OU traveled up to Ames, Iowa looking to get over last season’s loss to Iowa State at home. Thanks to Kyler Murray, the Sooners held on to pull off the win.

Murray showed off his arm in the first quarter with a 75 yard pass to Marquise Brown to put the Sooners up 10-0 early. Iowa State responded with a field goal to get on the board at the beginning of the second quarter. On OU’s next drive, Murray shows off his arm again with a nice 28 yard throw to Grant Calacaterra who was hit hard by defenders right after the catch. Calacaterra landed on an Iowa State defender, but dropped the ball before he hit the ground, resulting in a fumble picked up by Iowa State. Iowa State capitalized on the opportunity. Zeb Noland completed a 51 yard pass to Hakeem Butler for a touchdown to make the score 10-10. Butler’s run after the catch was a SportsCenter Top 10 play as Butler broke shoved several defenders down and broke several impressive tackles to make it to the end zone. The Sooners took over right after that. The Sooners scored on their next two possessions and held Iowa State on their possessions to make it a 24-10 game going into halftime. In the beginning of the second quarter, it was Noland to Butler again. Noland completed a 57 yard pass to Butler for a touchdown. Butler had another impressive catch over a defender then breaking tackles to make it into the end zone. OU’s Trey Sermon wanted to show Butler he could break through his defenders too. Sermon ran 22 yards, through several defenders for the touchdown to put OU up 31-17. Iowa State wasn’t letting up as they made their way down the field on their next drive to score and make it a seven-point game again. OU would go on to score two more field goals and Iowa State would score one to make the score 37-27 in OU’s favor. In Iowa State’s last chance to make a comeback, Noland attempts to throw the ball to one of his receivers, but is picked off by Parnell Motley to end the game.

Murray’s first road start was one of his best outings this season. He threw for 348 yards with three touchdowns and ran for 77 yards. We can see a lot more running from Murray now that the Sooners lost their star running back Rodney Anderson for the season due to a knee injury and now Marcelias Sutton who suffered a knee injury in the Iowa State game. Iowa State’s backup quarterback Zeb Noland, who started in place of injured quarterback Kyle Kempt, didn’t make it easy for the Sooner defense. Noland threw for 360 yards and two touchdowns. Noland was able to be so successful because he had so much time to let the plays develop and find the best spot to throw the ball. The Sooner defense didn’t pressure Noland or anyone on the Cyclone offense enough. OU’s defense will need to step up their game later in the season when they have to play even better offenses.