Freshman Brock Purdy threw for 254 yards and three TDs and Iowa State throttled sixth-ranked West Virginia 30-14 on Saturday night, handing the Mountaineers their first loss in emphatic fashion.David Montgomery had a career-high 189 yards rushing for the Cyclones (3-3, 2-2 Big 12), who capped a wild day by beating a Top 25 team for the fifth time in seven tries.West Virginia (5-1, 3-1) was the fourth Top 10 team to fall Saturday. LSU pounded No. 2 Georgia 36-16, No. 7 Washington fell 30-27 in overtime at No. 17 Oregon, and No. 8 Penn State lost to Michigan State 21-17.Iowa State scored 20 straight points after spotting West Virginia an early touchdown off a turnover. Purdy then found Deshaunte Jones through a pair of defenders on a sprawling 32-yard TD grab that, after a two-point conversion, put Iowa State ahead 28-14 with 12:17 to go.The story of the game was Iowa State's defense, which dominated the high-flying Mountaineers on a windy and chilly night. West Virginia gained just 152 yards, 420 below its season average.Fittingly, the Cyclones sealed the win by forcing a hold in the end zone for a team safety and a 30-14 edge with 5:14 left.Will Grier had arguably his worst game as a Mountaineer, throwing for just 100 yards. West Virginia was outgained by 346 yards, a stunning figure for a team that hadn't even trailed in rolling up five straight wins.THE TAKEAWAYWest Virginia: The Mountaineers still control their destiny in the Big 12, with games against Texas and Oklahoma left on the schedule. But their playoff hopes are currently out of their hands. Still, it's early, and if West Virginia can regain the offensive form they showed through the early part of the season it'll be tough to beat. But this was a bad, bad loss.Iowa State: The Cyclones have held all six of their opponents below their season average, which has been instrumental the team's bounce back from a 1-3 start. Can Iowa State grab the second spot in the Big 12 title game? Probably not - but the schedule will ease up considerably and these Cyclones seem capable of going on a run.POLL IMPLICATIONSWest Virginia's fate will rest on how many voters realize what kind of defense Iowa State has in 2018, and how well the Cyclones have played in big games over the past two years - especially at home.UP NEXTWest Virginia hosts Baylor on Oct. 25.Iowa State is off next week.___More AP college football: https://apnews.com/tag/Collegefootball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25(Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.) Freshman Brock Purdy threw for 254 yards and three TDs and Iowa State throttled sixth-ranked West Virginia 30-14 on Saturday night, handing the Mountaineers their first loss in emphatic fashion. David Montgomery had a career-high 189 yards rushing for the Cyclones (3-3, 2-2 Big 12), who capped a wild day by beating a Top 25 team for the fifth time in seven tries. Advertisement West Virginia (5-1, 3-1) was the fourth Top 10 team to fall Saturday. LSU pounded No. 2 Georgia 36-16, No. 7 Washington fell 30-27 in overtime at No. 17 Oregon, and No. 8 Penn State lost to Michigan State 21-17. This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. Iowa State's halftime show was... different. pic.twitter.com/vwGYLpwG7h — FOX Sports (@FOXSports) October 14, 2018 Iowa State scored 20 straight points after spotting West Virginia an early touchdown off a turnover. Purdy then found Deshaunte Jones through a pair of defenders on a sprawling 32-yard TD grab that, after a two-point conversion, put Iowa State ahead 28-14 with 12:17 to go. The story of the game was Iowa State's defense, which dominated the high-flying Mountaineers on a windy and chilly night. West Virginia gained just 152 yards, 420 below its season average. Fittingly, the Cyclones sealed the win by forcing a hold in the end zone for a team safety and a 30-14 edge with 5:14 left. Will Grier had arguably his worst game as a Mountaineer, throwing for just 100 yards. West Virginia was outgained by 346 yards, a stunning figure for a team that hadn't even trailed in rolling up five straight wins. This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. When it's your night, passes juuuust miss the outstretched fingers of defenders. It's Iowa State's night. (via @CFBONFOX)pic.twitter.com/qc03gveZoR — SI College Football (@si_ncaafb) October 14, 2018 THE TAKEAWAY West Virginia: The Mountaineers still control their destiny in the Big 12, with games against Texas and Oklahoma left on the schedule. But their playoff hopes are currently out of their hands. Still, it's early, and if West Virginia can regain the offensive form they showed through the early part of the season it'll be tough to beat. But this was a bad, bad loss. Iowa State: The Cyclones have held all six of their opponents below their season average, which has been instrumental the team's bounce back from a 1-3 start. Can Iowa State grab the second spot in the Big 12 title game? Probably not - but the schedule will ease up considerably and these Cyclones seem capable of going on a run. This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. POLL IMPLICATIONS West Virginia's fate will rest on how many voters realize what kind of defense Iowa State has in 2018, and how well the Cyclones have played in big games over the past two years - especially at home. UP NEXT West Virginia hosts Baylor on Oct. 25. Iowa State is off next week. ___ More AP college football: https://apnews.com/tag/Collegefootball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25 (Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)<doc-sep>AMES, Ia. — It’s October. Go time for an Iowa State football team that seemingly never loses during this bewitching month. But more on that later. For the second season in a row, the Cyclones upset an opponent that featured a legitimate Heisman Trophy candidate — this time 30-14 against a West Virginia team that came to town as the Big 12’s lone unbeaten. Baker Mayfield and Oklahoma a year ago. Will Grier and sixth-ranked West Virginia on Saturday night. Iowa State’s blossoming tradition of upsetting the college football universe was about what the Cyclones did to render Grier useless. Freshman sensation Brock Purdy played in just his second game of significance. And did you see the beautiful, 32-yard touchdown pass he lofted over double coverage that Deshaunte Jones caught in the end zone? As well as the kid played — again — in overshadowing Mr. Heisman Candidate, Iowa State’s most recent upset was about Jon Heacock’s defense. Don't get me wrong. Purdy was