Iowa State vs. TCU Recap: The Past, the Present and the Future
“What do we want?!!” my friend Eric yelled into the Jack Trice Stadium night.
Nobody answered. I wasn’t quite sure what we wanted. Iowa State was winning 41-14 in the fourth quarter against TCU. The outcome of the game was not in doubt. Everyone was in a good mood. The game had been pretty much everything we wanted it to be. The Cyclones were taking care of business. They were sending the most successful senior class in history out with a convincing win.
It was the kind of game in which a fan could afford to get greedy. We didn’t just want the Cyclones to win. We wanted to enjoy the heck out of every senior playing their final home game.
So what did we want, according to Eric?
“We want a Chase Allen touchdown!!”
I laughed. Others cheered. It made sense. Eric had been calling for this on the last Iowa State drive, which had instead ended in a Breece Hall touchdown. Allen was a popular senior tight end, sometimes overshadowed in ways by his star teammate Charlie Kolar, but still a key contributor and, by all accounts, a great teammate. The week before, quarterback Brock Purdy had just missed him for what would have been a key first down to keep the upset bid alive against Oklahoma. It just felt fitting that he would get a memorable senior moment.
Purdy threw it to Allen on the third play of the drive for a 15-yard gain. We cheered. Eric put his arms in the air.
“That’s good enough for me,” he said.
It wasn’t good enough for Iowa State. As the Cyclones lined up for the next play, my friend Chris pointed out to us that Allen was still in the game. We could see the play unfolding. Purdy went back to pass. We could see Allen running over the middle, open.
“He’s open!” we all seemed to yell in unison.
Purdy delivered him the ball in stride and he streaked toward the south endzone, just a little way down from our seats in the southwest corner.
“YEAHHHHHHH!!!!!” we yelled. I was jumping up and down as Allen crossed the goal line for the touchdown.
Eric turned around and hugged Chris and me as I’m pretty sure all three of us were jumping around like little kids.
“I’m so happy!” Eric said, over and over, as though we couldn’t tell.
“That’s one of my favorite things that has ever happened at a game,” I said, and I meant it.
It was the perfect way to seal a 48-14 win.
To begin the day, we had watched as 23 Cyclone seniors were honored and celebrated. Coach Matt Campbell had greeted them all as their names were announced, hugged them, in some cases appeared to give words of encouragement or wisdom or maybe just affection, and watched with tears in his eyes as they had their names announced to run onto the field to cheers.
All week, we had been reminded of the success of this senior class that had been unmatched in school history. Since 2017, when many of the seniors were just freshmen, Iowa State played in four straight bowl games and were in line for a fifth. They had led Iowa State to tie a school record in wins in 2020 and make its first ever Big 12 Championship game, in addition to winning the most prestigious bowl game the program had ever won in the Fiesta Bowl. 2021 was predicted to be the best season in school history because of these seniors. It didn’t live up to the hype, but that didn’t make me, or most fans, love them any less.
Reminiscing about the last five years also reminded us how far the program had come. Iowa State entered the day with a 6-5 record and a chance to finish the season with a winning conference record. Just a year before this group had started, and for most of my life, that would have been reason for celebration. This season, it was less than what we had hoped for.
But the past was the past, both in terms of what Iowa State was before 2017, and in terms of any disappointment we felt with the season. In the present, on this day, all we wanted to focus on was the present. These seniors deserved the best version of our fandom. They got it. The fans cheered loud all day and seemed to appreciate every last moment they had supporting this group at home. The team responded with an inspired effort. TCU never really stood a chance.
Almost immediately after the game, we were forced to confront the future. Not just the future of not seeing Purdy, Kolar, Allen and so many others play at Jack Trice Stadium in 2022 and beyond, but the future of whether we would see Campbell roaming the sidelines again as Iowa State’s coach.
