Team that is supposed to wear black:
- Won a game without scoring an offensive or defensive touchdown
- Had a game with 146 total yards, and won by double digits
- Lost one game by 44 points
- Finished the regular season with the second-worst offense (by yards per game) in Division I-A — but played, and beat, teams with the fifth-, 10th-, and 24th-worst offenses
- Played a game that didn’t hit the over-under on the lowest number ever posted (31½, according to the AP), and won
- Had a second half that went touchdown, punt, punt, punt, punt, missed field goal, punt — and won
- Would’ve gone to the conference championship game had it not fallen on its face against a team that lost to a team that did not win a game in North America this season, and so the losing team in the previous bullet point went instead
Team that is not supposed to wear black:
- Lost a combined six games by 24 points
- Missed a combined six field goals in games lost by 3, 4, and 3 points
- Had a game with 422 total yards of offense, and lost
- Had 19 first downs vs. the opponent’s 11, but committed five turnovers, and lost
- Had this happen (full-speed version here)
- Beat its most hated rival, which turned out to be a bad sign, because with only one exception (2000) it has never beaten that rival and won a bowl game in the same season
- DOES NOT HAVE AN ACTUAL SPECIAL TEAMS COACH I MEAN SERIOUSLY HOW AND WHY
Is 2022 Iowa State the best 4-8 team in history? Perhaps! (Put your hand down, 2016 Notre Dame.)