Iowa State Football: Ranking Cyclones’ 2020 opponents by toughness

Matt Campbell has one of the most talented rosters in the Big 12 for 2020. Will Iowa State football engineer a tough schedule to win the conference?

Iowa State is one of those teams that just has seemed to give every team in the conference trouble over the past few years. Matt Campbell has been building something special in Ames and it shows.

The Cyclones are coming off a 7-6 season, pushing Campbell’s overall record as Iowa State’s head coach to 26-25 and he’s turned down multiple Power Five jobs trying to tear him away. Michigan State was the latest program to gauge his interest and even though he’s a Midwest guy, he decided to turn it down and stay at Iowa State.

If he continues to make bowl games and improve Iowa State yearly while recruiting at an above average level, the Cyclones will be forced to up his contract.

Campbell has the pieces to make a run at a Big 12 title in 2020, including talented starting quarterback Brock Purdy who may just be the best passer in the entire conference. He has Breece Hall, Tarique Milton and Charlie Kolar back on offense so that side of the ball won’t be an issue. Iowa State is going to put up some points.

Which opponents will make that the toughest in 2020, though?

Note: These rankings are based on the notion that a season will move forward as planned with non-conference games. Right now, because of COVID-19, nothing’s a given.