The annual Iowa-Iowa State football game has been one that begins and ends with the play of both teams’ offensive and defensive lines.

Unfortunately for the Cyclones, injuries are plaguing both units as they head into Saturday’s showdown.

ISU coach Paul Rhoads announced Monday that junior defensive end Roosevelt Maggitt will not play Saturday and could be out for the entire season with a “significant knee injury.”

“We do not know the extent of the knee injury yet at this point, but he will not play this Saturday,” Rhoads said.

Maggitt went down after the first play of the second quarter of the Cyclones’ 20-19 victory over Northern Iowa, clutching his left knee, and wore a large brace at Sunday’s team dinner. He will have an MRI on the knee this week to confirm the extent of the injury.

Another knee injury hampering the ISU front four on Saturday was that of senior defensive tackle Stephen Ruempolhamer, who had surgery on his meniscus just eight days prior to Saturday’s game. Ruempolhamer did not start and played sparingly Saturday.

“The doctors were confident he had an opportunity to be ready,” Rhoads said. “Courageously he tried, but he just wasn’t up to speed.”

On the other side of the ball, senior left tackle Kelechi Osemele is nursing a sprained ankle, which kept him out at different points throughout training camp and Saturday’s game.

“It’s manageable, I can play through it,” Osemele said Sunday. “It’s not too bad, I can’t complain.”

Rhoads expects the 6-foot-6, 347-pound Osemele to not quite be back at 100 percent this week, but hopes that he’ll progress throughout the season.

“His ankles are ones that you can’t tell if they’re swollen or not [since] the guy is so big,” Rhoads said. “We have two more games, then an open date. I would not think he would spend the whole year limping around on that.”

Morgan, Darks, Hicks, Laing available for Saturday

Redshirt freshman linebacker C.J. Morgan, who was ejected during the third quarter of Saturday’s game after an illegal hands to the face penalty, will be available for the entire game against Iowa.

Morgan recorded four tackles and one pass breakup before he was ejected.

A pair of missing offensive starters, senior wide receiver Darius Darks and senior offensive lineman Hayworth Hicks, and junior defensive lineman Cleyon Laing all will be back Saturday after not playing against Northern Iowa due to unspecified violations of team rules.