Offensive Players to Watch: Iowa State at Oklahoma State

Welcome to the season finale, where Iowa State travels to Stillwater to play against the future Eric Morris Cowboys. Iowa State showed a dominating performance last weekend against a struggling Kansas team that is still fighting for bowl eligibility, while the Cyclones try to finish the season off with a three-game win streak and an 8-4 record.

Iowa State

I’m going to go ahead this week and take the absolute most bland pick I could do and highlight this entire offense. Last week saw us put on a master-class performance through the air, on the ground, and we even sprinkled in some trickery (not sure if you can call it that when three-quarters of the stadium knew it was coming).

Through 11 games, this offense has thrown for 2,544 yards, averaging 231.3 passing yards per game, 15 passing touchdowns, nine interceptions, and 201 completions out of 328 attempts. The running game took big strides this season with Carson Hansen and Abu Sama each rushing for over 500 yards. Iowa State as a team has rushed for 1,863 yards, averaging 469.4 yards per game, and 22 touchdowns on 420 touches.

Rocco Becht has led this team with all but 7 attempts in the passing game (shoutout Ben Brahmer going 1-for-1 on a 45-yard play), while Brett Eskildsen has led the receiving side of things from a yards perspective with 507 receiving yards on 29 receptions for five touchdowns. Rocco’s favorite target again this season is still the tight ends, with Ben Brahmer hauling in 422 yards and Gabe Burkle dropping to fourth (due to injury) with 26 receptions and 302 yards.

Just look at that Griddy. JJetta aura right there. As for our run game, Carson Hansen has an opportunity to hit over 1,000 yards if he can go off early and often. His current yardage for the season is 841, meaning he would still need to rush for 159 yards to make that milestone in the regular season. Post-season, 1,000 rushing yards seems inevitable while Abu Sama is also looking at potentially hitting 750+ yards on a staggering 645. When Carson and Abu are out, we have had some good luck rushing with Dylan Lee and Aiden Flora. Combined, they accumulate for 168 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns. Don’t forget, the run sets up the pass!

This game could very much turn into an absolute field day for Iowa State offensively, and there is a strong possibility that we could see some more players used for their final game of redshirt availability or to get experience for next season.

Oklahoma State

In an abysmal year that finally saw Mike Gundy relieved of his duties as head coach, there isn’t much to talk about in the ways of an offense that you typically expect to have a few superstars on the roster a few seasons ago. For this offense, it seems to come down to Rodney Fields Jr. at running back and Gavin Freeman at wide receiver. Rodney is the main bellcow on the ground, accounting for 614 rushing yards and 276 receiving yards, but has only found the endzone twice.

Through the air, Oklahoma State has been as productive as a typical Iowa passing game. How much? Well, for Iowa standards, probably 6 more games (404 yards). This offense has had such a rough time of it, they are 128th out of 134 in NCAA DI. Their classmates? North Carolina (129), Iowa (120), Minnesota (125), and Wisconsin (133). Iowa State could more than likely walk onto the field with Sowell and Sama as corners and still win.