--This one was just a demolition. Iowa State played well, but West Virginia seemingly didn’t even bother to get off the bus as the Cyclones just hit the Mountaineers in the mouth and they never responded. The Iowa State offense basically did whatever they wanted, and the defense controlled everything that the offense tried to do. Unfortunately, it keeps with some trends of struggling on the road and out of a bye week. This is the first time since 2001, that the Mountaineers didn’t win a single game on the road and yet another face-plant against this Iowa State team. This is the worst performance of the Neal Brown era and while I didn’t expect the Mountaineers to win this game, I didn’t expect them to get rolled either. There’s just not a lot of positives you can take from this one and these types of efforts can’t happen. I understand that Iowa State is a good football team and that the Mountaineers were coming off three-weeks before their last game, but being down 35-0 in the third quarter when it could have been even worse is just a bad look for all involved. This one just leaves a bad taste in your mouth. It’s not just the result that upsets you, but the penalties, sluggishness and some of the same mistakes that keep popping up from game to game that puts a bad taste in your mouth. For example, running a route two-yards short of the sticks and more dropped passes and break downs. Just a frustrating effort all around. This isn’t an indictment of where the program is as a whole and there will be brighter days ahead but Iowa State just bullied West Virginia pretty much from start to finish. This was just a brutal effort all around and the only time all year that the Mountaineers were pretty much never in it.
--I do want to state again before the season I felt six wins would be a home run type of campaign. I always felt that the Mountaineers were still in a rebuild and had holes that were going to be exposed this year. But given the way this year has played out you can’t help but believe this team let a few get away. The program has made some strides in several areas, but this is the type of loss that really can sour things. This is going to be a big week on how this team bounces back at home against Oklahoma and with any shot of an outside appearance in the Big 12 title game, you’re basically playing for pride and to try to finally get over the Oklahoma hurdle. I’ll be very interested how this team responds after what I expect to be a difficult week of practice after the effort, they put out there today.
--The Mountaineers didn’t score a single point dating back to last season in five straight quarters against Iowa State but was able to tack on two field goals in the fourth in this one. They also had been held under 200-yards in consecutive games and it almost happened to them again. The scores of past three games combined are now a 110-34 edge to Iowa State. Granted, one of those the Mountaineers had to play with a backup quarterback, but the Cyclones have dominated.
--West Virginia was off balance defensively for basically the entire game. The Cyclones basically did whatever they wanted to the Mountaineers and used a nice balance to run the ball and throw it. The Mountaineers just seemingly didn’t have an answer for Brock Purdy and his ability to run the ball and move the pocket which helped them extend drives early in the game to build the lead. When the game was still in balance, Iowa State was 7-10 on third down and one of those was a fourth down that was converted into a first down and eventual touchdown. Iowa State had the most points West Virginia has allowed (42), total yards (478), the most rushing yards (237), the most passing yards (247) and basically everything else you want to name. The defense was overmatched today.
--Iowa State got in the red zone three times. They scored touchdowns on each of those. The Mountaineers were there three and turned that into 6 points. The Cyclones scored touchdowns on five of their first seven meaningful drives, not including the one where they ran out the first half. Woof.
--The last three quarterbacks that saw the majority of the snaps against Iowa State have struggled to say the least. Will Grier threw for 100 yards; Jack Allison threw for 140 yards and Jarret Doege threw for 209 today. If you take out the fact that Allison didn’t play the first couple snaps last year and really a bunch of junk time production from Doege, the only game that was worse from a starter in the past several years was the 137 yards Austin Kendall threw for against Missouri last year. Needless to say, it hasn’t been pretty throwing the ball. It wasn’t just Doege’s fault today but man those are some really bad performances stacked three years in a row.
--Thought Sean Ryan looked good at wide receiver today. Now that it mattered but he made some tough catches and brought a physical element when it just wasn’t there for most of the day. He finished with 5 catches for 79 yards today.
--West Virginia did get VanDarius Cowan and Taijh Alston back in this one, which obviously is a good sign moving forward although it didn’t matter today.
--Up next? Only Oklahoma the team that West Virginia hasn’t been able to figure out. But perhaps, this was exactly what this team needed to try to close the season strong.
--I do want to state again before the season I felt six wins would be a home run type of campaign. I always felt that the Mountaineers were still in a rebuild and had holes that were going to be exposed this year. But given the way this year has played out you can’t help but believe this team let a few get away. The program has made some strides in several areas, but this is the type of loss that really can sour things. This is going to be a big week on how this team bounces back at home against Oklahoma and with any shot of an outside appearance in the Big 12 title game, you’re basically playing for pride and to try to finally get over the Oklahoma hurdle. I’ll be very interested how this team responds after what I expect to be a difficult week of practice after the effort, they put out there today.
--The Mountaineers didn’t score a single point dating back to last season in five straight quarters against Iowa State but was able to tack on two field goals in the fourth in this one. They also had been held under 200-yards in consecutive games and it almost happened to them again. The scores of past three games combined are now a 110-34 edge to Iowa State. Granted, one of those the Mountaineers had to play with a backup quarterback, but the Cyclones have dominated.
--West Virginia was off balance defensively for basically the entire game. The Cyclones basically did whatever they wanted to the Mountaineers and used a nice balance to run the ball and throw it. The Mountaineers just seemingly didn’t have an answer for Brock Purdy and his ability to run the ball and move the pocket which helped them extend drives early in the game to build the lead. When the game was still in balance, Iowa State was 7-10 on third down and one of those was a fourth down that was converted into a first down and eventual touchdown. Iowa State had the most points West Virginia has allowed (42), total yards (478), the most rushing yards (237), the most passing yards (247) and basically everything else you want to name. The defense was overmatched today.
--Iowa State got in the red zone three times. They scored touchdowns on each of those. The Mountaineers were there three and turned that into 6 points. The Cyclones scored touchdowns on five of their first seven meaningful drives, not including the one where they ran out the first half. Woof.
--The last three quarterbacks that saw the majority of the snaps against Iowa State have struggled to say the least. Will Grier threw for 100 yards; Jack Allison threw for 140 yards and Jarret Doege threw for 209 today. If you take out the fact that Allison didn’t play the first couple snaps last year and really a bunch of junk time production from Doege, the only game that was worse from a starter in the past several years was the 137 yards Austin Kendall threw for against Missouri last year. Needless to say, it hasn’t been pretty throwing the ball. It wasn’t just Doege’s fault today but man those are some really bad performances stacked three years in a row.
--Thought Sean Ryan looked good at wide receiver today. Now that it mattered but he made some tough catches and brought a physical element when it just wasn’t there for most of the day. He finished with 5 catches for 79 yards today.
--West Virginia did get VanDarius Cowan and Taijh Alston back in this one, which obviously is a good sign moving forward although it didn’t matter today.
--Up next? Only Oklahoma the team that West Virginia hasn’t been able to figure out. But perhaps, this was exactly what this team needed to try to close the season strong.
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