What a ride!

It’s unbelievable to think that two years have already flown by and Saturday was my last Iowa State football game as one of the Iowa State Daily football reporters. It’s definitely been a journey, but a fun opportunity and privilege.

When I came in as a football reporter, it was the spring of 2016 and coach Matt Campbell was just starting as Iowa State’s head football coach. During the spring practices, he continued to talk about how this process was going to take some time and it wasn’t an overnight development.

That was completely true and it showed in the 2016 season. Most Iowa State fans and media expected a win at home against Northern Iowa to start out the season on the right foot.

Instead of winning, Iowa State fell to the Panthers 25-20 in the first week and then the following week, the Cyclones get throttled by the Iowa Hawkeyes in Iowa City with a 42-3 final score.

The only three wins Campbell and the football team earned in 2016 were against San Jose State, Kansas and Texas Tech. I’m guessing Campbell didn’t expect to be 3-9 at the end of his first season in a Power Five Conference and be at the bottom of the Big 12 standings.

Even with those results, Campbell was positive as he was preparing for the 2017 season.

That expectation was, and still is, to win a national championship and put Iowa State on the national radar.

According to senior Allen Lazard and redshirt senior Joel Lanning, the football team worked harder in the weight room and on the practice field to get physically ready and mentally ready for the 2017 season. The team may be positive about the progress, but fans need results, so the next test was going to prove those improvements on the field.

That 2017 season started at Jack Trice Stadium against Northern Iowa, a team that the Cyclones should win easily. I remember the first drive of the game, the Panthers took the ball down the field and scored.

After that score, there were a few mumbles from the press box about when does Iowa State’s men’s basketball team start playing. It was a joke of course, but once Iowa State punted after four plays into their first drive of the season, it became less of a joke.

Then, Willie Harvey intercepted a Northern Iowa pass and returned it for a touchdown to tie the game early in the first quarter. After that interception, I realized the potential that this Iowa State team had for the next 11 games of the regular season.

Back in August, I did say that Iowa State would make a bowl game, but in a different way than what the Cyclones actually did this season. After the win against Northern Iowa to start the season 1-0, Iowa came to Ames and it was a fight until the very end.

It took more than four quarters to decide a winner, but after one overtime the Hawkeyes came out on top. Even though it was a loss, that game showed the fight and grit of Iowa State and opened up my eyes on the possibility of the Cyclones reaching a bowl game.

The next couple weeks went smooth with a win at Akron and the bye week. Then, it was Big 12 time starting with Texas at Jack Trice Stadium on a Thursday night. During that night at the game, I was thinking two things.

The first was that this needed to finish sooner than later because the Iowa State Daily had a deadline for printing the paper for Friday morning. But, the second part, and the most important, was how important this win would be for the Cyclones.

Once Iowa State lost to Texas on Thursday night, I thought this was the end to the Cyclones’ chances of reaching a bowl game. There’s no way to reach a bowl game when you lose to Iowa and Texas, which were must-win games for bowl eligibility.

Little did I know that the month of October was going to be one of the best months in Iowa State football history.

A 4-0 record, two top-five wins against then-No. 3 Oklahoma and then-No. 4 TCU, a ranking in the AP Top 25 poll for the first time since 2005 and a change in quarterbacks from Jacob Park to Kyle Kempt all happened in the month of October.

After the homecoming win against TCU, I thought this Iowa State team not only would be bowl eligible, but I thought the cardinal and gold were heading down to Texas for the Big 12 title game in December. All the momentum was with Iowa State and the football program had the attention of a national audience for the first time in a long time.

Nothing could stop this team, until the month of November arrived. Then, Iowa State did a full 180-degree switch as the Cyclones went 1-3 in the month losing to West Virginia, then-No. 12 Oklahoma State and, finally, a beatable Kansas State team.

After that month, all hopes of a Big 12 title game vanished and the question became what bowl would Iowa State play in for the bowl season?

On Selection Sunday, part of me was hoping for the Camping World Bowl or the Cactus Bowl because it would be warm and still a good game. Another part of me was hoping for the Liberty Bowl because of its tradition and how close it was to Ames where it could be a shorter drive to get down there.

Then, it was announced. Iowa State was heading to Memphis, Tennessee, for the AutoZone Liberty Bowl. The first time since 2009 that the Cyclones were playing in a bowl game and the first time in my career that I was going to report at a bowl game.

What a way to end the season and my Iowa State football reporting career. Not only did I get to go to Memphis for a week and experience the events leading up to the bowl game like the parade and tasting some of the best barbecue of my life, but the Iowa State Daily staff was able to cover a bowl game.

To add the cherry on top, the Cyclones defeated the Memphis Tigers on Saturday afternoon 21-20. Iowa State players and coaches rushed the field after the final kneel of the game and there was even a stage that broke for the trophy presentation.

While taking a 10-hour drive back home to Ames over the past couple of days, I was able to reflect on the past two seasons as a football beat writer and it’s been a great run. From feature stories like Campbell’s first game of his Iowa State career to Brian Peavy’s tribute to the city of Houston to Matthew Eaton Jr. and his rich heritage of military family members.

It’s been an honor and a blessing to represent the Iowa State Daily at each and every press conference and game. This isn’t the end of my career at the Iowa State Daily as I’m still reporting on the men’s basketball team and finishing my position as sports editor, but the football part of my career has concluded.

What a ride!