Iowa State football: Why did Nigel Tribune not play against Oklahoma?

There was a lot of confusion surrounding the Iowa State defense as they continued to get pummeled by Oklahoma on Saturday. While a number of injuries started taking players out of the game, including a devastating knee injury to Jevohn Miller, there was nothing said about cornerback Nigel Tribune, one of the Cyclones’ best players in the secondary. Where was he?

Speculation throughout the game was that he was dealing with an injury despite being dressed. Rhoads confirmed the rumors after the game by revealing that Tribune suffered a groin injury during practice late in the week.

Before the coaches talked, the Iowa State football depth chart for the game against Kansas was revealed, and it had the junior backup, Kenneth Lynn, over Tribune at the right cornerback position. Clearly, that wasn’t a good sign.

How serious was the injury to Tribune? Already expecting that Miller would be out for a long time with the knee injury, Iowa State needs as much help as they can get for a defense that just gave up over 750 yards in one game.

Luckily, Rhoads revealed in his Monday press conference that he expected Tribune and a number of defensive players back (except Miller, of course).

Tribune is a must have on this team defensively. As a sophomore, he ranks fifth in total tackles with 47 (38 solo), has broken up eight passes, and has picked it off twice.