Iowa State Football: Cyclones get Purdy to stun Oklahoma State
By Dana Becker
2. ISU’s “D” makes enough plays
Sure, you never want to surrender over 40 points and 400-plus yards of total offense, but playing in the wild, wild Big 12, it’s bound to happen more often than not.
Oklahoma State scored 42 points and had 415 yards vs. Iowa State on Saturday, but if you look deeper into the stats, you can see that the Cyclones were a little better than just that.
Iowa State limited the Cowboys to 2.9 yards per carry on 43 attempts, 7-for-15 on third-down conversions and had two turnovers.
Justice Hill, the all-league running back for Mike Gundy, entered the game averaging 7.5 yards per carry. At home this year, he had 46 carries for 388 yards, with an average of 8.4 per tote.
The Cyclones, though, zoned in on taking the junior Hill away, limiting him to 66 yards on 24 carries, less than three per attempt. He did score a touchdown, but his long run of the day was eight yards.
Those are numbers that will keep Oklahoma State out of the win column on a weekly basis if they continue.