Peterson: Finally, after longest off-season in football history, it's Iowa State game week

Des Moines Register
AMES – One of the wildest off-seasons in college football’s rich history has finally given way to Game Week. Thank goodness.
After seven exhausting months of headlines about gambling and Big 12 expansion, it’s come down to this:
Saturday’s Northern Iowa-Iowa State season opener at Jack Trice Stadium.
Not that we’ll abandon digging for “on-the-record” whys and wherefores of the recent past, but this is Game Week.
Throughout coach Matt Campbell’s staff changes and watching how what used to be the quaint Big Eight Conference become 14 coast-to-coast teams (and 16 next year), we’ve endured. And now the payoff: It's Game On at 1 p.m. Saturday in Ames.
Where do we start when writing about the Cyclones’ first game since last November’s season-ending loss against TCU?
Let’s go front and center. Let’s begin with the dirty-work players – the offensive lines – and the link connecting both teams.
Ryan Clanton and his unique Northern Iowa perspective
I asked one of Campbell’s newest position coaches about that during a phone interview last week – what he expects it’ll be like after being Panthers coach Mark Farley’s line coach the past five seasons.
“It won’t be awkward,” Clanton said, without hesitation. “I have great respect for coach Farley and his staff. I have great friends there.”
Clanton’s UNI resume includes two NFL draft selections – Trevor Penning from Mason City Newman, a first-round draft pick of the New Orleans Saints, and Spencer Brown, a Buffalo Bills third-rounder from Lenox.
Clanton knows players he’ll see on the other sideline, including all-Missouri Valley Conference pick Jared Penning, Trevor’s brother. Heck, he helped recruit them.
“Those players know I gave everything I had – 100% every day,” Clanton said. “At the end of the day, it’s kind of a faceless opponent.
“You can’t treat it like this is a game for me. It’s a game for Iowa State and the players.”
It’s about time the Cyclones’ line shows consistent improvement, especially considering four starters (minus the center) return from last season.
“We’ve got to prove that we’re ready to take another step forward, and we know that,” Campbell said in the spring. “We understand that.”
The message seems to have taken hold.
“The jumps (Clanton) has made for this offensive line have been amazing,” starting guard Jarrod Hufford said a couple of weeks ago. “The way we play, the way we look, the violence we have, the speed we have, the freedom to just play football – he lets us go out and maul people. The overhaul for the offensive line has been top-notch.”
Back to Saturday – and facing your former boss.
“He was happy for me,” Clanton said when informing Farley he had an Iowa State offer. “He was excited for me. He gave me my chance as a coach when he hired me from (Ventura College). He found me. He gave me a chance to coach at the highest level of FCS.”
Iowa State questions ... questions ... questions
Rocco Becht or J.J. Kohl at quarterback?
(Or both?)
Cartevious Norton or Eli Sanders at running back?
Abu Sama or Carson Hansen getting the first true freshman handoff for 2023?
I frequently seek fans' input on a number of topics. You'll get inside information. You can provide column ideas, insights and thoughts. I’ll use your feedback when considering my pregame and after-game columns. I’ll use it to help with future coverage.
You’ll get group messages from me that everyone sees before, during and after games and press conferences. Communication after that is just between us.
Need to rant? I’m a great listener. The text-group format is just you and me. No one else sees our texts. The goal is to respond to as many messages as possible.
It’s our community. Among the text group for the past couple years are my doctor, an attorney with whom I attended high school and played baseball, former neighbors, former college head coaches, Iowa State administrators, and even parents of players.
Cyclone fans throughout the country have joined this group. You might as well be next as the Big 12 enters this historic season of coast-to-coast expansion.
Fun times, for sure.
Sign up at https://shorturl.at/nzH58.
Brett Yormark provided a wonderful Texas Tech pep talk
The Big 12’s second-year commissioner spoke at a Red Raiders booster function last week. His comments included this message to coach Joey McGuire:
"I'm not going to put any pressure on you, but I'm going be in Austin for Thanksgiving, OK?” he said. “And you'd better take care of business like you did right here in Lubbock last year."
Texas Tech beat the Longhorns 37-34 in overtime last season in Lubbock. This season’s game is Nov. 24 in Austin. It’s Texas’ final regular-season game before swimming with the SEC sharks.
In other words – don’t let the door hitcha in the backside.
You too, Oklahoma.
A month earlier, Yormark threw out this zinger when someone at Big 12 media days asked him who in the Big 12 picks up the Texas-Oklahoma recruiting slack.
"I don't think (Texas and Oklahoma) carried the conference in recruiting,” he said. “They haven't been in our championship game the past couple years. All the other schools have done an incredible job, so I’m not sure they’ve carried recruiting for this conference.
“Look at TCU’s run last year. Everyone’s in a great place.”
Boom.