Coach Matt Campbell spoke his full 45 minutes at the Iowa State football media day on August 3 and everything was going well. The common topics of Allen Lazard, Joel Lanning, Jacob Park, the defense and the offense came up and were answered.

Then, the 43-minute mark hit and the last question rang throughout the auditorium. It’s a question that most Iowa State fans and media want an answer to, but Campbell despised talking about it in detail.

The question was simple. What is the likelihood of reaching a bowl game this upcoming season?

Campbell and his staff are on the first week of fall camp. They’re looking at battles between key positions for starting spots on the roster. They haven’t even looked over the film of the opponents for the Cyclones first game of the regular season against Northern Iowa and the staff must decide whether this team is making a bowl game?

That seems unfair.

He also thought the question was unfair by expressing his true feelings on the matter of winning and losing during a football and the expectations for Iowa State this season.

“The future of the program has zero to do with winning and losing,” Campbell said. “Obviously at the end of it, winning and losing will take care of itself. No great competitor in this room than Matt Campbell. I’ll cheat golf if I have to, to win.”

I think the better question for Iowa State fans should be, will Matt Campbell improve the Cyclones record going into his second year as an Iowa State head coach?

The team finished the season 3-9 with wins coming from San Jose State, Kansas and Texas Tech.

The short and sweet answer is yes, he will improve the record.

Campbell has three games that should be locks for wins with Northern Iowa, Akron and Kansas this season. Then, the team must beat either Iowa, Texas, Texas Tech, West Virginia or Baylor, which is possible.

That’s four, at least, and an improvement.

If Campbell reaches four wins, he will be the first Iowa State coach since Jim Walden in the 1987 and 1988 seasons to improve the team record from the coach’s rookie and second year seasons. The other answer regarding the bowl game is still up in the air, but the improvements will lead to the bowl opportunity.

“Like six wins. Is that our goal? To win six games? Not here, not me,” Campbell said. “My goal is to win every game. It’s a process, but I want to see the growth of our players.”

Campbell’s favorite word is process. It’s always about the process and that develops growth. In this case, Campbell may be right about the process and having to see how the players develop at the early part of this season.

He has one year under his belt in a Power Five conference, but he’s learned some lessons during his rookie season. He adjusted to style of play, the intensity of the Big 12 and the biggest point, he’s seen how every team plays not on just film, but in person, on the sideline.

“Everybody has a great quarterback at this level,” Campbell said. “So, every week will be a challenge.”

Campbell is working his way into making these players a bowl contending team, but I would recommend the fans enjoy the first few weeks of the season before anticipating anything or throwing in the towel. The team should be 2-1 or 3-0 within the first three weeks before the Big 12 conference games hit the team’s schedule.

At that point, fans and media will have a better look at whether this team can reach a bowl game and possibly reach the upper half of the Big 12 standings.

Campbell’s biggest goal is to bring a Big 12 championship to the town of Ames in the future. It might not be this season, but improvement is the first step to reaching this goal.

Until then fans, sit back and relax and enjoy the first few weeks of the Iowa State football season.