Wichita’s Hall, QB Purdy have Iowa State on doorstep of a milestone. But Sooners await
The return of the Big 12 Championship Game has been an Oklahoma invitational.
This is the fourth year the title game’s been contested since its resurrection — the game wasn’t played from 2011-16 — and the Sooners have played in, and won, each edition since then.
But Saturday’s title contest at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas marks the first time OU’s opponent arrives with a higher ranking or better finish in the regular season. Iowa State, which finished first in the league at 8-2 (8-1 Big 12) is ranked sixth in the College Football Playoff poll, the 7-2 Sooners 10th.
Although Oklahoma is a 5 1/2-point favorite for Saturday’s game, the Sooners will be seeking to split the season series. Iowa State defeated Oklahoma 37-30 in Ames on Oct. 3.
This is a different Oklahoma team now, Cyclones coach Matt Campbell said.
“I think a very young team that was extremely talented that has grown into what you’ve seen from Oklahoma year after year, and that’s a dynamic football team,” Campbell said.
But Iowa State is the story of this game. The Cyclones are seeking their first conference championship since 1912, when they went 2-0 in the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association (ISU was 6-2 overall that year, the Huskers 7-1) and shared a league title with Nebraska.
A victory would assure Iowa State’s presence in a CFP bowl, perhaps the Cotton, and that would be a postseason high-water mark. A CFP semifinal spot seems like a long shot — Iowa State has been steadily climbing the rankings, but no team with two losses has played in the CFP semifinals since its origination in 2014.
Still, it’s been a remarkable year, Campbell’s fifth since taking over the program after five seasons at Toledo. This will be the fourth straight bowl appearance for Iowa State, and that had never happened before Campbell’s arrival.
This season’s success has been built on the steady play of third-year starting quarterback Brock Purdy, one of the nation’s top running backs in Wichita native Breece Hall and a stout defense led by end JaQuan Bailey and linebacker Mike Rose..
Purdy’s numbers have dipped this season, with 17 touchdown passes in 10 games versus 27 in 13 last season. But he’s the winningest quarterback in school history, with a 22 career victories as a starter, and on Thursday he was named the All-Big 12 quarterback by the conference’s coaches.
“The quarterback position growing with us through this journey has been a huge part of our growth process,” Campbell said.
Hall? No running back in the nation has more yards this year than his 1,357. The Wichita Northwest High School product is a semifinalist for the Doak Walker Award, and his 17 rushing touchdowns is tops in the Big 12.
But defense has been the Iowa State program’s calling card under Campbell. Several times each season, the Cyclones’ Big 12 schedule pits them against some of the nation’s highest-powered offenses, and they’ve stood up to the challenge this fall.
In league games, Iowa State leads the Big 12 in scoring defense at 20.2 points per game. In their last three outings, the Cyclones have surrendered averages of just 286 total yards and 8.7 points.
The ISU defense has earned the endorsement of a rival athletic director who happens to be the chairman of the CFP committee, Iowa AD Gary Barta.
“When you watch their games, their defense has gotten better and better every week,” Barta said.
Oklahoma remains the standard for Big 12 football. The Sooners are bidding for their 11th conference title in 19 years of the championship game. Redshirt freshman quarterback Spencer Rattler threw his fourth interception of the season in the last conference-title game.
He’s thrown just four since.
If the outcome of this year’s first meeting gives Iowa State a confidence boost, it’s all but forgotten at Oklahoma, said Sooners coach Lincoln Riley.
“We’re being very careful about not trying to tie too much back to that first game, positive or negative,” Riley said. “That’s a long time ago.”