AMES, Iowa — Iowa State hosts a gorgeous Senior Day in the heartland, where West Virginia showed plenty of heart after last week’s Oklahoma beating.
Follow along for live updates throughout the game:
Final
West Virginia wins 49-19.
Fourth quarter
— Chris Chugunov into the game, meaning Skyler Howard’s day is complete: 12-of-21 for 330 yards and five touchdowns.
— Rasul Douglas made interception No. 8 off a tipped pass. Dude is pulling serious consideration for Big 12 defensive player of the year.
TOUCHDOWN: Trevon Wesco 6-yard pass from Skyler Howard (10:23) West Virginia leads 49-19: The tight end caught his first career pass as the Mountaineers piled on the points.
— Jacob Park’s fumble was recovered by Noble Nwachukwu at the Iowa State 49.
TOUCHDOWN: Shelton Gibson 40-yard pass from Skyler Howard (13:37) West Virginia leads 42-19: An 88-yard, seven-play drive culminated in Howard somehow lobbing a bomb downfield despite being wrapped up by linebacker Reggan Northrup. Gibson did his part at the goal line by adjusting to the ball as cornerback Kaman Cotton-Moya lost position. Not to be overlooked on the series: Pettaway racing 25 yards with a third-and-12 screen pass.
Third quarter
— No play better illustrated Iowa State’s missed chances than this one: David Montgomery rushing for 46 yards to the WVU 17 only to be stripped from behind by Rasul Douglas. When the scrum settled, cornerback Maurice Fleming had the recovery at the Mountaineers’ 12.
TOUCHDOWN: Martell Pettaway 4-yard run (12:06) West Virginia leads 35-19: The freshman carried on the final five plays of a drive that opened with Howard’s 38-yard keeper.
— Iowa State came 1 yard shy of midfield before punting, ending a streak of nine successive drives reachig WVU territory.
— Howard ran for 12 yards on a keeper before a nice Pettway scamper was negated by Tony Matteo’s holding penalty. Kinney punted 44 yards with a return of minus-2.
FIELD GOAL: Cole Netten 31-yarder (8:50) West Virginia leads 28-19: Deshaunte Jones spun out of a Marvin Gross tackle and rambled 41 yards before Gross got him down on the second chance. Still, the Cyclones could not capitalize in the red zone: David Montgomery was thrown for 2-yard loss on from the 11 before Park threw two incompletions.
TOUCHDOWN: Shelton Gibson 71-yard pass from Skyler Howard (12:06) West Virginia leads 28-16: Gibson raced away from Iowa State’s Cotton-Moya for West Virginia’s longest play of the year. The two-play drive also featured a 9-yard run by Pettaway, giving him 100 today on 13 carries.
Halftime notes
— WVU outgained the cyclones 282-263.
— Skyler Howard only 5-of-12 passing but has 150 yards and two touchdowns.
— Jacob Park 13-of-25 for 215 yards but Iowa State only 1-of-8 on third downs.
— Pettaway closed the half with 91 yards, 12 carries and no redshirts.
Second quarter
— Starting from their own 11 with 55 seconds left, the Mountaineers killed the clock, though Pettaway reeled off a 23-yard run at the end.
— Sean Walters nearly generated a fumble on Iowa State’s last drive of the half, but Park’s pass was correctly reviewed to have gone forward. (And officials incorrectly overlooked the obvious intentional grounding.) The Cyclones punted from the WVU 40.
— Pettaway had runs of 15 and 12 before WVU punted.
FIELD GOAL: Cole Netten 32-yarder (6:12) West Virginia leads 21-16: Park made the play of the game so far, spinning out of a sack to find Deshaunte Jones for 25 yards to the WVU 5. Joel Lanning ran in a touchdown on the next snap only to see it nixed by a chop block penalty. The drive covered 55 yards in 10 plays.
TOUCHDOWN: Marcus Simms 48-yard pass from Skyler Howard (9:47) West Virginia leads 21-13: The freshman sped past cornerback Brian Peavy and made a contested grab for his first career scoring catch. Even the four-play drive was not without injury fallout, however: Ka’Raun White limped off gingerly on his right ankle after being tripped up on a deep route that brought a pass interference flag.
