West Virginia Holds on to Defeat Iowa State

Saturday, November 4

Morgantown, W.Va.

3:30 p.m.

West Virginia University

6-3 , 4-2

Iowa State

6-3 , 4-2

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Iowa State

West Virginia

Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks

November 04, 2017 07:53 PM | Football

Box Score Postgame Notes Postgame Quotes Highlights Dana Holgorsen Postgame Tony Gibson Postgame Jake Spavital Postgame

By: John Antonik

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Iowa State had the football game it wanted in the fourth quarter, but West Virginia's defense forced field goals instead of giving up touchdowns and backup running back Kennedy McKoy's fresh legs helped the Mountaineers knock off the 14^th-ranked Cyclones, 20-16.

All 20 of West Virginia's points came in the first half when the Mountaineers built a 20-3 lead at intermission.

In the second half, it was a completely different story with the Cyclones (6-3, 4-2) scoring on their opening possession of the third quarter by driving 86 yards in 10 plays, and dominating the football for nearly the remainder of the contest.

Forty-seven of Iowa State's 69 offensive plays came in the second half, putting pressure on a WVU defense ranked near the bottom of the Big 12 in many statistical categories.

But Tony Gibson's young unit tightened in the red zone, forcing two short Garrett Owens field goals and then getting a terrific play from freshman cornerback Kenny Robinson on fourth-and-7 at the Iowa State 37 to retake possession of the football with 2:05 remaining in the game.

WVU's secondary, flagged for several pass interference penalties and the team being penalized a total of eight times for 85 yards, made three tremendous plays in a row after Kyle Kempt completed a short pass to Marchie Murdock.

Hakeem Bailey broke up Kempt's next two passes over the middle, the first to Trever Ryen and the second to Iowa State's leading receiver Allen Lazard, to bring up the fourth-and-7 play. Here, following Iowa State's last timeout, Kempt tried another pass over the middle to Hakeem Butler that Robinson batted down to give the offense great field position at the 37 and the Cyclones no longer possessing any timeouts.

Two McKoy losses, though, made it third and 17 at the 44. Instead of throwing another screen pass or risking an incomplete pass down field, West Virginia dipped into Don Nehlen's old playbook by calling a draw play and McKoy broke free down the near sideline before getting knocked out of bounds by D'Andre Payne right at the first down marker.

The replay official upstairs confirmed the first down spot on the field and three more McKoy runs ran out the clock without WVU needing to make another first down.

West Virginia re-discovered its running game, which struggled mightily the last four weeks against TCU, Texas Tech, Baylor and Oklahoma State. Today, Justin Crawford ran 25 times for 102 yards, most of those coming in the first half, before giving way to McKoy in the fourth quarter.

McKoy contributed 60 yards on 12 carries - eight of his runs coming in the fourth quarter - and the Mountaineers finished with a total of 208 yards on the ground.

"I've been pretty critical of our guys for about three weeks now," West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen said afterward. "You've heard me talk about it. I thought we took a step in the right direction against Baylor, but I think we took a step back against Oklahoma State. We needed to be able to run the ball."

Quarterback Will Grier also did most of his damage through the air in the first two quarters, completing 12-of-13 in the first half for 223 yards and both touchdowns before finishing the game 20-of-25 for 316 yards.

Ka'Raun White caught four Grier passes for a career-high 167 yards, besting his prior high by 29 yards.

The defense played perhaps its best all-around game of the season, limiting the Cyclones to just one touchdown and 101 yards on the ground - 103 less than what it was giving up heading into today's game. David Montgomery finished with 115 yards on 26 carries for the Cyclones, but Kempt was dropped three times for minus-14 yards.

Kempt also misfired on 13 of his 40 pass attempts and was picked off once by middle linebacker Al-Rasheed Benton, who was officially credited with nine tackles.

Bailey led the WVU defense with 10 stops while also being credited for three pass breakups.

"We were without four (defensive) starters, or something like that," Holgorsen said. "But it's college football and that's the way it goes. You've got to plug people in and play."

At the outset, the Mountaineers had complete control of the game. Two long Grier passes, both to White, gave West Virginia its first two touchdowns of the game.

The first happened on WVU's opening possession with the Mountaineers facing a third and 8 at their own 27. Grier hit White in stride down the near sideline and he ran into the end zone untouched for an apparent touchdown.

But the replay official upstairs said he stepped out of bounds at the 10, setting up Grier's 10-yard strike to David Sills V, his 16^th touchdown reception of the season.

Grier's second long pass to White happened in the middle of the field, and it resulted in a 55-yard touchdown with 11:59 left in the second quarter to give the Mountaineers a 17-0 lead. Before White's touchdown catch, freshman Evan Staley, kicking in place of injured Mike Molina once again today, successfully booted a 28-yard field goal.

Staley added a second field goal with 6:20 left in the second quarter, culminating a nine-play drive that consisted of eight runs. This one was a season-long 42 yards.

A third Staley field goal attempt from the 34 with two seconds left in the half hooked outside the left upright.

Iowa State's lone score in the opening half was the result of two 15-yard penalties on the Mountaineer defense during a third-down play it stopped at the Iowa State 31. However, the walk offs gave the Cyclones a first down at the WVU 40, and the drive ended four plays later at the 25 when Owens kicked a 42-yard field goal.

Staley's miss at the end of the half happened on the ensuing possession.

An announced crowd of 55,831 attended today's game, including 104-year-old Pearl Harbor survivor Jim Downing, who was honored on the field at the end of the first quarter.

West Virginia's victory makes it bowl-eligible under coach Dana Holgorsen for the sixth time in his seven seasons in Morgantown. The Mountaineers move into a tie with Iowa State for fourth place in the Big 12 standings with games left tonight.

"Hard-fought game," Holgorsen said. "I'm proud of our guys and the way they responded to me calling them out a little bit (earlier this week). We beat a good football team."

The Mountaineers' victory over No. 14 Iowa State represents the first time since 2012 they have defeated two nationally ranked teams in the same year. Back on Oct. 14, WVU knocked off then-24^th-ranked Texas Tech, 46-35 in Morgantown.

West Virginia (6-3, 4-2) returns to the road to face Kansas State next Saturday in Manhattan. The Wildcats defeated Texas Tech earlier today.