Iowa State and West Virginia met on Saturday night in Morgantown with both teams 2-0 in league play and looking to join the top of the conference standings at 3-0. Iowa State was coming off a win over Baylor, while the Mountaineers went on the road last week and beat Oklahoma State.
Both teams had momentum coming into this game, but it was the Cyclones who were able to walk out of Morgantown with a 28-10 win, which included holding the Mountaineers scoreless in the second half until garbage time in the final minute. Iowa State is now 6-0 for the first time since 1938.
Here are three thoughts on the game.
Turnovers Turn the Tide
Iowa State went on the road and won the penalty battle, and more importantly, the turnover battle, 2-0. Both turnovers for WVU came on Garrett Greene interceptions in the second half. WVU trailed 14-10 at halftime, but Greene threw two picks that proved critical. Both led to touchdowns by the Cyclones.
The first one came in Iowa State territory as Greene got picked off by Jamison Patton. 10 plays and 65 yards later, Carson Hansen punched it in from three yards out to give Iowa State a 20-10 lead with under 12 minutes to play in the game.
And then, on the very next drive, on a 2nd and 8 from WVU’s 27-yard line, Greene gets picked off by Jontez Williams. Iowa State methodically used another 10 plays and took several minutes off the clock before Hansen scored again on a two-yard run to make it 27-10 with 4:42 remaining. At that point, the game felt out of reach for WVU, and the Cyclones were on their way to a win.
Iowa State’s Passing Game
Iowa State took advantage of a West Virginia defense that entered the game as the least-efficient pass defense in the Big 12. The Cyclones averaged 10.2 yards per pass and Rocco Becht finished the game 18/26 for 265 yards with one touchdown and zero interceptions.
Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel led the way at wide receiver, as Higgins finished with six catches for 102 yards, while Noel had five grabs for 77 yards, including a 60-yard touchdown pass that tied the game at seven early in the second quarter and helped get the Iowa State offense back on track early the game.
The running game was effective, but less explosive. Carsen Hansen had a career day with three touchdown runs on 96 rushing yards. His longest run was only 14 yards, but he averaged 4.8 yards per carry.
Cyclones History
The Iowa State Cyclones are 6-0 in football for the first time since 1938.
Cyclone Fanatic‘s Chris Williams put it into perspective this way.
Matt Campbell continues his incredible run at Iowa State, and this year it comes with a team that was picked to finish sixth in the Big 12 in the preseason poll.
Two weeks ago I suggested Iowa State needed to show a little more to prove this team was a Big 12 contender. Since then, they’ve dug out of a 14-3 hole to beat Baylor at home, and then went on the road to a hostile environment in Morgantown, and also came back from an early deficit to win the game in a rowdy environment.
Iowa State welcomes in a downtrodden UCF team next week before their bye week, and now it’s entirely possible the Cyclones are going to enter the final month of the regular season undefeated.
