Matt Campbell: Iowa State ‘just not fundamentally’ sound against Arizona State, Cam Skattebo

Iowa State suffered a one-sided loss to Arizona State in the Big 12 title game Saturday

For the second time under Matt Campbell, the Iowa State football team lost in the Big 12 Conference title game. / Tim Heitman-Imagn Images

A season that featured so many firsts in program history was left feeling a little flat on Saturday when the Iowa State football team fell to Arizona State in the Big 12 Conference championship game, 45-19.

The Cyclones (10-3) were unable to slow down Cam Skattebo while also self-destructing with three turnovers and several othe rmistakes throughout the day.

“I thought that second half of the season we really started to shore up some of those (issues),” Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell said. “Unfortunately, that didn’t show up. Part of that is an elite tailback (like Skattebo) but I think the other part is we just were not funamentally where we needed to be.”

While the defeat will keep Iowa State from playing in the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff, they are still headed for a bowl game. Iowa State will find out exactly where once the CFP selections are made official.

“We’ll be ready to play wherever that may be and whatever opportunity (we get),” Campbell said. “That’s the great thing about our program: we’re not transactional, we’re transformational.”

The Cyclones took their only lead on Arizona State (11-2) when Carson Hansen hauled in a short pass from Rocco Becht midway through the first quarter to make it 7-3. From there, the Sun Devils scored 42 of the next 45 points in the game, including five consecutive touchdowns after ISU made a field goal to tie it at 10-all early in the second.

The third quarter saw back-to-back fumbles by Abu Sama III, as Sam Leavitt tossed three touchdown passes during a five-minute stretch of play.

“Our inability (to convert on third-down) in the third was just paralyzing,” Campbell said. “You can’t give that offense, who was in a great rhythm, a short field, especially in the second half.”