Last Sunday I indicated that this week’s food adventure might be about Tall & Meaty’s competition at the Madrid Day Labor Day Festival, but I think I’m going to save that for next Sunday. Or next Sunday might be an “emergency” food adventure where I reveal the results of my trip to FINALLY try the tenderloin that won “Best Tenderloin in Iowa” last year.
But this Sunday I’ve decided to skip ahead a little bit and reveal the pictures from the 2025 Taco Tailgate. Last season was a very bittersweet season for Iowa State. It was one of those classic “what could have been” seasons that litter the historical timeline of Iowa State football and probably Iowa State sports in general.
We started the season in Ireland with a win over Kansas State who was the betting favorite to win the Big 12 at the beginning of the season. There is an Irish Curse that follows teams that play in the Ireland game. Since its inception, only one school has played in Ireland and then went on to have a winning season. That was Notre Dame a couple years back. They escaped the curse by being Irish and playing their traditional Charmin soft schedule.
5 games into the season it looked like Iowa State was going to escape the curse. Meanwhile Kansas State was taking the curse full on. Iowa State was 5-0 and in the Top 10. But by the end of the 5th game Iowa State had lost its 2 best players for the rest of the season. To make matters worse, our starting QB got a shoulder injury. He gamely played the rest of the season, but he was clearly not the same. His accuracy was gone. And with our 2 best players out on defense, more and more injuries would mount and Iowa State went on a 4 game losing streak. They lost to a mediocre team with a badly overrated QB (overrated enough that Texas Tech paid him and his girlfriend something like 4 million to transfer there next season), then lost to the worst team in the conference. Then they lost to 2 pretty good teams, but one of the losses involved blowing a big lead and the other loss was to the worst Power 4 quarterback to maybe ever exist.
Iowa State recovered to win their last 3 games of the season and finish 8-4. Meanwhile, Kansas State recovered enough to finish the season 6-6. Then their coach promptly “retired” so they could hire the offensive coordinator from one of the most morally bankrupt colleges in what is left of America.
8-4 was a pretty good season, but it wasn’t the season we should have had. We should have been something like 11-1 and played in the Big 12 Championship Game, but at Iowa State we can’t have nice things. Or we have them very rarely. But if that is the worse the curse was going to do to us, that wasn’t too bad. It looked like we were probably going to go play in a bowl game Arizona where we would have pounded the Golden Gophers by something like 17-24 points. Possibly more.
By the end of the season almost all the open coaching positions had been filled, so it looked like the annual Matt Campbell is leaving to go coach University X was going to be pretty calm this year. The only position left was a football program best known for spending years covering for a pedophile. So basically the Republican Party of college football.
It is a very lucrative job, so it was a concern but the concerns of Matt Campbell leaving for the job were mostly assuaged when it looked like BYU’s head coach was going to take the job. But then at the last second the owner of Crumbl cookies showed up at BYU’s athletic department with a bag and their coach stayed with a fatty raise. It was then that Pedo State’s eyes fell on Matt Campbell.
Iowa State doesn’t have a donor with filthy rich deep pockets. So when the Nittany Lions showed up in Ames with their own bag, Matt Campbell trusted the process and decided to become the best version of himself in Happy Valley. Then he proceeded to take almost our entire expected starting lineup for next season with him.
The Irish Curse got us. Boy did it get us good. And I’ll always remember the time that Matt Campbell left as the time in my life I got some of the most unhinged text messages these eyes have ever looked upon. Wild stuff.
I don’t blame Matt Campbell for taking the job. In addition to the bag he got. Something like a 4 million dollar a year raise. There were personal factors in taking the job. Like being nearer to his mom while she fights cancer and being near his daughter as she attends college. Plus they have resources that Iowa Sate can only dream about. He has a legit shot and winning a national championship there and he should be in the college football playoff almost every year. Just look at the soft-ass schedule that they play next year. It is so soft that Notre Dame is even like “Bruh.”
I don’t blame Matt Campbell. I was almost immediately able to transition into looking forward to Iowa State’s future. I think they made a good hire. Jimmy Rogers seems like the perfect fit and I think will do well. However, I am famously a bad judge of new coaching hires. I thought Fred Hoiberg was a publicity stunt. I thought Steve Prohm and Greg McDermott were homerun hires! I at least thought TJ was a great hire, although I never expected him to be the best coach in Iowa State history.
I look forward to seeing how this team that Coach Rogers put together out of players from the Island of Misfit Football Players does. (For example, I think we actually got a better QB in the transfer portal than Texas Tech played 4 million dollars for and we didn’t even have to pretend we wanted his girlfriend.) Cause I have no clue. He brought in a lot of talent. He kept some really intriguing pieces. But can they play together? Only time will tell.
So I don’t hold any grudges against Matt Campbell. I wish him well. I blame the Irish Curse and Crumble cookies. If I ever see any of you eating a Crumbl cookie, I will slap it out of your hand. Your mouth if need be.
And a note to fans of North Carolina and TCU football. Enjoy the trip to Ireland next year. It is an amazing trip! Possibly the only chance in your life to see your football team play in a foreign country. Just beware that something terrible is going to happen to your team. Like Bill Belichick’s girlfriend is going to get arrested trying to get into an Ireland Pub with her fake ID.
But here are the pictures from Taco Tailgate.
We got a pretty sweet spot!
The taco master at work.
The weather was beautiful for every Iowa State home game. Except for one. The Taco Tailgate one.
My first 2 tacos.
I’m so hungry for tacos now!!
Seriously! It was cold!
Most of the 2025 Taco Tailgate Gang! Look Elizabeth even allowed her picture to be taken!
I’ve never seen a single episode of FRIENDS. But I’ve seen almost every movie by these guys. Maybe not all of Jigsaw’s movies.
Reminder. It was cold!
Alcohol and youth!
Next year we will definitely have Taco Tailgate earlier in the year. Even if for no reason than Iowa State’s home schedule is super loaded for early in the season. Iowa Sate has 4 home games by October 3. I also hope to have Pizza Tailgate early in the season too. I plan on making that a smaller less ambitious annual tailgate as well. You are invited to that one as well.
Logan is also talking a big game about coming over and tailgating next season, but we will see if that actually happens. He talked a big game last season as well.
Next Sunday’s food adventure… I think I can’t wait much longer to reveal the results of my trip to knock down the reigning “Best Tenderloin” in the Cyclone State! We will get to the Tall & Meaty’s day at the Madrid Labor Day Festival eventually.