AMES — Iowa State will look to use its experiences from last week’s loss to Texas Tech to come back even stronger with help from a rejuvenated running back.
The Cyclones’ one-point loss to the Red Raiders will sting for a while, but there are always positives to take away from games, even ones that end in a loss.
“The biggest gift we can have is our experiences,” Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell said.
One positive to take away from the game is the performance of sophomore running back Abu Sama III. Coming into the 2024-25 season, Sama was expected to be the lead back for the Cyclones, but that hasn’t been the case.
Following disappointing individual performances, with fellow running backs Carson Hansen and Jaylon Jackson playing well, Sama had started to take a back seat in the Cyclones’ running back room.
“I think he’s a guy that gained some needed confidence moving forward,” Campbell said. “I think we’re all excited about that. I think that room, when one guy goes down, one guy seems to step in and do great things.”
Sama did not take a back seat against Texas Tech. He ran the ball 13 times for a team-high 74 yards, a majority of which came in the second half. That is the most yards Sama has had in a game since the week five win against Houston.
“What happened with [Sama] in the second half is maybe the best complete tailback I’ve seen Abu [Sama] play in his career here,” Campbell said. “That’s really exciting because we all know what his ability is and what he brings to our football team.”
“I feel like I practiced really well last week and it showed,” Sama said.
Despite his performance coming in a loss, Sama putting together a good game was very important in terms of him regaining his confidence.
“Hopefully, even what happened on Saturday allows [Sama] to be at his best down the stretch,” Campbell said.
Having Sama at his best could play a big role in the Cyclones’ ability down the final stretch of the season.
The loss to Texas Tech put an end to a couple of things for Iowa State: it prevented the Cyclones from starting a season 8-0 for the first time in program history and put an end to the longest winning streak in program history since the 1937 and 1938 seasons.
What the loss didn’t do is put an end to Iowa State’s hopes of winning a Big 12 Championship or going to the College Football Playoff. The Cyclones still have everything they have hoped for all season in reach, despite what it may have felt like after last week’s game.
Just take it from Sama, who not only has confidence in himself, but in his team going down the stretch.
“We’re handling it [the loss] pretty well,” Sama said. “We’re not taking the loss and thinking to ourselves ‘Oh it’s over,’ we still have games to play. We have a mindset where we know what we want as a team, where we want to be, and we’re working towards it every day.”