sensational. David Montgomery was marvelous, after sitting out last Saturday’s victory at Oklahoma State. Hakeem Butler ... there’s no more words remaining to describe what the 6-foot-6 receiver means to the team and to Purdy. Throw the ball in his direction, and he’s catching it or drawing pass interference. But the veteran assistant coach wearing the sunglasses on the sideline was the real story of Iowa State’s sixth win in its last six October games. “It was multiplicity,” Cyclones coach Matt Campbell said. “The ability to be multiple throughout the football game. Our defensive staff did a great job of having a plan to constantly switch up the looks and be as multiple as we could. It was the most multiple as we’ve been.” And all this happened with his best player — lineman Ray Lima — out because of concussion that happened a week ago. Three-man front or four? Pressure or no pressure? Blitz or play your position? In West Virginia's case, the result was running scared in the end zone to the extent that a holding penalty created a game-sealing safety. Will Grier met his match, and then some. "With Will Grier, you have to be multiple," Campbell said. "He'll figure it out if you don't." Heacock & Co. kept West Virginia’s offense guessing throughout this game, just like it did on a very important third-and-2 play late in the third quarter from the Mountaineers’ 31-yard line. On this down, Heacock sent in a fourth lineman. Tendencies showed that Grier hands off in situations like this. Bingo. Third-down defensive success. Fourth-down punt. The Mountaineers’ eighth punt of the game, in fact, after having a total of 12 kick-aways in the previous five. That’s how good Heacock’s defense played on this night — and has played this entire season, for that matter. It had seven sacks with 4 minutes left in the game, including two each by Spencer Benton. Talk about bringing heat. These Cyclones sackmasters had seven by seven different players last Saturday at Oklahoma State. That’s 14 in two games. Now, back to this crazy Iowa State October statistic. Last October, Iowa State’s wins were against third-ranked Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas Tech and No. 4 TCU. In 2018, the October wins so far have been against then-21st-ranked Oklahoma State and West Virginia. It’s not like Iowa State has played a bunch of Big 12 pumpkins; half of the wins were on the road, too, so hold all those patsy comments. This night was simply the latest in the Cyclones' October onslaught.<doc-sep>
Week 7 of the college football season had an upset feel to it, but no top-10 was exposed like No. 6 West Virginia. The Mountaineers mustered just one offensive touchdown in a 30-14 dismantling at the hands of Iowa State. It's a sobering loss for a team that had Big 12 Championship Game hopes, though there's a ton of work to do before the Mountaineers seem ready for that stage. Dana Holgorsen's team had just 147 yards of offense at 3.3 yards per play. Defensively, West Virginia needs the upcoming off week to get healthy and recalibrate. What does it all mean? Here are the takeaways from a big night in Ames. West Virginia, of all teams, has major offensive problems Write this two months ago and you'd be laughed at. Now? It's a different story. We'll get to West Virginia's offensive woes on Saturday in a second, but first, understand that this has been a couple of games in the making. The Mountaineers let off the gas against Texas Tech in Week 5, but was shutout offensively in the second half all the same. Against Kansas, Will Grier had three end zone interceptions. Which leads to this: the Mountaineers have now been held without an offensive touchdown in five quarters in the past three games. With a quarterback like Grier and one of the better wide receiver units in the country, that can't happen. But if you can't block up front, then it probably doesn't matter who the skill guys are. But unlike in the previous two games, Iowa State had the perfect defense. It usually showed a four-or-five-man box and dropped a bunch of players into coverage while keeping a spy in the middle level for run support. The Cyclones dared West Virginia to run (it couldn't) while taking away every deep option from Grier. This was a bad matchup for West Virginia from the start, but there are deep-rooted problems that Holgorsen needs to figure out moving forward (and whether offensive coordinator Jake Spavital is a part of those plans). That includes Grier Grier is not blameless in West Virginia's problems. It's not his fault that the Cyclones had blanket coverage on his wideouts all evening. It is, however, the former Heisman candidate's responsibility to not contribute to negative plays. Iowa State routinely rushed three players, but got to Grier on a number of occasions. Coverage sacks happen, but one of Grier's weaknesses is his refusal to live to fight another down. Sometimes this manifests in him forcing throws he shouldn't. Sometimes it shows up in him holding the ball for too long. He had a few of those plays on Saturday. On one occasion, he stepped out of bounds before throwing the ball away. Another time, he tried to make a play happen outside the end zone and came dangerously close to losing the ball. Iowa State got a safety anyway. Grier, through it all, only attempted 15 passes, which almost doesn't seem real. But it shows how well Iowa State had things covered downfield and how little he was make anything work. Brock Purdy looks like the real deal The Cyclones had the Big 12's worst offense until Purdy took the field in Week 6 against Oklahoma State. Now with two games under his belt, it's a different story. Iowa State is averaging 468 yards over the past two games. Purdy did a nice job evading tackles in the backfield -- West Virginia's plan was to bring a ton of pressure -- and keeping his eyes downfield to make big-time, confident throws like this one ... That's a tight window to throw into, but Purdy has been making those plays. Now that running back David Montgomery is back, Iowa State's offense looks way more formidable. Iowa State is a Big 12 team to watch A couple of early conference losses will probably hold the Cyclones back from making the Big 12 title game, but this looks like a different team than the one in September. The remaining schedule is favorable, though. There are only two road games -- at Kansas and at Texas -- and one top-25 team, the Longhorns. Through four games, Iowa State had the look of a team that maybe was going to end up bowl eligible. Now it looks like it can match last year's eight-win effort.