Score predictions for No. 7 Texas at Iowa State

Iowa State has beaten Texas three of the most recent four times the teams have met at Jack Trice Stadium, so there’s that. The Longhorns are knee-deep in the College Football Playoff chase, so there’s that, too. If this game was played any other time than at night at Jack Trice Stadium, I’d probably say Texas wins. For this game, though, I like the Cyclones under the lights and fireworks on Senior Night. I like Becht having his best game, against a defense that’s allowed 247.0 passing yards a game. – Randy Peterson

For the most part, Texas has been able to roll at home. The Kansas State game was hairy, and the 31-10 win over Wyoming was way tougher than the final score, but for the most part the team has been fine at getting by the rough moments at home. It passed the ultimate road test at Alabama, but lost in Dallas to Oklahoma, and needed to work way too hard to get past Houston and TCU. The only breather of a road win was Baylor, and Iowa State isn’t Baylor.

It’ll take Iowa State controlling the clock for long stretches, and it’ll take the running game to rise up and rock. Oklahoma was the only time the Cyclones hit 100 yards on the ground and lost – it almost certainly can’t pull this off without controlling the tempo. That’s going to take a little while. But this is where the Texas run defense picks up the slack.

The Longhorns will get up fast, it’ll look like they’ll kill the primetime drama early on, and then they’ll start to stall. Slowly, Iowa State will work its way back. And just like the last few weeks, Texas will survive late. But it’s not going to be easy. – Pete Fiutak

The Big 12 has been absolute chaos this season. It’s nearly unpredictable each and every week. Texas has been playing with fire for weeks now and on Saturday night in Ames, I think they finally get burned. The Cyclones will win on a last-second field goal just like in 2019. – Derek Duke