Oklahoma Sooners football: Keys to victory against the Iowa State Cyclones

The Oklahoma Sooners will enter Saturday coming off a tough loss to the Kansas State Wildcats.

The Sooners, now 5-2 this season, usually recover from losses fairly well, and they’ll get a 2-5 Iowa State Cyclones team tomorrow.

However, OU is in no position to take any team lightly. Oklahoma will be tested with another early kick-off, and for the third time this season their noon kickoff will be away from Norman, Oklahoma.

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So what does Oklahoma need to do to win against Iowa State?

Establish Multiple Receivers

Oklahoma did a better job two weeks ago of involving more receivers. It’s odd the first time they finally do this, Oklahoma lost. However, OU needs to find ways to ease the load off star wideout Sterling Shepard.

Durron Neal, KJ Young and Michiah Quick are players Oklahoma needs to show up on Saturday. Also, I’m curious to see if Blake Bell can get in on the fun again. It’d certainly help to have Bell make Iowa State, a team that has one of the best tight ends in the conference, pay.

Get The Defense Off The Field

Third down defense hasn’t been a strong suit for Oklahoma. The Sooners defense looked like one of the best groups in the country. However, the Big 12 offenses have exposed OU’s defense.

A lot of the Sooners’ problems stem from not being able to finish on tackles, which a lot of times results in first down conversions for the opposing offense.

Oklahoma needs to play with a purpose, even if a College Football Playoff berth is out of the question.

Learn From the Past

The great thing about having seven games under your belt is you should be able to learn from your mistakes. OU hasn’t been awful this year, but Oklahoma can not allow another dual threat quarterback to run wild against their defense. Plus, Oklahoma needs to realize the offense they’re running does not have a high success rate.

Finally, Michael Hunnicutt can’t let one bad game get to his head. He’s still one of the best kickers in the country. Everyone has their off days.