Peterson: Iowa State football has risen from 64-point loser to favorite over past decade

AMES − Go back 10 years. Revisit the 2013 Iowa State-Baylor football game for a real sense of how far the program Matt Campbell runs so well has progressed.

Specifically, it’s gone from a 33-point underdog that season to a road favorite when the Cyclones play in Waco on Saturday.

That’s a 34-point swing in the betting line since Iowa State was humiliated 71-7 in 2013. Art Briles’ team had 714 yards and 32 first downs. The Cyclones’ Kirby Van Der Kamp’s 10 punts accounted for 431 yards – 257 more than Iowa State’s total offense.

And you wonder how far Iowa State football has come in the past decade, including the past seven-plus seasons under Campbell?

More: Matt Campbell sees similarities between Iowa State football and Baylor ahead of matchup

Sure, there have been some bumps over the 105 games since what possibly was the worst loss in Cyclones football history. That’s bound to happen, but there’s also been highs – like playing in the 2020 Big 12 Conference championship game, defeating Oregon in that season’s Fiesta Bowl, and the shocking 2017 upset at third-ranked Oklahoma.

“We’ve had some good times and some not-so-good times, but I believe that every time we’ve gone out, we’ve believed we have an opportunity to win the football game,” Campbell said during his weekly Tuesday press conference. “That’s the biggest thing that’s changed over the course of seven or eight years − there’s belief that you can and have the ability to win football games.”

The program has battled back after faltering to 4-8 last season and a humiliating loss at Ohio a month ago.

“After that game, we all looked each other in the face, and said 'We’re better than this,'” quarterback Rocco Becht said Tuesday.

More: Iowa State readies for five-game sprint to the finish after bye week

These Cyclones are tied for second place in the conference. They’re preparing to face a Baylor team that 10 years ago beat them so badly, then-ISU coach Paul Rhoads called it a fiasco.

"They know they just got whipped," Rhoads said of his guys after the game. "I know I just got whipped. I can't sulk; I can't pout. I have to figure out how to do my job better, as they work to do their job better. That's what a team does, and that's what we'll set out to do."

A decade later, early betting lines favor the Cyclones by a point or two. That's partly because of Iowa State winning three of the past four games since losing at Ohio, and partly because the Bears haven’t played like Baylor teams of the past.

“There’s been a global change (in mindset) – of we can be successful here,” Campbell said. “How to be successful here is not easy, but the time, the effort and the commitment of everybody that’s involved in the program believe in (the notion) you can have success here at Iowa State.”

More: Everything you need to know about Saturday's Iowa State football game at Baylor

The Cyclones are playing their best football of the season at a time when that counts the most. At 3-1 in the Big 12 and 4-3 overall, Campbell’s team needs two more wins over the next five games to return to the postseason for the fifth time in the past six seasons.

If it happens, it’s because of how this team’s leaders, coaches included, rallied their teammates the past four games – how they responded to adversity, which in this instance was a 10-7 loss against a MAC team, not a 64-pointer against a Power Five opponent.

“Coach Campbell embraces his role as an educator far more than any college football coach I have ever been around,” Jamie Pollard, in his 19th year as the AD at Iowa State, texted me Monday. “He has not wavered one time from his approach of building a player-driven program that is committed to using the sport of football to help prepare young men for the challenges they will face the rest of their lives.

“He truly believes his role is much greater than just trying to win games. His overall approach has been a perfect match for our program, and as a result he has gotten far better results than any Iowa State football coach before him.”

The Cyclones have won 34 Big 12 games since 2017, tied for third-most in the league during that span. That includes, don’t forget, going 1-8 in the Big 12 last season.  Their confidence is high, something Jeff Woody, who played in that 71-7 nightmare a decade ago, notices while watching his alma mater these days.

“It’s their belief that there’s no game they go into where they look at it as an uphill battle,” Woody told me. “I never thought we’d lose any game back when I played, but I looked at games like ... we’d have to play harder to win. Now, the players look at it like if they just play their own game – they’ll win.

“That 2013 game was as helpless as I’ve ever felt in sports.”

That’s certainly not the case now for Campbell's program.

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

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: 10 years after Iowa State's 64-point loss at Baylor, growth is clear