Five key things to know about Clemson football bowl opponent Iowa State
Clemson is set to face an unfamiliar foe.
The Tigers (9-3) on Sunday were matched up against Iowa State (7-5) in Cheez-it Bowl to be played Dec. 29 (5:45 p.m., ESPN) at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida. It will be the first meeting between the programs.
Here are five things to know about Iowa State:
Breece Hall one of best RBs in nation
Iowa State junior Breece Hall is the No. 1 running back on NFL draft projections by Mel Kiper of ESPN. Hall was named Big 12 offensive player of the year for the second straight time. He has rushed for 1,472 yards (5.8 per carry and 122.7 per game) with 20 touchdowns. He has also caught 36 passes for 302 yards and three scores. Hall (6-1, 220) is only 59 rushing yards away from 4,000 in his career and has run for a touchdown in 24 straight games, a national FBS record. In his last game, a 48-14 win against TCU, he ran for 242 yards on 18 carries and scored four touchdowns.
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Matt Campbell coaching success story
Matt Campbell, 42, has been the coach at Iowa State for six years and owns the best winning percentage (.560) in school history. Since going 3-9 overall and 2-7 in the Big 12 during his first season there in 2016, Campbell is 39-24 and 29-16. He spent seven years as an in the Mid-Atlantic Conference with Bowling Green and Toledo, then four seasons (2012-15) as Toledo’s head coach and being named MAC coach of the year in his final season. Campbell, a native of Massillon, Ohio, was a defensive lineman at Pitt for one year and then transferred to Mount Union, where he would return as offensive coordinator in 2005 and 2006.
Iowa State handled top-10 team
Iowa State beat top-10 team Oklahoma State, 24-21, Oct. 23 at home in Ames, Iowa. Oklahoma State went on to finish 11-2 and was ranked No. 5 nationally in the USA Today Top 25 with a chance at making the College Football Playoffs before falling Saturday to Baylor in the Big 12 title game. Hall ran for a touchdown with 5:29 remaining for the go-ahead score and also gave him rushing TDs in 19 straight games, extending his Big 12 record. Iowa State stopped a fourth-and-2 on its side of the field with 1:09 remaining to secure the victory. Cyclones wide receiver Xavier Hutchinson had 12 catches for 125 yards and two touchdowns.
Cyclones had heartbreaking losses
Eventual Big 12 champion Baylor beat Iowa State only 31-29 in a game Sept. 25 in Waco, Texas, and needed to stop a two-point conversion in the final minute. Hall ran for 180 yards and two touchdowns and also caught a 16-yard TD pass to pull the Cyclones to within two points. They outgained Baylor, 479-282, in total yards. In mid-November, Iowa State inexplicably lost, 41-38, at Texas Tech, which won only three of nine games in league play. The Cyclones then went to Oklahoma the following week and lost only 28-21 to a Sooners team that is 10-2 and ranked No. 11 by USA Today.
Iowa State owns its longest bowl streak
This will mark the first time Iowa State has been to a bowl game in five straight seasons. The Cyclones have been postseason regulars for the past two decades, however, and will appear in their 13th since 2000 but with only five wins. Iowa State beat Oregon last season in the Fiesta Bowl and Memphis four years ago in the Liberty Bowl. Other victories during that span were against Pitt in the 2000 Liberty Bowl, Miami (Ohio) in the 2004 Independence Bowl and Minnesota in the 2009 Insight Bowl. Iowa State went to four bowls in the 1970s, losing two with Johnny Majors as coach and two with Earl Bruce as coach.
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: 5 things to know about Iowa State, Clemson's opponent in Cheez-It Bowl
