Crawford-Main-111916.jpg
United Bank Playbook: Iowa State
November 23, 2016 02:35 PM | Football
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - It doesn’t matter what Iowa State’s record is - 11-0, 8-3, 3-8 or 0-11 - who’s coaching the Cyclones or where they are playing, Iowa State is always going to play hard.
That has always been Iowa State’s No. 1 trait since West Virginia joined the Big 12 Conference in 2012.
That was certainly the case when the Mountaineers needed a late fumble recovery to hold on for a 31-24 victory in Ames in 2012.
It was true a year later in Morgantown when West Virginia couldn’t put the Cyclones away in the fourth quarter and Iowa State battled back to pull out 52-44 triumph in triple overtime.
It happened again two years ago when the Mountaineers fell behind 21-7 early in the second quarter before finally getting a handle on things midway through the third quarter.
It was the same deal last year when WVU withstood an assortment of trick plays during Paul Rhoads’ final game coaching the Cyclones.
And it will more than likely happen again this Saturday when the two teams hook up for just the fifth time ever, and the third at Jack Trice Stadium.
“If you go back and look at the games we’ve played against them over the last four years, they’ve all been tough,” cautioned West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen. “Iowa State, they have great fan support, there’s going to be a lot of people there at the game. It’s going to be a great Saturday afternoon for football against a quality opponent.”
Former Mid-American Conference coach of the year Matt Campbell is now guiding the Iowa State program, and the progress he’s made since arriving in Ames is becoming quite noticeable.
Three of Iowa State’s six losses in Big 12 play this year have been by seven points or less - three to Baylor, seven to Oklahoma State and five to Kansas State - the Cyclones fared much better against Oklahoma than West Virginia did last weekend (Iowa State lost at home by just 10) and they have a modest two-game winning streak heading into Saturday’s Senior Day matchup against the Mountaineers.
“You look at their schedule and they started slow, but about game four once they played Baylor, these guys have been in every game,” said Holgorsen. “This is a good football team, they’re well coached, have a lot of energy with coach Campbell, a lot of optimism and reason for hope - that sort of thing.”
Never was that more evident than last Saturday.
Iowa State’s 66-10 victory over Texas Tech raised plenty of eyebrows around the Big 12 and was like a loud air horn going off inside West Virginia’s Milan Puskar Center. It was the most points and the largest margin of victory ever posted in a conference game by the Cyclones and their 45 points scored in the first half were just three shy of a school record.
Joel Lanning ran 17 times for 171 yards and scored five touchdowns, quarterback Jacob Park completed 14 of 18 passes for 285 yards and two scores - Allan Lazard catching seven of those for 137 yards and a score - and the Iowa State defense completely smothered Texas Tech quarterback Patrick Mahomes III.
Once college football’s most productive passer, Mahomes completed just half his pass attempts for 219 yards and a touchdown with two interceptions during last Saturday’s Cyclone dismantling - far worse than Mahomes fared earlier this year against West Virginia’s defense.
Justin Crawford is coming off a career high 331-yard rushing performance against Oklahoma last Saturday. All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo.
Iowa State is now averaging 443.1 yards per game offensively and its defense is allowing just 25.2 points in its last five games, while holding opponents below their season scoring average five times in the last six games.
“Everyone says, ‘Oh my gosh, what happened with them last week?’ Well, let me tell you something, they’ve been playing good football all year. They beat the heck out of Texas Tech last week and they have it rolling. They have won two games for the first time in a long time in the conference, so they’re going to gain momentum from that.”
Forty-two of Iowa State’s 66 points scored last Saturday against Texas Tech were a direct result of Red Raider turnovers - another alarming figure for West Virginia to ponder.
Four WVU turnovers - two inside the 10-yard line and the other an 80-yard pick six - played a big part in the Mountaineers’ 56-28 loss to the Sooners last Saturday night.
Three critical miscues at Oklahoma State contributed to 17 points and the Cowboys’ margin of victory over WVU in Stillwater back on October 29. Two weeks ago, WVU somehow managed to dance around four turnovers at Texas to come away with a 24-20 victory.
Twelve turnovers in their last four games is not going to cut it - and if it happens again on Saturday the Mountaineers are likely to leave Ames, Iowa a very disappointed football team.
West Virginia’s preseason goal of winning its first Big 12 regular season championship ended with last weekend’s 28-point loss to Oklahoma, but there is still plenty of things out there for this team to accomplish.
With two more victories the 19th-ranked Mountaineers can become one of only nine teams in 125 years of football at West Virginia University with double-digit wins. It can also finish the season ranked in the top 25 for the second time under Holgorsen in 2011 when his team went on to defeat Clemson in the Orange Bowl.
A sixth win in Big 12 play would also demonstrate considerable progress for WVU, now 8-2, 5-2.
Several Mountaineer players are approaching noteworthy milestones as well.
Quarterback Skyler Howard is just 133 yards from moving past Marc Bulger for third place in career total offense with 7,827 yards. He is also four touchdown passes away from passing Pat White for third place with 56.
Senior wide receiver Daikiel Shorts Jr., with 2,146 career receiving yards, is just 202 shy of moving into the top five in that category while junior Justin Crawford has now put himself in prime position to become Holgorsen’s third 1,000-yard rusher and the 25th in school annals.
Crawford ran for 331 yards last Saturday against Oklahoma, third-best in school history, boosting his season total to 930 yards with an impressive 7.6 yards-per-carry average.
Saturday’s game will kick off at 3:30 p.m. and will be televised nationally on FS1 (John Walters, Eric Heft and Ben Bruns).
The Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG’s coverage begins at noon with the Go-Mart Mountaineer Tailgate Show leading into regular game coverage at 2:30 on stations throughout West Virginia and online via leanStream and the mobile app TuneIn.
Wednesday Sound
Gold-Blue Spring Festival Fan Recap
Sunday, April 19
John Neider | April 18
Saturday, April 18
Coach Zac Alley | April 18
Saturday, April 18
Coach Rich Rodriguez | April 18
Saturday, April 18
