Game Preview: Can OSU’s Defense Stop Brock Purdy and Breece Hall?

STILLWATER — After a rough start, Iowa State is trending up lately, and after a solid start, the Cowboys are going in an opposite direction.

Oklahoma State and Iowa State will meet at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in Ames as the Cyclones look to continue their assent to the top of the Big 12, and as OSU looks to halt it’s free fall.

Here is a look into that matchup, starting with standings and stats.

Big 12 Standings

Offensive Stats

Defensive Stats

Purdy/Hall Make for Deadly Combination

Freshman running back Breece Hall has played in six of Iowa State’s seven games this season.

In his first four outings, Hall had 18 combined carries for 84 rushing yards and no touchdowns. In the Cyclones’ two most recent games, Hall had 45 touches for 315 yards and five touchdowns.

Hall is listed at 6-foot-1, 205 pounds. At Mike Gundy’s weekly media luncheon, Iowa State’s freshman ball carrier drew comparisons to Chuba Hubbard, who is listed at 6-1, 207 pounds.

“Yeah, that’s the bad news,” Gundy said.

West Virginia was the unlucky foe that Hall was unleashed on, much like OSU was with Brock Purdy last year.

Purdy hadn’t thrown a collegiate pass entering the Cyclones’ trip to Stillwater last season. Like Hall, Prudy also didn’t start in his breakout game. After a Zeb Noland-led three-and-out, Purdy came on and set torch to Stillwater, throwing for 318 yards and four touchdowns. The Cyclones haven’t looked back since.

Purdy has completed 70 percent of his 233 pass attempts this season. He has thrown for a Big 12-best 2,185 yards to go with 14 touchdowns and only four interceptions. He also leads Iowa State in rushing touchdowns with six.

“He’s a savvy quarterback,” Gundy said. “He’s very good. I think he’s gonna play in the NFL. He’s somewhat unusual mobile for his size, and he’s strong for his size. I think he’s 215, 220, something like that. Doesn’t look that big.

“He’s a good football player and doesn’t make a lot of mistakes. We drew the short straw last year, and they brought him out against us. He’s been in ever since, and he’s played well.”

Helping Hubbard

Iowa State brings the conference’s second-ranked rush defense into Saturday’s game, which could put OSU into a tough spot.

The Cowboys likely don’t want to rely too heavily on their redshirt freshman quarterback in a hostile environment, especially considering that quarterback has turned the ball over eight times in the past two games.

So the Cowboys, with the second-best rush offense in the conference, might have to meet Iowa State’s defense head on. It’ll be a solid, but brutal test for Chuba Hubbard, the nation’s leading rusher. But Hubbard might finally be getting some relief.

Backup running back LD Brown ran for a season-high 79 yards against Baylor this past weekend, and 68 of those yards came on one play. Brown’s workload hasn’t picked up too much in terms of carries yet this season. His 28 carries are 166 fewer than that of Hubbard’s, but Brown’s 19.75 yards per carry performance against Baylor was one of few OSU bright spots.

“He did what we brought him here to when he got in the open field, which is run away from people,” Gundy said. “We brought him here because he was fast, but we had never known if he was fast because he had never got in the open field. Well he’s in the open field now.”

Gundy also mentioned Monday that junior college back Dezmon Jackson is “finally healthy.”

Jackson had a 9-yard reception late in the Baylor game, but he has yet to have a carry in his first season in Stillwater. Jackson, a junior out of Hutchinson Community College, ran for 1,216 yards and 13 touchdowns on a 7.5 yard per carry clip at the junior college level last season.

Hubbard will and should be the OSU’s featured ball carrier, but after seven games of questions behind him, OSU might finally be finding the answers.