The Iowa State Cyclones have enjoyed the comforts of home their last two games, but now they must head out on the road. Iowa State and the Oklahoma State Cowboys will face off in a Big 12 battle at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday at Boone Pickens Stadium. The Cyclones have a defense that allows only 16.33 points per game, so Oklahoma State's offense will have their work cut out for them.
Iowa State didn't have too much trouble with the West Virginia Mountaineers at home last week as they won 31-14. Iowa State can attribute much of their success to RB Cartevious Norton, who punched in two rushing touchdowns, and WR Xavier Hutchinson, who caught ten passes for one TD and 123 yards. Norton had some trouble finding his footing against the Oklahoma Sooners two weeks ago, so this was a step in the right direction. Norton's sharp performance set his single-game rushing touchdown high for the season.
Meanwhile, Oklahoma State has to be aching after a bruising 37-16 loss to the Kansas Jayhawks last week. The Cowboys were down 31-10 at the end of the third quarter, which was just too much to recover from. One thing holding Oklahoma State back was the mediocre play of QB Garret Rangel, who did not have his best game: despite two touchdowns, he threw three interceptions and fumbled the ball once.
This next matchup is expected to be close, with the Cyclones going off at just a 1.5-point favorite. Those who got lucky with them against the spread last week might want to hold off on placing bets this time since the team has yet to string together back-to-back wins against the spread.
Iowa State's victory lifted them to 4-5 while Oklahoma State's defeat dropped them down to 6-3. Giving up four turnovers, the Cowboys had had trouble holding onto the ball. We'll see if Iowa State can exploit that vulnerability.