Iowa State: Breece Hall

Hold up. Breece Hall, the nation’s only 1,000-yard rusher at the moment, is a player people should keep an eye on against Kansas State?

As surprising as it sounds, the answer is yes.

Hall has torched Big 12 defenses this season, rushing for 106 yards or more in all seven games for the Cyclones and is slowly inching his way toward Heisman talks.

So why bring him up as a player to watch?

In 2019, Hall burst onto the scene as a freshman in the latter half of the season, setting all sorts of freshman running back records for Iowa State.

His matchup against Kansas State was a big exception.

In 2019 in Manhattan, Kansas, Hall had 18 attempts for 67 yards, the second lowest rushing total of his young Cyclone career. And keep in mind, Iowa State’s offensive line was much more experienced last season when this took place.

Kansas State’s strength is its defense, particularly its defensive line, so be on the lookout to see if Hall continues to dominate on the ground or if Kansas State can find what worked in 2019 to stop the dynamic running back.

Now, Oklahoma State has been the best defensive unit Iowa State and Hall have played so far and he still racked up 185 yards in Stillwater.

So maybe I’m setting myself up for Hall to prove me wrong, but I still think it’s an interesting matchup to watch.

Kansas State: Wyatt Hubert 

As I said before, Kansas State has one of the best defenses in the Big 12, which is nothing out of the ordinary for the Wildcats no matter the season. 

One of the best players on the Wildcats is junior defensive end Wyatt Hubert.

Hubert received First-Team All-Big 12 honors as a sophomore in 2019 when he led the Wildcats with 12.5 tackles for loss and seven sacks. He also ranked eighth in the conference in tackles for loss with 12.5 last year.

Hubert looks to be on his way to giving the Wildcats another big season, totaling 5.5 sacks and 8.5 tackles for loss through the first six games.

With Iowa State’s offensive line struggling in pass protection for multiple games this season, expect to hear Hubert’s name called behind the line of scrimmage Saturday.