The Oklahoma State MVP Draft: Week 6 - Iowa State

It’s week six of the post where analysis matters and the points don’t. Seriously we need to add some stakes to this post... or steaks...

Here’s the rules: Every week, each writer picks the player they think will be the MVP on offense, defense, and special teams for OSU and their opponent. If a player has the best game out of those chosen, the writer who picked him gets a point. We’ll keep track of the points through the season.

Here are the standings after week five:

Cade - 14 points
Phillip - 13 points
Christopher - 12 points
Dustin - 11 points
Joel - 10 points

This week, Kyle Cox will be filling in as a guest picker for Christopher (sorry Christopher).

Let’s get to this week’s picks:

Phillip

Oklahoma State

O - Justice Hill | D - Chad Whitener | ST - Zach Sinor

Offense: Two things have me going with Hill this week. First, he’s the obvious starter and after two straight games of over 100 yards, is the obvious pick. I believe he’s on his way to being named newcomer of the year by the Big 12. Second, opposing teams are averaging 5.4 yards a carry and 261 yards on the ground a game against Iowa State. I like the odds of Hill recording a third straight 100 yard game.
Defense: I’d like to stick with Burton here, but with him coming off an injury that knocked him out of last week’s game, I don’t expect he’ll play his normal number of reps if he even plays at all. Instead, I’m going with Whitener. He’s played well, and has finished in the top four in tackles in each game since Pitt. I feel like he has another break-out game in him.
Special Teams: Now I’m just being stubborn. I like Grogan, and he was solid last week. I just feel like he’s going to have another bad game soon where he misses a couple of field goals over 40 yards. Sinor has been a stud on kickoffs and punts so I’ll stick with him.

Iowa State

O - Joel Lanning | D - Willie Harvey | ST - Cole Netten

Offense: I would go with Mike Warren, but so far this season he’s been a bit disappointing. I think OSU will try to make Lanning beat them. If he plays at all like he did last week against Baylor, he should put up some yards (261 passing, 57 rushing).
Defense: I’m big on defensive players who can force tackles for loss and negative yardage. Harvey leads the Cyclones with 4.5 TFLs and is tied for 2nd with one sack. He’s also third on the team in total tackles. Until our offensive line gets better, defensive players are going to hit running backs in the backfield and get to Rudolph.
Special Teams: Alright Joel, you get your way. I’ll take the field goal kicker. Netten is 4/4 on field goals this season. If OSU’s defense holds up as well as I think it will, Netten will get plenty of chances to kick field goals.

Cade

Oklahoma State

O - Justice Hill | D - Vincent Taylor | ST - Ben Grogan

Offense: Justice Hill has been quite impressive so far this season. Having rushed for over 100 yards in the last two games, and over 250 in the last two combined, I expect him to continue his hot streak against a defense that just gave up 469 rushing yards to Baylor. This seems like a lock to me.
Defense: I love how Vincent Taylor has been playing so far this year. While I am not that confident in this pick to generate points, I think he deserves it. His performance last week was incredible. A quarterback sack this week might make him my favorite Oklahoma State player on the defensive side of the ball.
Special Teams: Always. Take. The. Kicker.

Iowa State

O - Mike Warren | D - Kamari Cotton-Moya | ST - Cole Netten

Offense: I have no idea how Oklahoma State let this kid out of the state of Oklahoma. No idea. He’s a stud as a true sophomore, and gets the majority of the carries for Iowa State. While I expect OSU to limit the big play from Warren, he should get plenty of carries on Saturday, and therefore, plenty of opportunity to put his stamp on this game.
Defense: Sorry Kyle, I promise I didn’t look at your answers... But Cotton-Moya is a talented athlete in the Cyclone secondary and has the ability to make a play or two back there. OSU loves to throw the ball around the yard, and they also should be able to run the ball too. Cotton-Moya should be in the mix on plenty of plays, and just like Mike Warren, he’s good enough to make a play or two.
Special Teams: Do I even need to say it? But seriously, Netten has been solid this season, hitting 4/4 field goals. That makes the easiest choice even easier.

Dustin

Oklahoma State

O – Justice Hill | D – Jordan Sterns | ST - Ben Grogan

Offense: Here the breakdown of rushing yards allowed by Iowa State’s defense this year:

· Northern Iowa - 232
· Iowa - 198
· TCU - 229
· San Jose State - 177
· Baylor - 469

Yes, you read that correctly, 469 yards to Baylor. That’s an average of 261 yards per game given up on the ground which is good for last place in the Big 12. In the past two weeks, Hill has put up over 100 yards against the 3.
Defense: Sterns had a great game against Texas, including his first interception of the year. With a few of the Cowboys banged up on the defensive side of the ball, I believe Sterns will look to step his game up to another level. The Cyclone have a mobile quarterback and a solid running back, and I think Sterns will be a key factor in shutting those two down. Also, just to note, he had an interception in last year’s game against Iowa State.
Special Teams: Grogan finally earned me a point last week, so I’m going to stick with him again.

