Iowa State is coming off one of its best Big 12 performances in school history.

Now with No. 10 Utah standing in their way, the road doesn’t get any easier for the Cyclones. 

“They play with a lot of passion,” said running back Alexander Robinson. “They fly around and make plays. They have a lot of good players and they play hard every play. They’re going to be a tough team.”

The Utes have two viable quarterback options in sophomore Jordan Wynn and senior Terrance Cain.

Wynn missed two games due to a sprained thumb, but returned to lead the Utes to a 56-3 victory over San Jose State in their last contest. Utah coach Kyle Whittingham pulled him after halftime to avoid aggravating the injury with the game well in hand.

Utah is ranked seventh in the nation in points allowed, averaging just 12 points per game. Facing a tougher defense than they faced against Texas Tech last week, Iowa State’s game plan is going to be important.

“With any opponent, it just comes down to us executing,” Robinson said. “We have to take what they give us and execute with that.”

Robinson is coming off his first 100-yard game of the season, but Utah is no slouch in the rushing game either.

Senior running backs Eddie Wide and Matt Asiata provide a 1-2 punch in the backfield. Wide has rushed for 210 yards on 40 carries and scored three touchdowns, while Asiata has scored twice and racked up 187 yards on 44 carries.

With a balanced offensive attack, gap control is going to be important against Utah.

“The biggest thing is try to read their formations and make sure you have the right guys in the right gaps at the right time,” said defensive end Rashawn Parker. “They’re good backs. When they find the whole, they’re good at hitting the hole and running downhill.”

Parker said he saw no weaknesses on the Utes’ offense that could be exploitable and had no trouble seeing why Utah is a top 10 football team.

While coach Paul Rhoads is in his second year with the Cyclones, Whittingham is in his sixth. That helps a team gain consistency.

“They have confidence in what they’re doing,” Rhoads said. “You can see that they understand thoroughly what they’re doing and do it very fast.”

Whittingham, who won national coach of the year in 2008, has coached Utah to five straight winning seasons. The Utes are also undefeated in bowl games under Whittingham.

Rhoads thinks Utah will provide similar challenges on both sides of the ball that Texas Tech showed.

“They are an offense and defense that execute very well and are farther along than Texas Tech is in that regard right now,” Rhoads said.

Robinson and quarterback Austen Arnaud, who both had lingering injuries, were both full participants in practice this week.