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Iowa State University Athletics
Saturday, September 1
Ames, Iowa
7 p.m.
Iowa State
vs
South Dakota State
Iowa State Kicks Off Season vs. South Dakota State
08.27.2018 | Football
Quick Hits
-Iowa State (0-0, 0-0 Big 12) begins the 2018 season by playing host to FCS opponent South Dakota State (0-0, 0-0 MVC) Saturday night at MidAmerican Energy Field at Jack Trice Stadium. Iowa State received eight votes in the AP preseason poll. SDSU is ranked No. 3 in the preseason FCS Coaches poll.Â
-This marks the beginning of year three of the Matt Campbell era. The 2017 Big 12 Coach of the Year is 11-14 in his two seasons in Ames, pacing the Cyclones to an 8-5 overall mark and a 5-4 league slate in 2017.Â
-Iowa State matched its school record for conference victories (5) and won seven games in the regular season for the first time since 2005. ISU tallied an eight-victory season for just the ninth time in school history (first since 2000) and won its fourth bowl game with a 21-20 victory over Memphis.
-The Cyclones were 5-2 on the road in 2017, tying for the most wins on the road in school history.Â
-SDSU defensive tackles coach Christian Smith played football and was a GA for Matt Campbell at Toledo. He spent one season on Campbell's ISU's staff as a GA on defense in 2016.Â
-A total of 10 teams on ISU's 2018 schedule made the postseason in 2017 with nine FBS bowl opponents and one FCS playoff opponent.Â
-ISU has had over 50,000 fans attend a game at MidAmerican Energy Field at Jack Trice Stadium for a school-record 45-straight games.Â
-ISU returns 11 players on offense and seven players on defense who have started at least four games during a season in their respective careers. The offense has a combined 123 career starts returning and the defense brings back players with a combined 136 career starts.Â
-ISU has six defensive players back who started at least nine games in 2017. All six received some sort of All-Big 12 recognition a year ago: Ray Lima (DL), JaQuan Bailey (DE), Willie Harvey (LB), Marcel Spears (LB), Brian Peavy (CB) and D'Andre Payne (CB).Â
-Peavy, who is a three-time All-Big 12 recipient and a preseason All-American by Athlon Sports, leads all active NCAA FBS players in career passes defended (35). Peavy is on the Bednarik Award preseason watch list.
-Bailey needs one sack to break into ISU's career top-10. He currently has 10.5 in his career, including 7.0 a year ago, tying for the fourth-best season total in school history.Â
-The Cyclone defense ranked second in the Big 12 and 26th nationally in scoring defense (20.9) in 2017. ISU surrendered just 18.9 ppg in conference action, the lowest total by an ISU team in Big 12 history.Â
-For the first time in school history, ISU returns two players who have recorded a 1,000-yard rushing season: Mike Warren (1,339 in 2015) and David Montgomery (1,146 in 2017). Montgomery was a First-Team All-Big 12 running back in 2017 and is a member of the Doak Walker Award and Maxwell Award watch lists in 2018. Montgomery has eight 100-yard rushing games in his career.
-Iowa State returns senior QB Kyle Kempt, who was granted a sixth season in February. Kempt broke ISU's season completion mark (66.3) and recorded three wins over ranked opponents in his eight games started in 2017. He's thrown 130 consecutive passes without an interception, the sixth-longest streak in school history. He needs 26 consecutive passes without an INT to break the school mark.Â
-Junior WR Hakeem Butler had a breakout sophomore campaign with 41 receptions for 697 yards and seven TDs in 2017. Butler has a current streak of recording a TD catch in three-straight games, tying for the seventh-best string in school history.Â
-ISU returns players with 51 career starts on the offensive line: Julian Good-Jones (24), Josh Knipfel (13), Bryce Meeker (8), Sean Foster (6).
-Iowa State set school season records for fewest turnovers (10), fewest fumbles lost (1), passing yards per game (272.9) and tackles for loss (96) in 2017. ISU's one lost fumble led the nation and tied the all-time FBS record.
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Players Mentioned
DE
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WR
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OL
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OL
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LB
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QB
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OL
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DL
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OL
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RB
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DB
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DB
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RB
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