PHOTO PROVIDED - Iowa State head football coach Matt Campbell looks on during his team’s season-opening practice on Friday in Ames.

AMES — A new season is dawning for Iowa State college football — one with the highest expectations in the program’s 124-year history.

Iowa State football is not only expected to compete at the top of the Big 12 in 2021, but the Cyclones hold legitimate College Football Playoff aspirations.

Monday morning, the team’s Media Day gave an insight into how the team is coping with these high hopes — particularly during head coach Matt Campbell’s press conference.

HIGH STAKES

In this unprecedented season with the Cyclones firmly entrenched as a top team in the Big 12, it would be easy to get lost in the newness of it all.

But don’t tell that to Campbell.

Despite his team gaining more attention than ever, Campbell was adamant that there has not been much change inside the program, or a focus on what the rest of the country is expecting of this group.

“I still don’t think much as changed about our program very much,” Campbell said. “The reality of who we are isn’t very different than where we were four, five years ago other than the fact of, from my standpoint it’s not going to get any easier. Still, how we do what we do is still really challenging, you know, it’s not just ‘Man, we’ve got this all-elite talent.’ We’ve got to be an elite team. I think the process we take to be the best version of us is really hard.”

This consistency throughout the program has been part of what has gotten the Cyclones to these previously-untouched heights ahead of Campbell’s sixth season in Ames.

But Iowa State still doesn’t have the depth of talent schools like Oklahoma and Texas can recruit. This lowers ISU’s margin for error in any given game.

Hence why Campbell is so set on keeping the same mentality.

“We play team football, we have to do the little things really well to still win football games,” Campbell said. “Those things haven’t changed.”

‘X’ TAKES CENTER STAGE

Junior college transfer Xavier Hutchinson was a revelation for the Cyclones in 2020, quickly taking over the lead receiver position from the departed Hakeem Butler. In 12 games, he caught 64 passes for 771 yards and four touchdowns, becoming a go-to guy for quarterback Brock Purdy and setting a high standard for his second season in Ames.

Campbell has been consistently impressed with Hutchinson’s status as the team’s “bell cow” at the position and his consistent approach to the game.

“He’s the same guy on Tuesday and Wednesday, he’s highly talented and he maximizes his full potential,” Campbell said. “He is exactly where he needs to be when this team needs him most.”

BIG SHOES TO FILL

Iowa State hasn’t lost many of its key contributors from the 2020 Fiesta Bowl-winning team.

The few players they did lose filed important roles in the team, though.

Campbell said JaQuan Bailey and Lawrence White stick out as big misses at defensive lineman and safety, but he pointed out that special teams players Kene Nwangwu and Landen Akers represent just as big of a loss for a team that has to thrive in the small details in order to reach its peak.

“There’s so many things that Landen’s done for this team,” Campbell said. “You talk about glue and I talk about that a lot in our program, and I think what we lost is a lot of glue. Who takes over those things, who continues to uncover that, what does that look like and where are we? I think those things will be really fun to watch and see who takes those roles and who picks up the slack from some really glue plays that held our football team together in some trying times.”

The big names are mostly back for the Cyclones. But for a team built on “glue guys,” who takes the place of Nwangwu and Akers could have a big impact on where the team finishes.