NOTEBOOK: Matt Campbell speaks on AP Top 25 and more in Monday’s press conference

Brian Mozey
October 23, 2017

Iowa State football had a historic day yesterday when the team made it into the Associated Press Top 25 for the first time in 12 years.

Head coach Matt Campbell spoke about the memorable day and a few other topics as No. 25 Iowa State is preparing for No. 4 TCU at 2:30 p.m. this upcoming Saturday.

The AP Top 25

Even though it was an exciting day for the city of Ames and many Cyclone fans, Campbell wasn’t too enthusiastic.

“I’ll be honest with you, I had no reaction,” Campbell said.

There was no reaction because the team isn’t finished this season. He expects the team to be reaching these points if they’re going to reach their ultimate goals of winning a Big 12 Championship and a National Championship.

Campbell thinks that if his coaching staff or his players react to the poll, then the team will be out of it. He wants the Iowa State players to stay focused on the task at hand, and the task is to beat TCU at home this weekend.

“It’s great for the school,” Campbell said. “It’s great to everyone to talk about, but the guys behind this wall and this staff, I think they could care less to be honest.”

Marcel Spears Jr. wins Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week

It seems like most of the Iowa State defense is focused around Joel Lanning. He was in the Heisman race for about a week after the Oklahoma upset. Some fans even suggested Lanning as a presidential candidate for Iowa State University.

That spotlight has changed to Spears this week as he won the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week honors.

Spears had the game changing interception in the early part of the fourth quarter at Texas Tech this past weekend. That interception became a pick-six as Spears ran 61 yards for a touchdown.

It was a crucial play because Iowa State was losing momentum and Texas Tech was starting to come back gradually. That pick-six stopped all hope for the Red Raiders and allowed Iowa State to win and become 5-2 overall and 3-1 in the Big 12.

“In spring practice, nobody knew who Marcel Spears was,” Campbell said. “He’s improved greatly and if he continues on this train he will be one of the great linebackers to play here.”

Former Iowa State coaches visiting next weekend

Iowa State is having its homecoming week and the upcoming Saturday game against TCU will be the Cyclones’ homecoming game.

This upcoming weekend will also be a time to remember the past as Dan McCarney and Johnny Majors, two former Iowa State football coaches, will be back at Jack Trice Stadium. Campbell said the program is honoring Majors at the TCU game.

McCarney coached the Cyclones from 1995-2006, recording a 56-85 overall record. He brought Iowa State to five bowl games during his tenure and won the Insight Bowl in 2000 and the Indepedence Bowl in 2004.

Majors was the coach for Iowa State from 1968-1972. He had a 24-26 overall record as a Cyclone and brought them to two bowl games, both of which the Cyclones came out on the losing end. After his career at Iowa State, he went to Pittsburgh, Tennessee and then back to Pittsburgh to finish out his 28 years of coaching.

“It’s great to have people that have been really the foundation of true success here,” Campbell said. “It’s so great for our kids to have coaches like that to come back around because it reminds them of where they want to be.”

Kamilo Tongamoa Update

The redshirt junior defensive lineman Kamilo Tongamoa didn’t travel with the team last weekend because he needed to work on a few things academically at Iowa State according to a tweet from Travis Hines.

Campbell said he wasn’t suspended and he’ll be ready to rock and roll this weekend against TCU.

Tongamoa is the new junior college transfer for the Cyclones. It took him a little longer to come to Ames and start practicing with the team due to some academics he needed to complete before coming to Iowa State.

Even though there’s a history, Campbell said it’s nothing to worry about.

Besides that, Campbell said he’s preparing for a TCU team that relies on speed and is undefeated for a reason.

“They rely on their speed to be one of the most efficient teams and it shows on the field on Saturday,” Campbell said. “It’s going to be a challenge this weekend [against TCU], but we’ll be ready come Saturday.”