Oklahoma vs. Iowa State a clash of strengths and weaknesses
When the Oklahoma Sooners make the trip to Ames, Iowa for their week nine matchup with the Iowa State Cyclones, they’ll face arguably the toughest defense they’ve seen all season.
Iowa State is allowing just 15.1 points per game on the year, which is good for sixth in the nation. Only twice in seven games has a team scored more than 20 points on the Cyclones, Baylor and Texas. Iowa State held Kansas State to 10 points and Kansas to 14.
They’ve been really, really good this year in Big 12 play.
On the other side of the ball, the Oklahoma Sooners’ offense has been fantastic when Dillon Gabriel was available. Take the 49-0 shutout loss to Texas out of the equation when Gabriel was unavailable, and the Sooners are averaging 39 points per game. That includes only playing in the first half against TCU. With Gabriel at the helm for a full four quarters, the Sooners’ offense hasn’t been held under 30 points in a game. Gabriel went down just before Oklahoma scored to make it 34-17 in the first half. Had he stayed in the game, the Sooners would have hit 30 and made it a more competitive game.
While Oklahoma’s offense has been fantastic this season, it’s the defense that has been more of an adventure. The Sooners are allowing 31 points per game and have allowed their last four opponents to score 40 or more. Things were a bit better against Kansas, but there’s a lot of work to be done to build on that performance.
But Oklahoma should have an opportunity for some success against an Iowa State offense that’s not as bad as the Iowa Hawkeyes, but they aren’t scoring a ton of points either. The Cyclones are averaging just 22.9 points per game, which is good for 103rd in the nation.
This matchup is a battle of strength vs. strength and weakness vs. weakness. The good news for the Sooners is that the Cyclones don’t have the offense to run away from Oklahoma and get a big lead. So, if they struggle for a bit on the offensive side of the ball against Iowa State’s defense, it’ll be a game that will stay within a score throughout.
Oklahoma will move the ball offensively. They need to stay patient in this game and not try to force things against a stingy Cyclones’ defense. Defensively, if the Sooners can make Hunter Dekkers uncomfortable in the pocket, they’ll have a chance to create some turnovers to provide their offense with some short fields.
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