Iowa State

O – Joel Lanning | D – Kamari Cotton-Moya | ST – Cole Netten

Offense: Lanning had a pretty good outing against the Cowboys last year. He threw for 162 and a touchdown, and he also ran for 130 and 2 touchdowns. The Cyclone quarterback had his best game of the season so far last week against Baylor, and his ability to make plays through the air and on the ground make him the most dangerous weapon on the ISU offense. I don’t think he has a great day, but I’m going to go with him over the Cyclone running back Mike Warren and all of the Iowa State receivers.
Defense: The Cyclone’s junior safety is all over the place. He’s second on the team in total tackles with 36 and leads the team in solo tackles with 29. He also recorded an interception in the San Jose State game. He’s not afraid to hit somebody and makes plays against the run and pass. There’s not many bright spots on the ISU defense, by Cotton-Moya is one of them.
Special Teams: The senior kicker is 15/16 on extra points and 4/4 on field goals this year. I think I’ll go with him.

Kyle

Oklahoma State

O – Justice Hill | D – Jordan Sterns | ST – Vincent Taylor

Offense: Justice Hill will continue his 100-yard plus streak against the worst rushing defense in the Big 12. The Cyclones give up a ridiculous 261 yards per game on the ground which ranks 123^rd out of 128 FBS teams. Hill will go for 130 yards and two touchdowns.
Defense: The senior safety leads the team in tackles with 39 and is in range for putting up triple-digit totals for his third straight year. The Cyclones rank ninth in passing offense in the league but still have Allen Lazard and capable playmakers in Trever Ryen and freshman Deshaunte Jones. Sterns grabbed his first interception last week care of Shane Buechele and would probably love to follow that up against Joel Lanning who’s been picked off three times this year. (Lanning only threw four interceptions in 11 games last season.)
Special Teams: This is one of those fantasy plays when a guy comes off the bench the previous week and has a big game and you drop Randall Cobb for him. I simply don’t know much about Iowa State’s PAT group other than that they are 15/16. Knee-jerk reaction says Taylor increases his PAT blocks exponentially and blocks three kicks this Saturday.

Iowa State

O – Mike Warren | D – Kamari Cotton-Moya | ST – Trever Ryen

Offense: Mike Warren’s average yards per carry and yards per game are down from last year but he is still handed the ball more times than any other back in the conference (18.20 average). Opportunity is one of the biggest factors when it comes to impact especially when you’re talking fantasy. Warren will get the touches and we know he has big-play capability. Plus, we saw the chunk yardage Texas’ Smash Brothers were able to gain against Oklahoma State’s front seven last week.
Defense: Safety Kamari Cotton-Moya is the star of the Cyclones’ secondary and may be their best player on defense. He has 36 tackles (29 solo), one tackle for loss and one pass break up. He’ll get plenty of chances to make plays in the secondary with Oklahoma State’s dynamic receiver corps running wild.
Special Teams: The junior wide receiver is the leading return man for the Cyclones. Ryen leads the conference in punt return yardage with 22.29 yards per return. He’s had one touchdown on a punt return last year so the has the ability to break open for a big play.

Joel

Oklahoma State

O - Justice Hill | D - Jordan Sterns | S - Ben Grogan

Offense: I've wanted to pick Justice for the last couple weeks, and this week will be the week he gets the point. Iowa State's rush defense has allowed an average of 261 yards per game. Even with OSU not having the greatest running game, this bodes well for the freshman running back to have a breakout game.
Defense: Sterns had 12 tackles and a pick last week, and with ISU having a fairly balanced offense, he should have another good game playing coverage and playing downhill to hit the running back.
Special Teams: Despite the blocked XP, Grogan still had a great game last week. I hope this week there will be more extra points and less field goals. He was able to capitalize on chip shot field goals last week.

Iowa State

O - Allen Lazard | D - Evrett Edwards | S - Cole Netten

Offense: Even though he was only held to 3 receptions for 33 yards last week against Baylor, I expect the 6'5 Lazard to pick up a few more yards this week. He creates a lot of mismatches with his height, so he will use that to his advantage this week.
Defense: In a breakout game last week for the junior DB, Edwards had 13 tackles (8 solo) against Baylor. With OSU throwing the ball near as much as Baylor, look for Edwards to be in on a lot of tackles.
Special Teams: The Cyclone's kicker is 14/15 on extra points, and 4/4 from field goal range so far this year. I am just going to continue the trend of picking the kicker, in hopes for at least one point this week.