Peterson: Iowa State predicted to finish ... SEVENTH!?! ... in the Big 12? What the heck?

Randy Peterson | The Des Moines Register

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AMES, Ia. — Just as I was fixin’ to write a column about Iowa State football finally getting a little Big 12 Conference love for a change, this happens . . .

Cyclones Picked to Finish Seventh

What the heck . . .

A day after the conference media selected three Cyclones to the preseason team – David Montgomery, Brian Peavy and JaQuan Bailey. . .

Seventh?

Looks like that "No Respect" mantra I was about ready to write being a thing of the past is back in full glory again.

After upsetting Oklahoma in Norman with a backup quarterback, and after upsetting TCU at home, and after capping an eight-win season with a Liberty Bowl win against Memphis on its home turf, and get this:

After the coaches picked Matt Campbell as the 2017 Big 12 Coach of the Year . . . .

Cyclones Picked to Finish Seventh

I can hear it now . . .

"No respect for Iowa State football."

Oklahoma first. Texas Tech, Baylor and Kansas bringing up the final three.

Iowa State seventh.

Old habits are tough to break, I guess. Kyle Kempt, who popped from clipboard-holding obscurity to knocking off an Oklahoma outfit that was third nationally, got another year of eligibility, right, after winning five games as Cyclones starter?

I don’t think Montgomery suddenly left the team while I vacationed last week; at least the news didn’t reach northwest Iowa.

Did something happen to Hakeem Butler, Brian Peavy and JaQuan Bailey? Please, fill me in.

I guess I was wrong in thinking Matt Campbell’s third team is better than his second. And I must be equally wrong in believing the Big 12 to be a smidge down from last season.

Oh well . . .

Prepare yourselves for another round of the "No Respect" chip on Cy’s shoulder at Big 12 media days next week.

Being the only team that beat the Big 12 title game combatants didn’t mean squat. Montgomery’s 1,146-yard rushing season — and the bruising way he did it — must not have turned heads.

Many players returning from one of the Big 12’s top defenses didn’t carry any clout, nor did all the offensive potential that’s back, but that’s all right.

Campbell, the players and fans who follow Iowa State football know their program is trending quite nicely, regardless how people voted.

“What finally resonates in our program, is that this can happen — not only with our players, but with the people outside of our program,” Campbell said during the Cyclones Tailgate Tour. “Success and winning football games in Ames, Iowa, can really happen.”

Yard by yard, practice by practice and rep after rep, this program shows improvement — regardless what people say.

“It’s been like a chain reaction,” Peavy said. “When younger guys come into the program, they see how the older guys do things. They act like the older guys act, and it continues with each new guy that comes into the program.”

For years, Iowa State fans and players have screamed about their program and players getting no love. For years, Cyclones football received all the respect, love or whatever you want to call it, that it deserved.

Compared to past preseason forecasts, this is actually decent. Most recently, the Cyclones have been picked ninth, ninth, ninth, ninth, ninth, eighth, ninth, sixth, sixth, sixth and sixth.

That’s 11 seasons of well-deserved almost-basement predictions, in which those teams proved everyone correct 10 times. The only blip was last season — ninth in July, tied for fourth in November. Liberty Bowl win against Memphis.

It’s not the be-all-end-all, these preseason guesses — and maybe the players will say they’ll turn it into a positive. It’s certainly a refrain we’ve heard in the past.

Iowa State columnist Randy Peterson has been with the Register for parts of five decades. Randy writes opinion and analysis of Iowa State football and basketball. You can reach Randy at rpeterson@dmreg.com or on Twitter at @RandyPete.