MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — One week after what it hopes was a season-saving victory at TCU, West Virginia plays at home for the first time in a month against No. 22 Iowa State.
The Mountaineers (3-4, 1-3) seek their second victory this season at Milan Puskar Stadium over a ranked opponent when the teams clash at 2 p.m. in a contest airing on The Big 12 Now on ESPN+ that could be played in steady rain.
“It’s a huge challenge for us,” WVU head coach Neal Brown said. “The guys are excited. We’re glad to get back home — feels like we haven’t been here for a really long time.
“Hopefully our fans will show up in big numbers and have a good Halloween. That’s the plan. We need them. There’s plenty of reasons to be here. It’s a great college football game, [West Virginia’s] Hall of Fame inductions and my hope is they’ll show up and support our guys.”
In two previous meetings with the Cyclones (5-2, 3-1), Brown’s WVU teams have suffered lopsided losses, including a 42-6 setback in Ames in 2020.
Over the last three seasons, Iowa State has outscored West Virginia, 110-34.
The Cyclones should again present plenty of challenges and enter winners of three straight in Big 12 Conference play since dropping their league opener.
Tailback Breece Hall is one of college football’s most productive ball carriers and the junior enters with 818 yards and 11 touchdowns.
Senior quarterback Brock Purdy has completed better than 75 percent of his passes for 1,648 yards with 11 touchdowns and four interceptions. Purdy benefits from his two favorite targets — wideout Xavier Hutchinson and tight end Charlie Kolar.
Hutchinson has 46 catches for 539 yards and five TDs.
“He makes a lot of contested catches,” Brown said. “With defenders on him, he makes more of those than probably anybody in our league.”
Kolar, a 6-foot-6, 260-pound senior, has 27 receptions for 348 yards and a pair of scores. He factors heavily into the team’s game plan, as does 6-7, 250-pound tight end Chase Allen.
“Offensively, they do a really nice job with their scheme,” Brown said. “They’re a little bit unique as far as having two tight ends that play a lot and a fullback that plays.”
Reigning Big 12 defensive player of the year Mike Rose continues to key the Cyclones’ defense from his linebacker spot. Rose has 51 tackles, including 6.5 stops behind the line of scrimmage.
Defensive ends Will McDonald and Eyioma Uwazurike have combined for 12.5 of Iowa State’s 17 sacks, with McDonald’s seven leading the way.
“McDonald is as good a pass rusher as is in our league,” Brown said. “[Uwazurike] is a load. His presence was definitely felt against us last year. Rose is special. He gives them the unique ability where he can play coverage or get in the box. He’s the defensive player of the year last year for a reason and he’s playing at that level again.”
The Mountaineers hope to follow a similar script to what transpired a week ago when they overcame allowing an opening kickoff return for a touchdown in their best showing of the season, leading to a 29-17 win over the Horned Frogs.
Coming off an open week, West Virginia rediscovered its run game and got 111 yards and three touchdowns from tailback Leddie Brown among the team’s 229-yard output on the ground.
It was only the second time in six games this season against a Division I opponent that WVU rushed for more than 100 yards. The other occasion was a 173-yard effort in a win over Virginia Tech that featured an 80-yard Brown TD run.
“We just went with the real intentionality to run the football and we did a much better job of not getting in bad down and distances,” Neal Brown said. “When you get off schedule, it really makes it hard.”
Quarterback Jarret Doege was efficient against TCU and his ability to protect the ball helped WVU win the turnover battle, 3-0. Doege enters with 1,701 yards and eight touchdowns, though he knows a tough challenge is in store against ISU.
“With these guys, I try to divide the field in half, because they do so much stuff in the back end and drop eight a lot,” Doege said. “You want to look in the boundary, what coverage are they playing here and to the field, what coverage are they playing here? That’s really what my eyes are looking for and you really have to be decisive with your decisions to find small holes within the defense.”
Winston Wright Jr. is one of five WVU receivers with at least 241 yards in receptions and his 423 on 36 catches are both team highs. However, unlike the other four, Wright has yet to catch a touchdown.
After struggling to generate much of a push up front October 9 in a 45-20 loss at Baylor, the Mountaineers’ offensive line was much improved in Fort Worth.
Staying in manageable down and distances, as it did at TCU, will be key for West Virginia.
“You have to eliminate the negative plays,” Neal Brown said. “Where [Iowa State] really feasts on you is when they get you in second and longs and third and longs. They make it really difficult because they can do a couple things — they’ll pressure, which they did a nice job versus Oklahoma State. Or they drop eight, which is a bunch of tight windows and makes it really hard.”
West Virginia’s defensive success has been predicated on stopping the run. A front anchored by Akheem Mesidor, Dante Stills and Taijh Alston will have its work cut out against a physical Cyclones’ team.
Linebacker Josh Chandler-Semedo enters off a strong showing in last week’s win and his team-high 60 tackles are 11 more than any other defender.
Safeties Sean Mahone (49 tackles) and Alonzo Addae (43 tackles) are the second and third-leading tacklers, while cornerbacks Darryl Porter Jr. and Charles Woods both had an interception last week. Woods also recovered a fumble that Mahone forced as a defense that struggled to generate takeaways through the first half of the season forced three second-half turnovers.
WVU kicker Casey Legg has made 13-of-14 field goals this season and was the recipient of a full scholarship earlier in the week.
Iowa State’s success in October under head coach Matt Campbell has largely been unmatched.
The Cyclones are 16-2 during the month since 2017, while Purdy has a 12-2 record in October. Both losses came against Oklahoma State in 2019 and 2020, something Iowa State was able to avenge with last week’s 24-21 victory over the previously unbeaten Cowboys.
“Once you get in league play, unless it’s a new staff, I don’t think there’s a whole lot of secrets,” Neal Brown said. “You have your offseason and summer breakdowns and most staffs do that. I don’t think we’re necessarily surprising them or they’re going to surprise us.”