Iowa State seeks to reverse ‘glaring’ turnover ratio against Iowa in Saturday’s Cy-Hawk game

AMES — One mind-boggling and troubling stat looms over Iowa State’s current five-game losing streak to Iowa.

Nine to zero — and everyone who cares about either of the in-state football rivals knows what those numbers represent heading into Saturday’s 3 p.m. Cy-Hawk game at Kinnick Stadium.

“I think that’s obviously been a glaring statistic,” said Cyclones Coach Matt Campbell, who, of course, spoke in reference to the turnover margin the Hawkeyes have enjoyed in the past five meetings. “I think it’s been debilitating at times for us from an offensive perspective of giving the ball away, and credit them for taking it away, and our inability to get takeaways, those have hurt us at times.”

The Cyclones (1-0) have ranked better than 46th nationally in turnover margin just once in Campbell’s six-plus seasons. The Hawkeyes (1-0) have never ranked lower than 28th in the same span — and they’ve been among the top eight nationally the past two seasons.

“They do what they do and they do what they do well,” sixth-year senior ISU linebacker O’Rien Vance said. “It’s up to us. We’ve got to go make those plays. We’ve got to force those turnovers and we’ve got to put them in bad situations.”

That’s where Iowa has excelled in the Cy-Hawk game since suffering a 20-17 loss to ISU in 2014. Special teams — mainly, Cyclone kicker Cole Netten’s leg — decided the outcome that day at Kinnick, and last season, Hawkeye punter Tory Taylor’s powerful leg helped do the same in Ames.

The Australian transplant uncorked a 69-yard punt in Iowa’s 27-17 win last season and dropped four of his eight punts inside ISU’s 11-yard line.

He’s a well-known weapon — and proved that again by pinning seven of his 10 punts inside the South Dakota State 20-yard line in the Hawkeyes’ 7-3 season-opening win.

“You talk about the ability to change field position and I think sometimes the credit just goes to him,” Campbell said. “He is a great player. They’re also really good in their coverage units. They also have 10 other guys that do a great job around him, so we’re going to have to have a great plan for him and then a great plan of attack.”

Facing a long field tends to induce stress. It can make the quarterback uncomfortable and record-setting Cyclone play caller Brock Purdy certainly looked off-kilter while throwing three interceptions in last season’s loss. That’s also when new ISU starting quarterback Hunter Dekkers received his first significant game reps and he went 11 of 16 for 114 yards and a touchdown.

“(Iowa’s) a good defense,” Dekkers said after throwing for 293 yards and four touchdowns in the Cyclones’ 42-10 season-opening win over Southeast Missouri State. “They usually have notoriously a good defense every year, so that’s just something that we’ve got to look for.”

And somehow find a way to start reversing that 9-0 turnover trend that’s spurred the Hawkeyes’ recent Cy-Hawk winning streak.

“Man,” ISU senior safety Anthony Johnson said. “It’s something that you can’t not remember. So, yeah.”

Iowa State injury updates

Campbell said projected starting right tackle Jake Remsburg is practicing this week, but it’s uncertain if he’ll be able to play Saturday.

Campbell added that backup tailback Cartevious Norton (leg) is “doubtful.”

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