Iowa State is not a good football team, but they have some decent components and could mount an upset if they catch multiple breaks and connect on deep passes. Wins against Northern Iowa and OSU, losses against Iowa and Ohio (yuck!). They're fresh off their best offensive performance of the season, as Rocco Becht tore up the OSU Cowboy secondary on Saturday with 348 passing yards and 3 TDs. ISU's 3-safety defense remains salty despite losing a lot of talent to graduation. Last year Gabriel was 15-26 for 148 yards and 1 TD against that unit.
Here's a couple of quick hitters:
+ ISU averages 2.9 yards per rush, and when placed in the context of Oklahoma's yards per rush (3.99) you can understand just how poorly they've run the ball this season
+ Somewhat paradoxically, in 3 out of 4 games ISU's OL has kept Rocco Becht's jersey completely clean (no sacks given up)
+ Backup QB JJ Kohl is 6'7" and 250 pounds, and you might know the Kohl family name...his dad runs the "Kohl Kicking Professional Camps" which regularly churns out D-1 kicking talent
+ Opposing QBs are completing 49.6% of their passes against ISU's defense (68 of 137 for 709 yards with 4 TDs, 5 interceptions)
+ The ISU defense leads the Big XII in yards per game allowed (292)
+ The Cyclone defense always seems to feature random white dudes who are sure tacklers and more athletic than expected; to wit, Beau Freyler is this year's Greg Eisworth
+ ISU has yet to force a fumble this season
+ Impressively, ISU is averaging 48.33 yards per punt, but they've only connected on 5 of 8 field goal tries
While Iowa State shouldn't be able to mount the offense necessary to win the game, they could easily make things interesting if their defense plays lights out. As a counterpoint to the "Iowa State plays elite defense" narrative, I should note that ISU's opponents have not featured juggernaut offenses, and they managed to allow Oklahoma State's offense / Alan Bowman to look compelling this past weekend.
My prediction: Oklahoma 31, Iowa State 13
Here's a couple of quick hitters:
+ ISU averages 2.9 yards per rush, and when placed in the context of Oklahoma's yards per rush (3.99) you can understand just how poorly they've run the ball this season
+ Somewhat paradoxically, in 3 out of 4 games ISU's OL has kept Rocco Becht's jersey completely clean (no sacks given up)
+ Backup QB JJ Kohl is 6'7" and 250 pounds, and you might know the Kohl family name...his dad runs the "Kohl Kicking Professional Camps" which regularly churns out D-1 kicking talent
+ Opposing QBs are completing 49.6% of their passes against ISU's defense (68 of 137 for 709 yards with 4 TDs, 5 interceptions)
+ The ISU defense leads the Big XII in yards per game allowed (292)
+ The Cyclone defense always seems to feature random white dudes who are sure tacklers and more athletic than expected; to wit, Beau Freyler is this year's Greg Eisworth
+ ISU has yet to force a fumble this season
+ Impressively, ISU is averaging 48.33 yards per punt, but they've only connected on 5 of 8 field goal tries
While Iowa State shouldn't be able to mount the offense necessary to win the game, they could easily make things interesting if their defense plays lights out. As a counterpoint to the "Iowa State plays elite defense" narrative, I should note that ISU's opponents have not featured juggernaut offenses, and they managed to allow Oklahoma State's offense / Alan Bowman to look compelling this past weekend.
My prediction: Oklahoma 31, Iowa State 13
