No. 9 Iowa State seeks to stay undefeated in matchup vs. UCF

After trailing by a touchdown early last week at West Virginia, Iowa State surged to its sixth straight win to start the season.On Saturday, the No. 9 Cyclones (6-0, 3-0 Big 12) will host UCF (3-3, 1-2) in Ames, Iowa, in an effort to remain unbeaten and at the top of the Big 12 Conference.Iowa State started slowly against the Mountaineers, but Carson Hansen led the Cyclones to a 28-16 victory with 96 yards rushing and three touchdowns.Hansen’s solid game doesn’t guarantee the running back will start against UCF because Iowa State has three backs with at least 245 rushing yards this season. It’s a position battle between Hansen (307 yards), Abu Sama III (248) and the team’s leading rusher, Jaylon Jackson (314).”That’s the great thing about football practice, right? You go to practice, and when you practice and play good, then you get to play in the game,” Cyclones coach Matt Campbell said. “We’ve got three guys that are really good football players, and they keep playing really good football, and I think we’re as blessed as anybody in college football right now to have guys that are playing great.”For Saturday’s game, Campbell said he is most concerned with the Knights’ running game. UCF coach Gus Malzahn relies on RJ Harvey, who leads the Big 12 in rushing touchdowns (nine) and is third in rushing yards (694).Harvey is part of a diverse ground attack between the running back and quarterback position for UCF, with both potential starting quarterbacks rushing for over 175 yards each.”I think when you have that, and you have the ability to create multiple ball carriers with every possession, you’ve got the ability to attack multiple gaps with what they do, it’s a real challenge,” Campbell said.