Oregon: Kayvon Thibodeaux (DE)

Iowa State’s offensive line came into this season as a big question mark with so many new faces, not to mention an early season injury to Trevor Downing to make things more difficult.

But throughout this season the group has slowly gotten better, with some tough stretches and games in between no doubt.

With Big 12 games done for the season, think this group has already been through the fire? Think again.

On Saturday, Oregon defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux will be this group’s biggest test yet. 

Thibodeaux was named 2020 Pac-12 Championship MVP on Dec. 18 and even though Oregon played six games this year, Thibodeaux had three sacks and led the team with 7.5 tackles for loss.

Thibodeaux is at the end of his sophomore season after being ranked by ESPN as the No. 1 overall recruit in the 2019 class. 

Don’t believe me? Listen to what Iowa State offensive coordinator Tom Manning had to say on Wednesday at media day.

“I wish we didn’t play against him but he’s really fun to watch play,” Manning said.

Iowa State: JaQuan Bailey (DE)

Iowa State needs to pressure the quarterback if it wants to win this game. It needed to against Spencer Rattler and Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship and we all saw what happened.

Iowa State’s one and only sack on Rattler came from Will McDonald halfway through the third quarter, along with the team’s two tackles for loss.

So if Iowa State’s pressure comes alive, expect to see JaQuan Bailey.

Bailey is Iowa State’s all-time sack leader and will be involved in pressuring Tyler Shough all afternoon in the desert.