Facing off against the conference’s worst run defense was not enough, as the Iowa State run game stalled out once again 27-13.

Maintaining a balanced game between the run and the pass was something that Matt Campbell was stressing earlier in the week, and it has played a factor in the team’s 0-5 start to Big 12 play. Despite this emphasis, the Iowa State run game went missing against the Sooners.

The return of running back Jirehl Brock for Iowa State gave some Cyclone fans hopes that the run game would improve, especially since Oklahoma has struggled against the run this season.

The Sooners had allowed 1,452 yards coming into the game, which led second-place Texas by over 150 yards. Texas has even played one more game than Oklahoma has thus far.

Oklahoma has allowed 4.8 yards per carry this season, the next highest allowed is Oklahoma State at 4.0.

Across the ball is an Iowa State run game that has had little success running the ball all year.

Coming into the game, Iowa State averaged 101.7 rushing yards, which marked the least in the Big 12 by 35 yards. The next closest team was Texas Tech at 136.3.

This game was even worse for the Cyclone run game than it has been all season, as Iowa State ran the ball 27 times for only 66 yards. That averages out to just 2.4 yards per carry.

Leading the charge in the backfield was Dekkers with 31 yards, and the majority of them came from scrambles on passing plays.

After the game, Campbell pinned this lack of a rushing game on the lack of consistency that the team has had this season, especially offensively.

“Obviously that is a major issue, and for whatever reason our inability to find consistency there really puts us behind the eight ball,” Campbell said.

One of the more alarming stats for the Cyclones is that they only had one rush for 10 or more yards.

Wide receiver Jaylin Noel acknowledged the struggling offense after the game but said that he is not going to put the blame on a single position group.

“Those running backs run as hard as they can,” Noel said. “We’ll get that going too.”

Although the run game was not producing during the game, Brock was still making plays in the passing game. Brock caught three passes for 29 yards, which landed him with seven more than he had rushing yards across 11 carries.

Campbell said the team can get out of this low point of the season through built-up consistency, and the players’ attitudes have not changed all season.

“It’s not an attitude and effort thing, which is something we’re grateful for, but it is a details and precision thing,” Campbell said.