Campbell had, pretty much every year since 2017, been rumored for any number of jobs at other schools as well as professional teams. Most of the time, it had been easy to tune out the rumors. They never seemed to pan out into anything, and Campbell was typically quick to dismiss them. In the few days before the TCU game, rumors about Campbell being in the running for a job at the University of Southern California had picked up steam. And this time, for whatever reason, they seemed to have more credibility. Enough so that Campbell was forced to answer about it in his postgame news conference (he gave a mostly noncommittal answer, as would be expected). Local reporters were writing about it and raising questions in a way that told me they believed this to be more credible than in the past.
It was likely we would know more in the next few days after the game, but at that moment in the present it was maddening to have to wait and wonder.
Instead of dwelling on the past, or worrying about the future, I tried to remain in the present. I had just watched Iowa State dismantle a Big 12 opponent. I had gotten to cheer more times than I could count, high-fiving my dad and my good friends in the stands. Personally, I had completed a journey to attend every game in the regular season (while still looking forward to one more trip to whatever bowl game the team would go to). What would next season look like? That could wait. What regrets did I have about what results could have or should have happened in the season? I could reflect on that later.
After all, it was a great day to be a Cyclone.
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Since we were staying with my family in Pella for Thanksgiving, I had talked my dad into coming with me to the last game of the season. I have a love/hate relationship with Black Friday games. On one hand, it takes away from time at home with family. On the other hand, it is typically the best college football weekend of the year (which proved true throughout the course of the weekend). Regardless, I had been to the first 11 games, and there was no way I was missing this one.
The game was scheduled for 3:30 p.m., so we decided to try to get to the tailgate lot a little after 1 to have a little bit of time to tailgate before heading in. Earlier in the week, Iowa State had announced it was unable to find enough people to staff the concession stands during the Thanksgiving weekend, and would allow fans to bring their own food into the game. One of the many reasons I love following so many Cyclone fans on Twitter is because of the inside jokes that form when news like this is announced. Before I knew it, people were joking (or maybe not joking) about taking whole turkeys and pumpkin pies into the stadium.
As for my dad and I, we decided to pack ham sandwiches and pumpkin pie. We parked a little ways away from the rest of our group that was already tailgating.
“Want to have a piece of pumpkin pie before we go over there?” my dad asked.
“Let’s do it!”
After enjoying the pie and a few sips of our drinks, we wheeled our cooler a little ways away to meet up with the rest of the group.
During the first tailgate of the season, I had offered my friend Tyler a Spotted Cow from New Glarus Brewing Company. He was so grateful that he vowed to pay me back. Which he did, two weeks later in Las Vegas, buying me a Coors Light in Allegiant Stadium for something like $12. I considered that even, but he insisted there was no way he could pay me back for a Spotted Cow with a Coors Light. It took him until the final game of the season, but…
“Kyle, I brought you beer!”
It was a six-pack from Kinship Brewing Company, an Iowa brewery. I accepted it gratefully, and offered him another… Spotted Cow.
I caught up with my friends Chris, Charles, Dave, Derek and many others. I was wearing a number of layers and boots, but the sun was shining and it was surprisingly nice for a late November day. We were hoping that TCU, a team from Texas, would think this weather to be freezing cold.
Around 2, I began to anxiously check my phone. The Senior Day ceremony was scheduled to begin at 3:05. I figured it would take a little while to get into the stadium, so my dad and I decided we were going to head to the gates at 2:30. As 2:30 arrived, I noticed the group was getting ready to play one more game, but I knew I had to go.
“Ready to head in?” I asked my dad.
I was glad we did. The line to get into the stadium was about as long as I could remember it being all season. I heard someone else mention they hoped we could get in by the team the senior celebration began. I had the sense that many people were of the same mindset.
Come on line, keep moving.
