Patchwork O-line powering Cyclones offense

AMES - As the game tape rolls, Iowa State right tackle Carter Bykowski waits for the punchline moment.

One stumble, one misstep, means his injured roommate, Brayden Burris, will give him a hard time.

All in good fun - and all in an effort to make him better.

“He may laugh a couple times here and there,” said Bykowski, whose helped a patchwork offensive line impress Cyclone coach Paul Rhoads in Burris's absence. “It's always kind of fun to watch film because he tends to watch me a little bit more because he plays right tackle, too. So certain plays he makes fun of me if I have a bad step or fall down or something. But it's all fun.”

Burris, a junior, has rolled with his own setback - a leg fracture sustained in last month's Texas loss.

He was expected to miss at least six weeks and is on schedule for a possible return this season.

“Out of his cast, moving around,” Rhoads said. “We're very pleased with him. I think we'll get him back at some point in the next three games. Doubt Oklahoma State (Nov. 18), but at some point in the next three games, I think we'll get him back.”

With Burris out, and NFL prospects Kelechi Osemele and Hayworth Hicks banged up at times, the Cyclones have needed valuable reps from relatively inexperienced front men such as Bykowski, Kyle Lichtenberg, Jacob Gannon and starting center Tom Farniok.

When asked if he would have guessed the offensive line could continue to develop and grow given the litany of bad breaks, sprains and bruises suffered by its veteran members, Rhoads said, “No.”

“Especially to be elevating as the year's going on with some young guys out there on the field,” he added.

The Cyclones (5-4, 2-4 Big 12) have rushed for 619 yards in their past two games.

“I've said more than once that I think where we've positioned our offensive line for the future is very favorable and I think that's shown, Rhoads said.”

Bykowski shares reps with Lichtenberg at right tackle - a “tag team,” he calls it - and his roommate aids their progress, all joking aside.

“He's helped me out a lot: watching games, watching my sets, watching my first couple steps on each play, kind of to see what I'm doing right and what I can do better,” Bykowski said of Burris. “He's helped me a bit on schemes and stuff so it's always good to have a guy like that sort-of coaching you, as well as being a good friend.”

MORE HEALING: Rhoads said free safety Jacques Washington is recovering well from an abdominal strain that forced him to miss most of the Kansas win.

“He's not 100 percent, but with three days off looming, I think by next week he'll be in good shape,” Rhoads said.

BYE, BYE: It's uncommon for a coach to have two bye weeks to work with in a season and Rhoads is intent on making this one more successful than the first.

“We got to Sunday of Texas game week where we still had too many questions with our game plan, I thought,” Rhoads said.

That won't be the case this time, he said.

“(The staff has) been eliminating things in the game plan or saying yes this works,” said Rhoads, who spent one day recruiting in California. “So by Sunday when we come in for a walk through, we're going to feel pretty good about where we're at as a staff, preparation-wise.”