'You Just Want to Win': Matt Campbell Downplays Texas Longhorns Trash Talk

The Texas Longhorns are set to travel to Ames, Iowa to take on Iowa State For their Week 12 matchup.

Much like the rest of the Big 12, Iowa State views Texas as a major rival while the feeling isn't mutual for the Longhorns.

It's not to say that Texas doesn't respect Iowa State, but the players likely aren't circling their matchup against the Cyclones each and every year. The overlooking of Iowa State in the past may be part of the reason that Texas has dropped three out of the last four meetings, but the Longhorns should have all of the motivation in the world this weekend for a plethora of reasons. 

For starters, they are in the mix for the College Football Playoff and have no room for any blemishes or late-season slip-ups. Iowa State has constantly been a thorn in their side as previously mentioned, and recent comments made by one of their linemen should have only lit more of a fire under Texas' you know what. Jarrod Hufford recently brought up the ego that Texas has, and how he is ready to check Texas.

“Ever since I got here, it was Iowa and Texas,” Hufford said. “That was kind of the thing. The ‘Horns Down’ all the time. That program, much like Oklahoma, they get all the 5-star recruits and have all the nicest stuff in the world and they just think they don’t stink. They’re just humans and that’s how I see them. They’re people that have such a high ego that need to be checked."

Something that head coach Matt Campbell made sure to try and take some attention off of when speaking to the media. 

"I think you just want to win every game you play, to be honest with you," said Campbell. "I think that’s one of the things that for us, we’ve won a lot of great football games here, especially over Jarrod’s time. And to be winning football games in college football is really hard to do. And it doesn’t matter who it is – and you guys that cover us – it’s not easy. And it takes 60 minutes of your best no matter who you are playing, where you are playing, or what it looks like."

Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell / Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports

He then directed the attention to the senior night, rather than facing the music on what can only be taken as a major shot by his player.

"I think that’s what makes college football really special is, man, every Saturday, no matter what it looks like, feels like or feels like they might know it’s really hard to win games," said Campbell. "It will take the best for us and for our seniors, my biggest thing is I want to represent what the character of this senior class has looked like. I think that’s more important to me than anything of how we play the game Saturday."

The Longhorns are currently favored by 7.5 points and have a 78.4 percent chance of winning according to ESPN.

While Iowa State would love to dash Texas' postseason hopes, it appears that the Longhorns will be all the way up for their final meeting. 

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