Finally we were in with just a couple minutes to spare. We walked up the hill to the concourse toward our seats for one last time on the season. We walked through the tunnel to our seats just in time to see the parents and families of the seniors walk onto the field. Then the players lined up on the northwest end of the field. One by one, they had their names announced, hugged Campbell, and jogged onto the field. I watched on the video board and couldn’t help but tear up as I watched Campbell tear up. As guys like Rose, Greg Eisworth, Rory Walling, Allen, Kolar, and finally Purdy were announced, I couldn’t comprehend how this was it for them. And I couldn’t kick that little bit of doubt. What if this is it for Campbell?
Our friends began to file in as the Cyclone Marching Band made its way to the field for one last pregame performance. A little while later, when the team ran onto the field at Jack Trice Stadium for the last time in 2021, I took a moment to soak it in. Each game, home and away, the team would gather in a circle and take a knee for a moment of silence. For years, I had appreciated this moment, but it took on an even different meaning when I discovered they did it at road games as well. It’s hard to describe, but the fact that I was there in the stadium with them when I noticed it at Baylor made me feel more connected to the team. I had kicked myself for not getting a picture at each game (I missed one of the first two home games and the UNLV road game, but had begun to take a picture every game starting in Big 12 play.). This time, I was ready for the photo. Despite announcing earlier in the week that the players would wear red jerseys, the team ran out in all black uniforms. This group of seniors had made the black uniforms synonymous with winning. It was only fitting they’d get to wear them for their final home game.
And just like that, they were ready for kickoff. I looked around at the crowd. The stadium wasn’t full; it was the first time on the season I noticed empty seats. The majority were in the student section’s upper deck as most students were still out of town on their Thanksgiving break. There were a few others scattered here and there. Yet it was drastically more full than many of the November games I had been to, and another reminder of how far the program, and fan excitement, had come. And the enthusiasm was as high. In those moments, we didn’t care that our Big 12 Championship hopes were gone, or that we had lost four heartbreaking conference games. We just wanted one more win for the seniors.
Iowa State took the ball first, and freshman Jaylin Noel immediately delivered the momentum to the Cyclones with a 39-yard return. Purdy threw to Xavier Hutchinson and Kolar for a combined 33 yards on the first two plays, before eventually settling for a field goal by Andrew Mevis to take a 3-0 lead. The teams traded punts before Hall broke off a 24-yard run to get Iowa State back in business to begin the second quarter. Iowa State faced a 1st-and-10 from the TCU 40. We noticed redshirt sophomore running back Jirehl Brock, not Hall, was in the game.
“The future is out there!” Chris said.
Seconds later, Brock was running up the middle of the field untouched for a 40-yard touchdown to make it 10-0!
“THE FUTURE!!!!!” Chris yelled in jubilation as we high-fived.
The present wasn’t quite ready to be the past yet, though. Iowa State got the ball back after a 12-play TCU drive that ended with quarterback Max Duggan getting stuffed on 4th-and-1. A few plays later, it was Hall, from nearly the same spot on the field, bursting through for a 39-yard touchdown run. It was an emotional moment. Hall had just scored a touchdown in his 24th-straight game, which was a new NCAA record. We had just witnessed history. Hall went to the sidelines and gave his head coach a big hug, and then went behind the bench to find his mom. We all watched on the video board and cheered as he presented her with the game ball and gave her a hug. Only a junior, Hall was not honored with the seniors before the game. Most people, though, had little doubt he was playing his final game at Jack Trice Stadium before turning pro. What a moment.
During the game, Hall would move into second place on Iowa State’s all-time career rushing list, trailing only Troy Davis. I never saw Davis play beyond the highlights. I know a lot of people who went to games during that time period swear that he was the best football player they ever saw wear an Iowa State uniform, and I believe them. I can safely say at this point that Hall is the best I ever saw.
The game was nearly an all-out celebration. As we stood and cheered for the defense on TCU’s next possession, Duggan completed a 3rd-and-7 pass to Blair Conwright for a 47-yard touchdown to make the score 17-7 right before halftime. Still, I had little doubt Iowa State was going to win.
