Iowa State football: Is it too late to post a season prediction?

August 31, 2013; Ames, IA, USA; Iowa State Cyclones defensive back Deon Broomfield (26) forces Northern Iowa Panthers running back Evan Williams (8) to fumble during the second half at Jack Trice Stadium. Northern Iowa beat Iowa State 28-20. Mandatory Credit: Reese Strickland-USA Today Sports

Sorry folks, I dropped the ball on this one.

On Friday night, I had a post scheduled to appear on the blog that had my prediction for the 2013 season. For some reason, I had it set to post on September 30th, not August, and completely missed it during the busy day yesterday.

That post won’t see the light of day, but I’ll discuss it.

For all of my friends and readers that follow this blog, which is very appreciated, it’s easy to tell that I haven’t been too high on this season and put a stronger focus on the recruits that still remain dedicated to this program for next year.

My prediction was a 4-8 record with victories over

Northern Iowa

, Iowa, Kansas, and Texas Tech. Possibly 5-7 if they could get an upset victory (my guess was West Virginia being the best candidate). Either way, they wouldn’t make a bowl game. I made my prediction based on Sam Richardson needing some more playing time to improve and a very young defense.

At least I hit that spot on.

As the weekend progressed, I felt the record may be too low as Big 12 teams never impressed until late on Saturday. Except the Iowa State Cyclones, who became the second Big 12 team to lose to an FCS opponent.

A 4-8 finish already looks daunting at this point.

But honestly, predictions are dumb, and of course I, like every other Cyclones fan, is going to root for this team to get to six wins and make a postseason bowl game. It doesn’t matter how they get there.

And that’s the fun of a season like this. Now that the expectation bar is kicked off, this team can just learn from mistakes and get better. Maybe they’ll get rewarded with a bowl, maybe not.

We’ll still be watching, the dedicated, die-hard masochists that we have been since following the Cyclones.