Matt Campbell sees improvement in Iowa State football ahead of West Virginia matchup
AMES — Iowa State football entered last Saturday’s game with hopes of snapping its losing streak – especially coming off the bye week – but that's not what happened.
The Cyclones lost their fifth straight game when Oklahoma pulled out a 27-13 victory in Jack Trice Stadium. As the only team without a conference win, Iowa State remains firmly at the bottom of the Big 12 ahead of Saturday’s matchup against West Virginia, which has one conference win against Baylor.
Iowa State might, for the first time in conference play, have the advantage based on statistics alone. While the Cyclones' offense is still last in the Big 12, the defense is still first, allowing an average of just 16.6 points per game. West Virginia’s offense is in the middle of the pack – sixth in the conference – and the Mountaineers' defense is dead last.
And as injuries have plagued Iowa State's running backs, West Virginia will be without one of the best rushers in the conference. Mountaineers coach Neal Brown confirmed that running back CJ Donaldson had surgery on Monday and will miss the remainder of the season.
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Donaldson’s loss doesn’t mean that West Virginia can’t win on Saturday, and Iowa State coach Matt Campbell knows that as well as anybody. In fact, when Campbell thinks about West Virginia’s offense, he thinks of the wide receivers.
“As most West Virginia teams that we have played, if you’re talking about elite athleticism, you look at the wide receiver position,” Campbell said Tuesday. “I think no matter who’s running the football for those guys, I think they’ve been really productive in the running game.”
Here is what else Campbell discussed during Tuesday’s media availability.
What position group looks better from the start of the season?
There has been a lot of focus on what Iowa State does wrong, and with five straight losses looming over the program, it makes sense.
But when asked about which position groups were most improved from the beginning of the season to now, Campbell acknowledged it was the corners and defensive line. In terms of corners, he referenced Darien Porter, who's had at least one tackle in all but two games. On the defensive line, Campbell shouted out Joey Petersen, Domonique Orange and MJ Anderson.
“If you look at where that group was a year ago, at this time…it was very young, inexperienced and very inconsistent to where it is today,” Campbell said of the corners. “I think it’s one of the strengths of our team right now, and the way they played with consistency.”
Will Colby Reeder suit up against West Virginia?
Good news for the Iowa State running game: Jirehl Brock and Cartevious Norton both got meaningful playing time against Oklahoma. For Norton – a true freshman who was injured in the season opener – it was his first experience playing a full game at the college level.
Campbell did comment that the Cyclones opted to limit Brock a bit more against the Sooners. That was part of an attempt to get him through four quarters of football and see if he was back to full strength, which Campbell thinks he is.
Colby Reeder was a notable name missing against Oklahoma. Campbell is confident that his linebacker will play against West Virginia.
“I think Colby Reeder will play,” Campbell said. “Like I said last week, he was really close to playing last week. Obviously, it’d be great to have Colby back.”
The only player as of now that is out for the season is Malik Verdon. Campbell would not give specific details about his injury, but did share that he had surgery last week and would be able to return for winter conditioning and spring football.
Alyssa Hertel is the college sports recruiting reporter for the Des Moines Register. Contact Alyssa at ahertel@dmreg.com or on Twitter @AlyssaHertel.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa State coach Matt Campbell's comments ahead of West Virginia game