As the players ran off the field for halftime, my dad and I got our ham sandwiches out of our pockets. I ate while the marching band played its halftime show. Each year at the last home game, seniors in the marching band get their names announced and line up in a mini-“ISU” formation. They step out of their shoes and march off the field in their socks one final time while playing the fight song, leaving their shoes on the field. And I can say from experience: It’s cold! The 2021 seniors had a relatively warm November late afternoon to leave their shoes on the field. A few of us in the stands reminisced about our final game as seniors. Mine was the 2008 game against Missouri, and it was much colder.
Iowa State wasted little time continuing the party in the second half. Will McDonald sacked Duggan on a 3rd-and-9 on TCU’s first possession, and Darien Porter followed that up with a blocked punt. Purdy threw to Hall for a 22-yard touchdown to all but wrap the game up at 24-7.
“Get out your cellphone lights!” I yelled. Indeed, thousands of fans already had. We knew what was coming: Juicy Wiggle.
I waved my cellphone left and right, up and down, and every which way. I looked around at the tens of thousands of fans doing the same and tried to capture the mental snapshot. It would be nine months before I’d again get to experience this type of moment at Jack Trice Stadium. I was sure that by April I would be daydreaming about it.
The crowd was still pumped up as TCU began to move the ball but faced a 4th-and-1 at the Iowa State 44. We came to our feet and yelled for the defense. The intensity was high enough that if I didn’t know the score, I would have thought the game was tied. Duggan’s fourth down pass was incomplete. Iowa State ran a methodical 10-play drive capped off by a field goal to make the score 27-7.
TCU tried to temporarily put doubt in the minds of the 50,000-plus happy fans when Duggan found Taye Barber for a 51-yard gain near the end of the third quarter. The drive was extinguished when Duggan’s 4th-and-2 pass was intercepted in the endzone by Eisworth, who got his senior moment. The next play, Hall took a handoff up the middle, reversed his direction and was off to the races. He had one man to beat, and Hutchinson did all he needed to in order to block that defender out of the way as Hall neared the goal line, right in front of our section. Hall calmly completed the run for an 80-yard touchdown. We cheered and high-fived and hugged. Iowa State was up 34-7. The game was definitely no longer in doubt, and we were now officially witnessing a special performance by a special player.
During the ensuing timeout, Iowa State players danced and swayed on the sideline to a song on the loudspeakers. The party was on. I almost didn’t even care when Derius Davis returned the kickoff 78 yards and TCU scored four plays later to make it 34-14.
Iowa State immediately began to move the ball again. At some point during the drive is when Eric began to yell for the team to throw a touchdown pass to Allen. Instead, Purdy threw to Hutchinson for 32 yards, Hall ran for 35, and then ran for a pair of 4-yard gains to score another touchdown. What a day. Iowa State was up 41-14.
The Cyclones got the ball back a few minutes later, with time for Eric to yell “What do we want?!” The answer, of course, being a touchdown for Allen. I’m sure Campbell and the team heard him as they drew up the play to get the senior his touchdown and give Iowa State a 48-14 lead.
Campbell’s publicly stated goal for the team was for the players to become the best version of themselves. I’d like to think on Saturday, we saw the best version of the Cyclones.
I didn’t want the game to end, but it did. The week prior, I had stood in the stadium long after the players left the field because I was so dejected for the team and fans (myself included) who so badly wanted to beat Oklahoma. After the TCU game, I didn’t want to leave because, well, I just didn’t want it to be over. The loudspeakers played “Sweet Caroline.” The team lined up in front of the band and sang the fight song, and then eventually headed to the locker room. Everyone around us filed out, except for my dad, Chris and me.
“Isn’t it crazy we have to wait until September to get this again,” Chris said, basically reading my mind.
“Yeah,” I answered. “I’ve struggled with how to describe this, but you look forward to the season for at least six months, and then it’s over in three. It’s just crazy.”
