After an impressive 5-1 start, the ISU football team has recently taken ill. With losses come questions. Questions concerning the team’s recent struggles. Are the Cyclones good, or merely better than bad opponents? Will they ever beat a Top 25 opponent?

These, plus the following five questions, can be asked to determine the future of this turbulent program. Deciding what the answers mean should give a sense of what kind of program Iowa State really has.

1. How long can Iowa State keep pleading for fan support?

For two seasons now, the Cyclones have started the season looking like major contenders, only to fold come the title fight. Last year a bowl berth was on the line when Texas A&M came to Ames. The stakes could not have been higher, and the players and coaches knew it.

Every interview conducted included pleas to fans to fill the stadium seats. “We need you out there. We are an improved product,” they said. The fans came, shelling out big dollars to do so and witnessed Iowa State play their worst game of the year.

This season, “second verse same as the first, a little bit louder, but a little bit worse,” as the tune goes. This time it was K-State doing the dismantling. The Wildcats made sure ISU fans regretted that they again believed the hype and came to watch a game when the stakes were high. Shame on them.

The football team would be wise to take a page from the women’s basketball team. Make sure you have a good product first, and then plead for the public’s attention. People are happy to shell out a few bucks to see a women’s game, because they know what to expect. With the football team, it is often an unpleasant surprise.

2. Is success a good thing?

Yes, Iowa State made a bowl game last year and will probably do the same this year. Comically, ISU fans should be enjoying these bowl trips, while also secretly hoping for a collapse. Every time Iowa State produces a winner, the head coach bolts faster than the femme fatale in Bill Clinton’s bed when Hillary walks through the door.

In 1971 and 1972, Iowa State made their first two bowl games ever under coaching legend Johnny Majors. Following the 1972 season, Majors fled to greener pastures. His successor, Earl Bruce, took Iowa State to bowl games in 1977 and 1978. Following the 1978 game, Bruce took the bait Ohio State was dangling and left Iowa State in the lurch. Coach McCarney ended the long bowl drought last year. If Iowa State goes to another bowl this year, can we expect someone bigger and better to want him too?

3. How can ISU compete with their current recruiting?

They can’t. That may not be the answer they want to hear, but it definitely seems self-evident. The K-States, Nebraskas and OUs of this world DOMINATE the Cyclones. Anyone who thinks otherwise is loopy. This is not the coaches fault, nor the players. Blame it on tradition. The Cyclones have none, and without it they can’t recruit.

4. Is Iowa State content as an “also-ran?”

Possibly. Fans have been bowl-starved for so long they seem content to go bowling anywhere. Who cares if it is the 2000 Flushes Bowl? Unfortunately, it seems the coaches are also content with simply appearing in a bowl game. “We were 5-1, and now we’re 5-4, but at least we can still make a bowl game,” the coaches say. “Bull Caca,” the fans should say.

Simply achieving the minimum level of success should not be enough to hang your hat on.

5. Will next season be bad?

The magic eight ball is pointing towards yes. Next season is shaping up to be nothing short of nightmarish: Florida State, Iowa in Iowa City, Nebraska here, Texas there, Oklahoma, Colorado and Kansas State on the road. Can everyone say “toughest schedule in the country?”

Iowa State could possibly break their streak of losing to Top-25 opponents next year and not have anything to show for it. In fact, they could beat two Top- 25 teams and still have a losing record. Yikes.

Get out and enjoy the Cyclones now, while they have a winning record. It appears that next year the only winning record they will get close to is the team’s on the other sideline.

Marcus Charter is a junior in journaliism and mass communication from Ames.