Forty-two days.

 

That’s how long the 2015 Mountaineers labored to grab their fourth win.

 

After a 3-0 start that saw WVU outscore the opposition 130-23, October took its toll.  

West Virginia lost a lot of things during that stretch including four straight games, its dreams of a Big 12 title and Karl Joseph – its inspirational leader.

 

One thing it never lost, however, was its enthusiasm.

 

With so much football left to be played Dana Holgorsen was undeterred by the hardships of October.

 

“We have 20 seniors,” he said as the calendar turned to November. “It’s important to them and we still think we have a good football team and we’re excited about the next opportunity.”

 

That fire has helped the Mountaineers rebound with three consecutive victories. Now, they set their sights on becoming the first WVU team since 2003 to win four straight games in the month of November.

 

Standing in their way is a suddenly dangerous Iowa State team, made so by the recent firing of coach Paul Rhoads who will be leading the Cyclones onto the field for the final time Saturday. The impending departure of Rhoads, a beloved figure among his players, pits WVU against a supremely motivated squad intent on sending its leader out on a high note. 

 

“It’s going to be an emotional game for not only him, but the seniors, and that’s one thing he talked about in the team meeting is, it’s his last game at Iowa State and it’s the seniors’ last game at Iowa State, too. So, we’ve got to go out with a bang,” ‘Clones senior tight end Ben Boesen said.

 

There was a time when Iowa State was a different job, one that provided a platform for coaches to flash a modicum of short-term success and convert that into a higher profile gig, and I’m not referring to that quirky situation that sent Gene Chizik to Auburn in 2009 after a 5-19 record at ISU. To truly appreciate the opportunities Iowa State once provided for up-and-coming coaches you have to dig back a few more decades. For Johnny Majors, a stint in Ames that included Sun Bowl and Liberty Bowl berths, served as a springboard to Pitt. Earle Bruce followed suit by parlaying three 8-win seasons at Iowa State into the Ohio State job in 1979. The success enjoyed by both men during this time was aided in large measure by the fact that cross-state rival Iowa didn’t post a single winning record in the 1970s, suffering through the worst decade in Hawkeye football history.

 

But that was another era – a time when regional recruiting, innovative coaching and a little luck were enough to achieve prosperity in Ames. Those days are a distant memory, replaced by the cold reality that the Iowa State job has transformed into one of the most challenging in the Big 12. Isolated in a state with limited prospects while competing in a league that sees 60 percent of its members hanging their hat in or around the uber-fertile recruiting grounds of Texas, it’s become a tall order for the Cyclones to consistently claw out the six wins needed for bowl eligibility. And life doesn’t figure to get any easier for Rhoads’ replacement who will be vying for talent against an Iowa program currently stringing together its first unbeaten season since 1922.

 

Despite the obstacles, Iowa State has shown it can attract and develop good football players. It’s done so for years, as evidenced by the dozen former Cyclones populating NFL training camps last summer. Irrespective of who the next head coach is, however, it’s less likely he’ll harvest enough of that kind of talent to provide the one thing that’s an absolute must for Iowa State – or any other team -- hoping to compete in the Big 12.

 

Depth. Lots of it.

 

Trying to contain – or keep up with – Big 12 offenses that spread you out with a herd of receivers and bang out 85 snaps per game is an all-hands-on-deck proposition every week. Navigating those troubled waters takes a legion of productive players in all three phases of the game, not just a dependable starting lineup. No conference in college football exposes your roster deficiencies like the Big 12. In this league, all the smoke and mirrors in the world can’t help you mask a lack of depth.

 

For these reasons and more Iowa State, a tougher-than-nails and technically sound football team, has limped to an untenable 14-37 record since derailing No. 2 Oklahoma State’s national title chase in 2011. It doesn’t matter that 12 of those losses have been by a touchdown or less. It doesn’t matter that Paul Rhoads was born 10 minutes from Jack Trice Stadium. It doesn’t matter that Iowa State set a school attendance record by averaging 56,519 fans in six home games this fall. It doesn’t matter that the Cyclones’ eight losses have been to teams with a combined record of 68-17 or that -- according to the latest Sagarin rankings -- ISU faces the nation’s toughest schedule.

 

It only matters that Iowa State hasn’t neared the top of that long, slippery slope they endeavored to climb when Rhoads was hired seven years ago. 

 

Here are a few odds & ends as kickoff approaches:

PASS – 346.8 YARDS/GAME

RUSH – 122.7 YARDS/GAME

TOTAL – 469.5 YARDS/GAME

SCORING – 37.6 POINTS/GAME

 

PASS – 225.4 YARDS/GAME

RUSH – 244.4 YARDS/GAME

TOTAL – 469.8 YARDS/GAME

SCORING – 34.6 POINTS/GAME

 

Two things might jump out at you after surveying those numbers:

1) This year’s West Virginia offense is somewhat surprisingly a tick in front of the Orange Bowl squad from a yardage standpoint;

2) While the 2011 attack flew with the Valkyries, this year’s edition is as balanced as a carpenter’s level.

 

I do understand that necessity is the mother of invention. Part of this renovation has been a function of the Mountaineers efforts to groom a young crop of receivers. Part of it owes to the fact that WVU is blessed with talented linemen capable of creating space. And of course, a large part as well stems from Skyler Howard’s ability to superintend a high-powered ground game, doing everything from getting the offense into the optimal play to making some of those plays himself with his own legs.

 

“I think you have to continue to evolve a little bit and that’s the area that I wanted to evolve in,” Holgorsen said of the West Virginia ground game. “Without going through exactly how everything’s transpired over the last six years, I wanted to do something a little bit different than everyone else in the league.”

 

Indeed this transformation didn’t happen overnight. In fact, some of the seeds might have been sown in 2013 when Holgorsen hired his offensive line coach.

“We made a decision a couple of years ago to kind of move toward this direction with what we are doing up front – without adding the quarterback with the reads, the powers and the draws,” Holgorsen said. “We made an effort three years ago. That’s why Ron (Crook) is here, because he knew a lot about that put your hand down in the dirt and move forward with it.”

 

Crook is an old school o-line coach in the purest sense, an unsung teacher who carries himself with the commonness of cornbread and who doesn’t mince words. His background speaks for him – and it says he loves a rugged brand of football. 

 

As the OL coach at Harvard, Crook’s crew helped Clifton Dawson (2003-06) become the Ivy League’s all-time rushing leader with 4,841 yards. From Harvard, Crook took a job with David Shaw at Stanford, coaching the tackles and tight ends. There, Crook helped Cardinal OL coach Mike Bloomgren fashion one of the country’s premier units in 2011, protecting Heisman Runner-Up Andrew Luck and paving the way for a ground game that racked up the third-highest rushing total in school history.

 

For a West Virginia offense looking to infuse a little more physicality a few years back, Stanford was the ideal place from which to poach. It’s the football equivalent of encountering a faulty wire in your keyboard and hiring a guy from MIT to fix it. After all, when it comes to the modern college game, Stanford is ground zero for downhill, power football – a place where three-tight end sets are the formation du jour and where the phrase “three yards and a cloud of dust” remains a term of endearment. 

 

Commenting on Crook’s background shortly after the hire back in February of 2013, Holgorsen’s words included a quick sidebar that has since proven prophetic.

 

“He brings something to the table that is different than what I’ve done in the past.”

 

West Virginia might need a little more of that something from Crook and Co. on Saturday if they hope to topple an emotionally charged Iowa State squad.

I’ll see you at the 50.