Our Preview & Prediction series comes to an end with a look at Kansas State's regular-season finale against Iowa State.

It's impossible to look at Iowa State's 2018 season and not be impressed with what Matt Campbell accomplished in Ames.

A difficult opening schedule of at Iowa and a home date with Oklahoma left ISU sitting at 0-2, and a heart-breaking 17-14 loss to TCU in game four left ISU at 1-3 and feeling like the Cyclones of old.

ISU responded, and loudly, with wins over No. 25 Oklahoma State and No. 6 West Virginia in its next two outings. Those two wins were the highlights of ISU's seven wins over the last eight regular season games.

That included, of course, a furious comeback for a 42-38 win over Kansas State in what proved to be Bill Snyder's final game leading the Wildcat program.

There were key losses, for sure, with the departures of wide receiver Hakeem Butler, running back David Montgomery and linebacker Willie Harvey, but this is a program starting to look like one that can replace losses like that without needing a year or two to rebuild.

It's a physical, confident bunch. And, while I still don't think ISU to be one of the three or four most talented teams in the league, that gap is closing, too.

This was a different team once Brock Purdy became the starter. ISU was 7-2 when the freshman started and just 1-3 in its other four contests. Now a sophomore, Purdy is the face of this program and a good example of what Campbell wants Iowa State to be.

Purdy is the star, but he's not Iowa State's best player.

I think that honor goes to defensive end JaQuan Bailey, who finished with eight sacks last year (third most in ISU history for a single season) as well as 14.5 tackles for loss, good enough for sixth in the Big 12 in that category.

A 6-foot-2, 255-pound senior, Bailey has 18.5 sacks, 31.5 tackles for loss and three forced fumbles in his career. Those numbers have been moving up each year, as well.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Bailey compile a double-digit sack total on his way to All-Big 12 honors.

It's hard to forget that, through three quarters, K-State was handling Iowa State with as much ease as any opponent it faced a season ago, outside of UTSA.

With 12 minutes left to play K-State led 38-21 in Ames after Skylar Thompson's third touchdown pass of the contest. Iowa State would rally to win, of course, and the final score is all that matters. The point, though, is the Wildcats had beaten ISU 10 straight times and controlled the Cyclones for three quarters in Ames last season. So, while there was a gap in the two teams' overall results in 2018, that same gap didn't appear when the two teams met on the field.

Iowa State is getting better, but the Cyclones' talent level still isn't unique or daunting to overcome. The Wildcats can win by simply playing a clean game at home and seeing one or two 50/50 plays go their way over the course of the game.

While everything I said above is accurate, it's also irresponsible to ignore that this series had consistently been trending towards ISU catching up, and it's possible the fourth quarter in Ames a year ago represented the Cyclones racing by the Wildcats.

Campbell has proven himself, and this roster is getting better. ISU getting picked third in the conference is reasonable, and on paper this is a much more complete team and program - right now - than Kansas State is.

I still don't think there's a massive talent gap between these two programs. There is one, absolutely, and it's got a chance to continue to grow if the Wildcats don't get things turned around quickly.

In this game, however, I expect the Wildcats to have more to play for than ISU. The Cylcones will be out of the Big 12 Championship race and playing for bowl positioning, while the Wildcats will need this game to get a sixth win and guarantee a bowl berth.

A cold, late-season game in Manhattan between two programs fine with running the football will go by quickly, and in a shortened game I like the motivated Wildcats' chances to claim their biggest win of the Klieman era.

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