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Oregon Football: Ducks Face Iowa State in Fiesta Bowl

By Justin Phillips

AMES, IA - DECEMBER 5: Quarterback Brock Purdy #15 of the Iowa State Cyclones drive the ball in for a touch down as Linebacker Josh Chandler-Semedo #7 of the West Virginia Mountaineers defends in the first half of play at Jack Trice Stadium on December 5, 2020 in Ames, Iowa. The Iowa State Cyclones won 42-6 over the West Virginia Mountaineers. (Photo by David K Purdy/Getty Images)
AMES, IA - DECEMBER 5: Quarterback Brock Purdy #15 of the Iowa State Cyclones drive the ball in for a touch down as Linebacker Josh Chandler-Semedo #7 of the West Virginia Mountaineers defends in the first half of play at Jack Trice Stadium on December 5, 2020 in Ames, Iowa. The Iowa State Cyclones won 42-6 over the West Virginia Mountaineers. (Photo by David K Purdy/Getty Images) /
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Oregon Football will face a challenge in Iowa State who bring a lot of offensive talent into the Fiesta Bowl starting with their Quarterback.

Following the Pac-12 Championship win, we knew that Oregon Football was going to the Fiesta Bowl. The Rose Bowl this season is part of the College Football Playoff and not in the usual rotation. On Sunday, Oregon found out they will face Iowa State on January 2nd.

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Iowa State enters the game ranked 10th in the nation. They finished the 2020 season at 8-2 and 1st in the Big 12 Conference. Two of their losses were to Oklahoma State and Oklahoma, both ranked in the top ten at the time of their respective wins over Iowa State. Despite the losses, the Cyclones finished with a better conference record.

Quarterback Brock Purdy threw for over 2500 yards and 19 touchdowns on the season. He completed 66 percent of his passes and will certainly have the eye of Oregon Football Defensive Coordinator Andy Avalos over the next two weeks. Purdy has also found success using his legs this season. He has ran for 343 yards and four of his touchdowns.

Running Back Breece Hall may be the player to watch. He has run for over 1400 yards this season and has 19 touchdowns to his credit. While the Ducks have had success with the running back by committee approach, the statistics on offense for Iowa State are impressive.

Oregon Football enters the game having used two quarterbacks for the first time this season as both Anthony Brown and Tyler Shough saw action vs USC. Brown’s Oregon debut was a big success finishing with two scores to his credit. I expect that Oregon will have CJ Verdell back for the Fiesta Bowl. He was not able to play vs USC. It is nice to have the one-two punch of Verdell and Dye in the backfield, which also allows the offense to have some different looks.

Following the announcement, Head Coach Mario Cristobal was pleased with the Ducks opponent, “The deeper dive you take into it the more respect you have for the level of culture and the standards that they are upheld to with their program and the constant commitment to physicality, execution and a lot of the principles that we implement in our program as well.”

Oregon and Iowa State will meet in the Fiesta Bowl on January 2nd. Kickoff is set for 1 pm Pacific Time on ESPN.

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