As is the usual with Matt Campbell’s weekly press conferences, there were a lot of talking points on Tuesday afternoon with the matchup against Oklahoma State looming for the Cyclones.
Campbell touched on the breakout of Tarique Milton from last season against OSU, as well as Brock Purdy’s. He was also asked about Charlie Kolar developing as a tight end and then, at the end of the session, special teams.
Campbell said the one area where he would admit the team was struggling with was within the kicking game – which hasn’t been too hard to see.
Brayden Narveson missed each of his two field goals against Texas Tech from 41 and 42 yards, respectively. Connor Assalley had one miss against Baylor in his last game where he attempted any and also had another blocked.
Campbell said Assalley would remain the kicker unless the Cyclones were faced with a field goal from ‘depth and distance.’ That’s about the same type of situation that it has been for a majority of the season.
The Iowa State head coach did say, however, that they earned their chances in practice.
As the Cyclones look at Oklahoma State for their homecoming game on Saturday, Cyclone fans will be remembering the breakouts of Purdy and Milton against the Cowboys last season.
Purdy had a chance to touch on that on Tuesday.
Purdy and his offensive unit will face an Oklahoma State team that has been plagued with issues in passing defense this season.
The Cowboys sit at 102nd in the NCAA (130 teams) in passing defense, giving up 258.7 yards on average through the air.
That gets guys like Deshaunte Jones a little excited, but the Cyclones aren’t looking at anyone lightly. This week is no exception.
The team also plans on seeing the return of sophomore linebacker O’Rien Vance, who has been out with an injury.
That will let Mike Rose move back to the Will Linebacker position, where he was playing when Vance was at the Middle.
Rose talked about playing both positions and the challenges that come with it on Tuesday.
One of Rose’s points was that he has to be ready for anything, something that Bryce Meeker experienced in a way this season.
After a bad game, Meeker took it upon himself to improve as much as he could and secure his starting role on the offensive line.
The Cyclones hope to have improved similarly as they try to get past their final October test. After the Cowboys, only a bye week will separate the team from back-to-back matchups with No. 5 Oklahoma and No. 15 Texas.
Iowa State will face OSU on Saturday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. CT. The game is scheduled to be televised by Fox Sports 1.
