Oklahoma vs Iowa State: Big 12 Championship prediction and game preview.
Oklahoma vs Iowa State: Big 12 Championship Broadcast
Date: Saturday, December 19
Game Time: 12:00 pm
Venue: AT&T Stadium, Arlington, TX
Network: ABC
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Oklahoma (7-2) vs Iowa State (6-2) Game Preview
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Three Reasons Why You Should Watch The Big 12 Championship
– Is there any shot the Big 12 Champion can get into the College Football Playoff? Not really, but …
If Texas A&M loses to Tennessee, and Notre Dame rocks Clemson, and Northwestern beats Ohio State, and the winner in this Big 12 Championship destroys the loser, and …
Nah. Don’t get all tied up in that – no matter what the narrative is during the broadcast – and just enjoy what should be another great game between the two.
Iowa State won the first time around 37-30 with a good late rally that was almost dead even. Iowa State outgained OU 417 yards to 414. They each committed nine penalties, turned it over once, and it ended up being one of the best games of the Big 12 season.
Here comes Round 2.
– Iowa State won a piece of two Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association championships … in 1911 and 1912. The program has never won a Big 6 title, it never won a Big 7 title, and it never won a Big 8 or Big 12 championship, either.
Iowa State football started in the 1890s and first joined a league in 1908, and now it has a chance to win its first ever outright, all-to-itself, no-splitsies conference championship and go off to – most likely – the Cotton Bowl. For a team that started off the year with a 31-14 loss Louisiana and was 3-2, the Cyclones are one win away from the dream season.
On the flip side …
– Remembering there’s a six-year break in there, since 2000, Oklahoma has won ten of the last 14 Big 12 Championship Games including the last four and five of the last six. Throw in the non-title game years, and IU has won five Big 12 titles in a row.
Out of the four it lost, two were won by 2005 and 2009 Texas teams that played for the national title, one was won by a 2001 Colorado team that kept Texas out of the national championship, and the other was a stunning 35-7 Kansas State win over a 2003 Sooner team that went to play for the national championship anyway.
Win this again and just throw it on the pile.
Why Oklahoma, Iowa State Will Win
What’s Going to Happen, Prediction, History
NEXT: Why Oklahoma Will Win, Why Iowa State Will Win, Oklahoma vs Iowa State Prediction
Why Oklahoma Will Win
– Defense? Thanks to defensive coordinator Alex Grinch, Oklahoma went from having one of the nation’s worse defenses two years ago to being 16th in the nation this season. The Sooners are No. 1 in the Big 12 against the run, No. 1 in pass efficiency D, No. 1 in sacks, and it hasn’t allowed more than 300 yards of total offense in any of the last three games. Oh, by the way …
– Oklahoma is Oklahoma – it leads the Big 12 in total offense, scoring offense, and passing offense. It hasn’t been the high-flying thrill show of past seasons, but it’s still good for well over 300 yards per game through the air.
QB Spencer Rattler is still a wee bit of a work in progress, and he still isn’t quite consistent enough, but he has thrown just two picks in the last five games, he’s hitting the downfield passes, and he connected on 70% or more of his passes in three of the last four games.
– Again, the run defense. Oklahoma hasn’t allowed 200 rushing yards in any of the last 15 games and allowed over 100 yards just three times this season. Iowa State ran for over 200 yards in every game this year but four – it basically got there with 198 yards against Baylor, it had to rally back to beat Texas, it lost to Louisiana, and it only came up with 135 yards against OU.
However …
– Championship Week Schedule & Predictions
Why Iowa State Will Win
– Breece Hall is special. The 6-1, 215-pound sophomore is slipping – he only ran for just over 90 yards in the last two games. Texas and West Virginia were able to keep him from going off, but he ran for a tough 139 yards against OU the first time around, he finished with 1,357 yards and 17 touchdowns, and he averaged over six yards per carry.
Oklahoma dominates the time of possession battle – Hall needs to help flip that around.
– Brock Purdy is special, but he wasn’t having a special season … until lately. He was hardly bad, but he was awful against Louisiana and struggled against Kansas State on the way to a rocky start. But over the last three games when the team needed its star quarterback to step up, he more than did, hitting the 80% completion mark in two of the last three games after throwing three picks against Baylor. He’s at his best at just the right time.
– Yeah, Oklahoma gets into the backfield. It leads the Big 12 in sacks and it’s one of the best defenses in the country in tackles for loss, but the Iowa State offensive line is playing phenomenally well. It’s great at blasting away for Hall, and it’s terrific at keeping defenses out of the backfield and away from Purdy.
Oklahoma only came up with one sack and four tackles for loss in the first meeting.
NEXT: What’s Going To Happen, Oklahoma vs Iowa State Prediction, Big 12 Championship History
What’s Going To Happen
It would be an amazing story if Iowa State could finish this off.
The program has been just a part of the conference mix for so many years, but this season’s version has experience, the talent, the lines, the coaching, and everything else to win and take home the program’s first ever outright conference championship.
But it’s Oklahoma in a Big 12 Championship.
This is a different Spencer Rattler than the one who was fine in the first meeting, but couldn’t close. He also didn’t have Rhamondre Stevenson the first time around.
The bruising back has been a force since returning from having to sit out the first five games, running for 382 yards and six touchdowns over his four games. He’s playing, and so is Ronnie Perkins, one of the Big 12’s best pass rushers who was also missing in the first meeting.
Iowas State will be strong, but Oklahoma will be more explosive when it has to be. The Sooners will do a better job of controlling the clock and the game when they have to.
CFN Experts Picks College | NFL
Big 12 Championship: Oklahoma vs Iowa State Prediction, Line
Oklahoma 34, Iowa State 28
Bet on Oklahoma vs Iowa State with BetMGM
Oklahoma -5, o/u: 58
ATS Confidence out of 5: 2
Must See Rating: 4.5
5: Mank
1: Saved By The Bell
Big 12 Championship History
2019 Oklahoma 30, Baylor 23 OT
2018 Oklahoma 39, Texas 27
2017 Oklahoma 41, TCU 17
Six year hiatus
2010 Oklahoma 23, Nebraska 20
2009 Texas 13, Nebraska 12
2008 Oklahoma 62, Missouri 21
2007 Oklahoma 38, Missouri 17
2006 Oklahoma 21, Nebraska 7
2005 Texas 70, Colorado 3
2004 Oklahoma 42, Colorado 3
2003 Kansas State 35, Oklahoma 7
2002 Oklahoma 29, Colorado 7
2001 Colorado 39, Texas 37
2000 Oklahoma 27, Kansas State 24
1999 Nebraska 22, Texas 6
1998 Texas A&M 36, Kansas State 33
1997 Nebraska 54, Texas A&M 15
1996 Texas 37, Nebraska 27
