times when we needed to.

“Other than the field goal situation, we did some really things on special teams.”

Otherwise?

“The lack of consistency is hurting our football team to win football games.”

That’s from Campbell, who was as straight-forward after a loss as I’ve seen him since parts of the Cyclones’ 41-14 victory at Akron in 2014 weren’t exactly to the head coach’s liking. Here’s what he said then:

“The details that it takes to be really successful aren’t there yet,” said Campbell, who was in his second season at Iowa State after that game. “There’s a lot of work to do with our football team … If we’re only going to play a half, then it’s going to be a long year.”

He wasn’t finished, after the 27-point victory..

“If we’re judging ourselves by a scoreboard, then we’re really wrong,” he told us.

How did Iowa State respond to what he said after that game and those constructive words?

Four wins in a row. A date with Tulsa in the 2012 Liberty Bowl. That’s how it responded.

“We’ll definitely get better from this,” Becht said Saturday. “I think this is just what we needed, going into conference play.”

We’ll find out on Saturday afternoon.

Iowa State columnist Randy Peterson is in his 51st year writing sports for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at rpeterson@dmreg.com, and on X @RandyPete

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Peterson: Iowa State wasn't mentally ready to play Saturday