What Matt Campbell Said About West Virginia

The Cyclones head man discusses this week's matchup with the Mountaineers.

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Tuesday afternoon, Iowa State head football coach Matt Campbell met with the media for his weekly press conference and spoke glowingly about West Virginia. Here's what he had to say about the Mountaineers and the environment they'll be walking into.

Playing at WVU on a big stage and if past experiences will help Iowa State

“What West Virginia will be will be another level of excitement. They’ve got a phenomenal team. They’ve got one of the greatest fanbases in the country in terms of the pride that they have for their Mountaineers, and also a really special team that they have going on too right now. They’ve got a lot to be excited about. It’ll be a really great football environment. This is why you play college football, to play in games like this and play in moments like this, and play on a stage like this. We’ll have to be at our best on Saturday night.”

West Virginia's offense

“I think it all starts for them, they’ve got an elite quarterback. I mean, he’s talented, he’s tough, he’s gritty. And I think every game that he has played in since he’s been the quarterback at West Virginia, they’ve had a chance to win. They’ve got a really talented backfield. Obviously they are rushing the ball at a really high rate with great success on the offensive side of the football. "

West Virginia's defense

"Defense, boy, they’re complex. They do a lot. They really challenge all your rules in terms of offensive football and they’ve done a great job of holding teams against the run and creating some turnovers along the way."

West Virginia's special teams unit

"They’re tough. I think that’s the thing that I really appreciate about the opponent is there’s a sense of toughness and pride in everything they do. I really just think they play great team football to be quite honest with you over the last couple of weeks and have really played that way all season. They’ve had chances to win every one of the games they’ve played.”

If Iowa State is equipped to handle WVU's rushing attack

“Boy, I don’t know. I guess we’re going to find out on Saturday if we are, to be honest. They present a real problem for everybody. Everybody they have played, they have really challenged in terms of what they’ve been able to do and anytime you’re going to play a great rushing attack it’s going to take all eleven players on the defensive side of the football. And I think anytime the quarterback’s got the ability to run, it can put your defensive rules in conflict really fast and they do a great job of challenging that.”

West Virginia and Iowa State will kick it off at 8 p.m. EST on FOX.

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