The Daily Texan sat down with Andrew Harrington, sports editor for the Iowa State Daily, to talk about what fans can expect from Iowa State ahead of Saturday’s Big 12 matchup. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

The Daily Texan: ESPN has Iowa State as a 16.5-point underdog even though it has only lost its previous two games by four points total. What do you think about that spread?

Andrew Harrington: It’s fair that Texas is definitely heavily favored. But I think that Iowa State’s defense is what has kept it in the game. With how good the defense has been for Iowa State, I don’t really see Texas covering that spread.

DT: Is the general game plan for Iowa State going to be “stop the run,” like it was for Kansas State?

AH: I think that’s kind of always been what it (is): stop the run on the first couple of downs, force a long-ish third-and-7, third-and-8. That’s what’s been working for Iowa State. It’ll let you get down into the red zone, but that’s kind of when it buckles in and gets a stop to force a field goal.

DT: What is going on with Iowa State’s offense not being able to score?

AH: I think the early game plan was to get Hunter Dekkers comfortable since this is his first season as a starter (and) to get Xavier Hutchinson as many touches as he could get. (But opponents are) starting to say, “Oh, if we can hold Hutchinson to 100 yards, the rest of all those receivers combined might not be able to get 100 yards.”

What stopped the offense was Jirehl Brock, the running back for Iowa State. He’s been playing through injuries and missing a little bit of time because of injuries. That really killed the Iowa State running game.

DT: What needs to happen for Iowa State’s offense to put up some numbers this weekend?

AH: I think the run game has to return. If the running game is held to less than 3 yards per carry again, then it’s not going to put up any points.

DT: How do you see the game playing out?

AH: I think just because of the state of the Iowa State defense, I think that it’ll stay somewhat close if you just looked at it from a score (perspective). But I think the people that watch the games will see that Texas is going to be fairly dominant over Iowa State and I think (the Longhorns) win by 10 points.