— Parks completed a third-and-8 pass to Butler for 17, but Iowa State’s threat ended on fourth-and-4 at the WVU 39 when Lazard couldn’t snag a low throw. Maurice Fleming had tight man coverage.
— Martell Pettaway bounced outside for 17 yards and added a 10-yard carry on third-and-15 after WVU’s offense failed to get set. On came came Billy Kinney for a 49-yard punt, which Trever Ryen returned 27 yards. (West Virginia’s Justin Arndt was shaken up by crack-back block on the coverage.)
First quarter
FIELD GOAL: Cole Netten 28-yarder (0:43) West Virginia leads 14-13: Allen Lazard’s 67-yard catch-and-run would’ve gone for a touchdown if not for safety Jeremy Tyler’s chasedown. Park nearly had a score two plays later but tight end Sam Harms couldn’t hold a pass with Spur safety Kyzir White draped on him.
— WVU gained 26 yards before punting, though the big news was the insertion of freshman Martell Pettaway, burning his redshirt in Game 11. The move was made after an apparent game-ending injury to Justin Crawford, who brandished a walking boot on his right leg.
TOUCHDOWN: Kene Nwangwu 97-yard kick return (4:56) West Virginia leads 14-10: Nwangwu burst through the middle and juked free of kicker Mike Molina for the Cyclones’ first special-teams touchdown of the season.
TOUCHDOWN: Kennedy McKoy 3-yard run (5:10) West Virginia leads 14-3: The Mountaineers moved 54 yards in four plays after the turnover, most of it on Shelton Gibson’s diving, bouncing 50-yard catch inches shy of the goal line. McKoy got in on his second crack.
— On its second drive, Iowa State faced third-and-1 from the WVU 43 when Justin Arndt crashed through to drop Mike Warren for a 1-yard loss. Warren also dropped the ball while having his right leg twisted awkwardly and Christian Brown recovered for the Mountaineers.
TOUCHDOWN: Ka’raun White 34-yard pass from Skyler Howard (9:01) West Virginia leads 7-3: West Virginia was alert for an onside kick, which Nana Kyeremeh recovered at the Cyclones’ 49. Howard barely converted a fourth-and-1 sneak (much to the chagrin of the Iowa State sideline, which disputed the spot) before hitting White on a crossing route.
FIELD GOAL: Cole Netten 40-yarder (11:18) Iowa State leads 3-0: A week after quarterback Joel Lanning’s five rushing TDs, the Cyclones started Jacob Park, obviously. But he looked pretty sharp in hitting Trevor Ryen for 26 yards and Haleem Butler for 19, but two holding penalties killed the drive.
— WVU’s first series concluded with 15 yards rushing by Crawford and 14 yards punting by Billy Kinney, the walk-on’s first shank of the season.
Pregame notes
— West Virginia (8-2, 5-2) has recalibrated its goals after being eliminated from the Big 12 title race. Still a chance for double-digit wins and one of the conference’s better bowl tie-ins. Iowa State (3-8, 2-6) is wrapping up its fourth consecutive season without a bowl game but feeling optimistic after a 56-point pillaging of Texas Tech.
— The Holgorsen-to-Houston rumor is only a rumor as far as I can discern. It was tweeted Saturday by Houston Chronicle beat writer Joseph Duarte in a speculative, off-the-cuff manner. Duarte wasn’t citing sources.
Though the Cougars are willing to rival Power Five programs in head coaching salaries, I don’t see them paying as much for assistants. And I don’t foresee Holgorsen’s familiarity with the school overriding the resources available via Big 12 revenue at West Virginia.
One hypothetical: An 0-2 finish by the Mountaineers could make the situation uncomfortable enough in Morgantown that Holgorsen and AD Shane Lyons agree to part ways, but WVU is favored to beat Iowa State and Baylor.
— Love the natural grass at Jack Trice Stadium. Only the second time West Virginia has played on the real stuff this season.
— My Four-Down Territory preview for today’s game.
— Friday’s Gold & Blue Lunch Report unveiled the picks for this matchups. Here’s a glimpse at our predictions, and share yours below:
