Why Akron has Iowa State's complete attention

AMES, Ia. — One of the biggest turning points for the Iowa State football program last year came following its 41-14 win at Akron. Instead of praising his team for a blowout win over the Zips, Iowa State football coach Matt Campbell issued a challenge to his team. 

After a close first half against the Zips, the Cyclones needed a strong second half to pull away. So Campbell talked to his team about the importance of paying attention to details and playing complete games, regardless of who the opponent is. 

“I think I’ve been pretty adamant that the scoreboard will take care of itself, it always does,” Campbell said. “But how you play the game, the intent that you play with, I refuse to settle for that. And if I don’t see it done that way, then I’m going to address it and I’m going to attack our culture every day. I felt like last year’s game was an attack on our culture on how we played the game.”

Campbell’s message is important as ever this week. And that’s part of the reason why Akron will have Iowa State’s complete attention when the Zips take on the Cyclones on Saturday at Jack Trice Stadium at 11 a.m.

“We don’t take any team lightly,” said Iowa State wide receiver Matt Eaton. “Any week, anything is possible.”

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Iowa State got a crash course in that lesson last year when it closed out non-conference play with a trip to Akron.

The Cyclones left with a 41-14 win over the Zips, but the score is a bit deceiving. Things were much closer than that for Iowa State, which let the Mid-American Conference opponent hang around throughout the first half with a sluggish start. Iowa State ended the first half leading by just six points.

It took a strong second half of scoring 21 unanswered points for the Cyclones to finally pull away. That's not what Campbell focused on.

Instead, the Cyclones coach used the sluggish start in the first half as a teaching tool, saying after the game, “the details that it takes to be successful aren’t there yet.” Campbell added that “there’s a lot of work to do with our football team.”

 A let down against a non-conference opponent Iowa State should have rolled over from start to finish may have happened. So Campbell preached to his team that moments like that in any game could never happen moving forward. 

“Last year was tough,” Campbell said. “That’s not what I wanted our football program to play like.”

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The message got through and stuck with the Cyclones all season. But has it carried over into this season? It'll be tested again Saturday when the Cyclones face a 2-0 Akron squad is coming off a 39-34 upset at Northwestern. Campbell said if last season taught his team anything, it’s that their eyes should have been opened to Akron long before last week’s win.

“My hope is that if that’s what motivates us, then we’ve got the wrong team this year,” Campbell said. “The reality from our end of it is, just like the week before, we have to get better. We have to continue to strain to grow because we know that’s our recipe for success. That’s the one thing I do like about this group of kids, it doesn’t matter what the record is, it doesn’t matter what happened yesterday, it’s how can I get better today? They’ve really been that way for nine months and I don’t see that changing for this group.”

Campbell’s message to play a complete football game may be as important as ever. In fact, any letdown this week by the Cyclones could be disastrous. During last week’s upset at Northwestern, the Zips erased a 21-3 deficit at halftime by outscoring the Wildcats 36-7. Akron’s defense delivered some of the biggest blows with a fumble recovery from a touchdown a pair of pick 6’s by Alvin Davis, including one for 97 yards.

"You can see that they're confident," said Iowa State quarterbacks coach Joel Gordon. "And that's a good defense. When they play fast, they're doing what they're supposed to do — they're sound in their assignments and they're making plays. Anytime you get three turnovers in a half of football and they all go for touchdowns, that's going to give you a lot of confidence playing on that side of the ball. So, it's a challenge." 

But it's a challenge Iowa State should be able to handle, especially after coming so close to knocking off No. 5 Oklahoma week before. That's why Iowa State enters the brief break form Big 12 Conference play against Akron as 19-point favorites over the Zips. Despite all those factors, Campbell believes his message from a season ago still resonates with these Cyclones. 

"We've got some good leadership on this football team," Campbell said. 

AKRON (2-0, 0-0 IN THE MAC) AT IOWA STATE (0-2, 0-0 IN BIG 12)

WHERE: Jack Trice Stadium, Ames

TIME/TV: 11 a.m., FSN (announcers: Mark Followill, Brian Baldinger, Lesley McCaslin).

LINE: Iowa State by 19

WEATHER: Sunny. High of 57. Winds at SE at 9 mph.