I pointed out that if it was a baseball season, we’d only be halfway through the calendar season (baseball runs for six month). College football season comes and goes in the blink of an eye.
I surveyed the field. After waiting for 21 months between the last game in 2019 and the first game in 2021, it was just over.
The last sporting event I went to before the pandemic shut down the world was a February 2020 men’s basketball game between Iowa State and TCU at Hilton Coliseum. As I walked out that night, I remembered thinking when I walk out of Hilton for the last time, I wonder if I will know in the moment that it’s the last time. I’m sure on some level the uncertainty already caused by the virus had caused me to have that thought. As I began to walk out of Jack Trice Stadium following the TCU game in 2021, I couldn’t help but have a similar thought. Don’t take this for granted. I took a picture, walked toward the exit, and turned around one more time to look at the field before walking out.
Luckily, we still had a bowl game to look forward to. We talked about bowl possibilities on the way out. Orlando, Memphis and Houston were all possible destinations. We would find out in a little over a week. I was grateful for one more chance to be able to watch the team, but also aware that the team could look differently even by that game. Some seniors, and also NFL-hopeful juniors like Hall, would likely opt out of playing to ensure they were healthy before the NFL draft. There likely wouldn’t be another game with this group quite like the one we just witnessed.
The regular season didn’t live up to the lofty standards I had, but still capped a record-setting era. At 7-5, the Cyclones had secured their fifth-straight winning season, a school record. More impressively, Iowa State secured its fifth-straight winning season in Big 12 play at 5-4, a school record by a long shot. According to the school’s notes after the game, from 1996, the first year of the Big 12, through 2016, Iowa State had recorded a winning record in the conference just one time. From 2017 – 2021, Iowa State recorded five straight winning seasons. Somebody pinch me.
The pinch came quickly. The good vibes were short-lived. Immediately after the game, Campbell was asked about the USC rumors and said he hadn’t talked with anyone associated with USC. He didn’t say definitively that he wouldn’t take the job.
I spent the next two days trying not to spend all my time reading the latest rumors, and I breathed a huge sigh of relief when USC hired Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley instead of Campbell. There was plenty of speculation on what Campbell would or wouldn’t have done. I don’t know the truth behind any of it and most of us likely never will. All I knew was that, as of Sunday evening, I could rest easy.
Until Monday, when Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly took a job at LSU. It had long been rumored that Campbell would strongly consider the Notre Dame head coaching job if presented the opportunity. As of the time I wrote this chapter, I didn’t know what the outcome would be (though signs were beginning to point to Notre Dame promoting a coach from within the program).
Not knowing what the future could hold made me apprehensive, but I knew a few things to be true. I wanted Campbell to remain the coach at Iowa State for a long, long time. I also had no control over it, and it wasn’t my right to say what would be best for him or his family. We all have one life to live, and we better do all we can to live it with no regrets. Campbell had earned the right to chase whatever dreams he wanted to chase. I hoped those dreams would ultimately end up being at Iowa State, but knew they might not be.
I also knew this. Campbell had been a Cyclone for six football seasons. I had been a Cyclone for 25 football seasons (and basketball seasons). However many seasons I had left, I’d still be a Cyclone.
If I had learned (or re-learned) anything during my 12-game, 13-week journey, it was that the bond of being a Cyclone fan, or really a fan of any sports team, was deeper than one person. People like me look forward to games all year, develop networks of friends around the common interest, and in some cases travel the country to live out the passion. We cared, a lot, whether the team won or lost, but we’d show up the next time either way, toast each other in the parking lot and high-five after a big play.
That passion will live on. Whether Campbell leaves in a day, a year or 20 years, the most recent five year stretch of unforgettable memories will live on. The joy we had in watching this group of players come together will live on. We will always feel anticipation and excitement for the next group to wear the Cyclone uniform.
