Oklahoma vs. Iowa State: Sooners Can't Afford to Overlook Cyclones

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Oklahoma vs. Iowa State in football: No big deal, right?

Need I remind you that this is Halloween week, a perfect setting for the frightening idea of having to go to Ames, Iowa, for a rare Thursday night game against a struggling team that doesn’t get a whole lot of respect in football but has a history of pulling off upsets in such circumstances.

That’s the way things line up this week with the Sooners and Cyclones set to go at one another on Thursday night at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames for the 81st time in the series.

There is both good and bad associated with this week-night encoun ter. The good is, if you have to play on a short week it is better not to have to go up against one of the better teams in the league. The bad is, you have to play on a short week with very limited time to prepare and heal from the previous week.

And on this particular Thursday night, the Sooners will have the added challenge of not having either of their top two running backs available. Samaje Perine is still nursing a hamstring issue, and Joe Mixon, the team’s leading rusher and second best receiver, has been suspended for one game for a violation of team rules.

Mixon’s loss is not of insignificance to the Sooners, regardless of the opponent. The redshirt-sophomore is the primary catalyst in an offense that is averaging 568 yards a game, second best in the Big 12 behind Texas Tech.

With Mixon out, Oklahoma is left with only one scholarship player at running back, true freshman Abdul Adams. Adams gained 91 yards on 13 carries against Kansas last weekend. He is a burner with a lot of talent and the Sooners are high on his prospects for the future, but he is young and inexperienced and this would be the first start of his college career.

No head coach is overjoyed about having to play a game on a Thursday or Friday night, especially a conference game. The Sooners haven’t has to play a conference game in a short week since the Big 12 came into existence in 1996.

The current TV contract the Big 12 has with ABC/ESPN and Fox stipulates that the conference must make four games available each season that can be televised on Thursday night.

Asked in his Monday press conference about having to go on the road and play a game on short rest this week, coach Bob Stoops offered:

“I don’t mind it once in a while. A game’s a game,” he quipped.

“We’re part of a 10-team league that has a TV contract that’s pretty good,” he added. “It supplements a lot of other sports. So you do your part. You jump in and go at it whatever day they tell you.”

This has all the makings of a trap game for the Big 12 conference leaders and the only remaining unbeaten team in league play, and Mixon’s suspension provides even more fuel to that notion.

The all-time series between Oklahoma and Iowa State is heavily lopsided in the Sooners’ favor. Oklahoma owns 17 consecutive wins over the Cyclones, and since 1961, when both schools were part of the Big Eight Conference, the Sooners are 44-1-1 in games with Iowa State.

Oklahoma has never lost a game at Jack Trice Stadium, the site for Thursday night’s game, in 16 games there since the stadium was opened in 1975. Bob Stoops is 11-0 against the Cyclones.

This will be the 58th game in Sooner football history that has been contested on a Thursday night and the 49th during the regular season. Oklahoma is 28-14-6 on Thursdays in the regular season. Under Bob Stoops, OU is 2-1 on non-Saturdays.

Three Things to Know About the Sooners

Three Things to Know About Iowa State

Three Keys to the Game

Game Prediction

Oklahoma is a three-touchdown favorite, according to the latest odds established by the Las Vegas handicappers, but that was before the news came about Joe Mixon’s suspension for this game. In 17 consecutive wins over the Cyclones, the Sooners have allowed Iowa State more than 20 points just once. The Oklahoma defense is more suspect than it has been in many seasons under the Stoops brothers, but it should be good enough to deny Iowa State more times than the Cyclones are able to keep Baker Mayfield and Co. out of the end zone, even without the services of Perine and Mixon. I like the Sooners to win, but not by enough to cover the spread. Oklahoma 41, Iowa State 27.