Stormin in Norman
Fansided

Oklahoma football: What Sooner fans should know ahead of Saturday’s game

By Chip Rouse

Oklahoma's Justin Broiles (25) brings down Iowa State's Xavier Hutchinson (8) beside David Ugwoegbu (2) during a college football game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the Iowa State Cyclones at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Okla., Saturday, Nov. 20, 2021. Oklahoma won 28-21.Ou Vs Iowa State Football
Oklahoma's Justin Broiles (25) brings down Iowa State's Xavier Hutchinson (8) beside David Ugwoegbu (2) during a college football game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the Iowa State Cyclones at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Okla., Saturday, Nov. 20, 2021. Oklahoma won 28-21.Ou Vs Iowa State Football /
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Iowa State has been an Oklahoma football whipping boy for close to 100 years. The Sooners have lost just seven times in 87 games between the two longtime conference foes.

To further illustrate OU’s dominance over Iowa State, the Cyclones have won just three times against the Sooners since the 1961 season — in 1990, 2017 and 2020.

Saturday’s game at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames, Iowa, is set for an 11 a.m. kickoff. It will be the fifth time in eight games this season that Oklahoma has played in the early time window. The game will be televised by FS1 with Noah Eagle doing the play-by-play and Mark Helfrich providing analysis.

Both teams are coming off of a bye week. Iowa State (3-4, 0-4) suffered a heartbreaking 24-21 loss at Texas in its last game. Meanwhile, Oklahoma (4-3, 1-3) snapped a three-game losing streak with a 52-42 win over No. 19 Kansas.

Before defeating the Sooners in their last trip to Iowa State in 2021, the last time the Cyclones defeated Oklahoma in Ames was in 1960 by a 10-6 score.

The game on Saturday will mark the first time since Bob Stoops’ coaching debut at Oklahoma in 1999 that the Sooners were not ranked in the Associated Press poll when playing Iowa State. Oklahoma has won six of its last seven regular-season games when not ranked.

OU is 154-36 (.810 winning percentage) in regular-season Big 12 games since the 2000 season. That is 28 more wins that the team with the next most regular-season Big 12 wins.

Here are a few more things fans should know ahead of Saturday’s game with Iowa State:

  • Thirteen of Oklahoma’s last 16 wins against Iowa State have been by at least 10 points.
  • The Sooners are 37-3-1 all-time in games in Ames, Iowa, and have win 24 of the last 25 games there.
  • OU senior running back Eric Gray leads the nation, averaging 7.2 yards per carry.
  • Iowa State leads the Big 12 in four major defensive categories: scoring defense (15.1 points per game), total defense (289.7 yards per game), rushing defense (105.3 yards per game) and pass defense (184.4 yards per game).
  • Oklahoma ranks 23rd in the nation in total offense (471.9 yards per game), while Iowa State ranks 10th nationally in total defense.
  • Oklahoma has won 29 of its last 34 true road games.
  • The Sooners have scored at least 30 points in 37 of their last 39 true road games.
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