Iowa State hopes recent ‘sparks’ turn into consistent offensive production at Oklahoma State

AMES — He may be diminutive in terms of height, but it would be unwise to sell Iowa State tailback Deon Silas short.

“I think Deon has always been a guy that’s provided a spark,” Cyclones football coach Matt Campbell said.

Case in point: Silas’ performance in ISU’s 31-14 win over West Virginia at Jack Trice Stadium.

The 5-foot-8, 180-pound sophomore rushed for a career-best 77 yards on six carries — and 73 of those yards helped summon a streak of three consecutive fourth-quarter touchdown drives.

Silas scurried 38 yards to set up the first touchdown and added a 33-yard run to put the Cyclones (4-5, 1-5) in the red zone for touchdown No. 2. The 38-yarder was a season-long rush for all of ISU’s tailbacks and came while the Cyclones were clinging to a 10-7 lead.

“That run, I just felt it was coming,” Silas said. “Just felt it was coming. Opportunity, just taking advantage of it and as you saw, the crowd got loud. It (was) a big part of the game, seeing Xavier (Hutchinson) score a touchdown right after that.”

Fellow tailback Cartevious Norton scored ISU’s final two touchdowns while contributing 75 yards on 18 carries. The Cyclones totaled a Big 12 season-high 172 yards on the ground, which begs the question: Has a trend been established or was that swell in production merely an aberration?

“Big plays, that’s part of momentum,” Campbell said. “And I think we’ve been looking for the consistency of not only creating momentum plays, but sustaining those plays and finishing those plays off.

“I think the two things that both of (Silas’) runs (made) happen, is we scored touchdowns off of both of those. We finished and we gave ourselves real momentum.”

The next step? Building off that crisper and cleaner execution on the offensive side of the ball.

ISU faces an injury-depleted Oklahoma State team at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in Stillwater, Okla., and despite back-to-back lopsided setbacks to Kansas State and Kansas, Campbell still sees a wealth of talent rippling through the Cowboys’ (6-3, 3-3) roster.

“You’ve got to prepare for the total whole, so no matter what or who, you’ve got a team that’s got elite playmakers in every area,” Campbell said.

So even if senior quarterback Spencer Sanders must sit out another game because of injury, Oklahoma State remains one of the league’s most dangerous offenses. So it’s a good thing the Cyclones deploy the conference’s top defense in terms of points allowed (16.3 per game) and average yards yielded (284.4).

“If you’re trying to do something meaningful, you know, you don’t just mistakenly become the No. 1 defense,” said ISU senior defensive end Will McDonald, who is tied with future NFL Hall of Famer Von Miller at second on the Big 12’s all-time sacks chart with 33. “It’s all about the work ethic and doing what you gotta do.”

The defense will almost certainly do its part, but will the offense keep finishing drives and scoring enough points to spark a late-season surge? Stay tuned, but Saturday’s effort served as a springboard from which to launch.

“We talk about momentum all the time,” said Silas, who’s rushed for two touchdowns this season. “We’ve got to keep our foot on their necks at all times. Coach Campbell tells us every day at practice, ‘We’ve got to keep our momentum going. We’ve got to be the best version of us.’ It showed on Saturday.”

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