Mistakes cost WVU against Iowa State
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MORGANTOWN -- Hopefully, there's a mirror in the West Virginia locker room.
A big one.
Maybe even one of those old fun house mirrors that distort the image, for that must be the way West Virginia's football team has to be viewing themselves after they giftwrapped a 28-16 victory for the No. 11 Iowa State Cyclones.
Everything was set up for an upset.
You do remember what one of those are, don't you? It comes when an unranked team defeats a ranked team. It used to happen around these parts occasionally, but under Neal Brown it seems they've become extinct.
Since Brown came to WVU in 2019 the Mountaineers have played 19 ranked teams and lost to 16 of them, Iowa State being seventh in a row. You have to go back to 2021 to find the last one, tht being a win over this same Iowa State team, then ranked No. 22, at Mountaineer Field.
Two of the three victories over ranked teams came that season, also beating No. 15 Virginia Tech.
The last seven times WVU has faced a nationally ranked team it has lost, but this had the feeling of being something different.
WVU had won two straight games, one a stunning comeback to beat Kansas, the other going to Oklahoma State and knocking them around their home field in a 34-14 victory.
So here we were, ready for the first true home night game of the year –we're not counting a 6 p.m. game against UAlbany. This was 8 o'clock. That's prime time. Fans had all day to party in the blue lot and put on a game face.
National television came to town for the occasion. Fox aired the game from Maine to Mississippi, from Oregon to Florida.
It was to be a celebration of the coal industry in the state, a brotherhood of workers who risk their lives to provide America with affordable energy.
They called it a "coal rush" and everyone was excited about it. Miners in their work clothes joined the players on their Man Trip. Fans filled the stadium, 55,202 of them, dressed in black. Former tight end Anthony Becht came back to town with a dual purpose, to be recognized for being inducted into the WVU Hall of Fame was one reason.
The other was to see his son, Rocco Becht, the Iowa State quarterback, dissect the Mountaineers, completing 18 of 26 passes for 265 yards, a touchdown and no interceptions. He also used his legs to pick up a couple of first downs.
He was as good as WVU was bad.
During his pregame interview, Neal Brown talked about how all of this had come together to create a huge moment for college football.
"Strong emotions," Brown said. "Universities and college football in general generate strong emotions.You feel that tonight. It's in the air."
Brown admitted they didn't pump the game up to the players, figuring they knew what was up and could feed off the moment and the crowd.
But he also knew they hadn't exactly shined when No. 9 Penn State came to town in a game that had been pumped up quite heavily all off-season.
"We minimized the distractions this week, but our guys are ready to go," Brown said. "Our fans will create an atmosphere that will be tough on Iowa State. They are going to get behind our guys and it's going to be a special night."
He looked like a profit when his Mountaineers took the opening kickoff, put together a perfect drive going 75 yards on 14 plays with Jahiem White juking his way the final 7 yards for a touchdown and 7-0 lead.
It seemed like this might be the time the Mountaineers had rid themselves of all the Halloween goblins that are nipping at them at this time of year, but in the end they wound up spending the rest of the evening shooting themselves in the foot.
Yeah, there were a couple of questionable calls, all of them against WVU, but they've come to expect that.
What they didn't expect was a half dozen high snaps from center Brandon Yates, some dropped passes, a missed gimme field goal, blown coverages, and two untimely interceptions thrown by Garrett Greene, the quarterback.
It all started coming apart on the second possession as they were marching for what looked like it would be a second touchdown drive that might have taken the heart out of Iowa State.
On third-and-3 at the Iowa State 17, Greene threw what seemed to be a first down pass to Rodney Gallagher II, who made a circus catch. But as he latched onto it Jeremiah Cooper got a hand in there and the ball bounced around a little.
Replay intervened and the call was overruled as incomplete, which well have affected the way Brown would view the officials for the entire rest of the game, noting at the end that "it was a very well officiated game."
"I'd like to see the replay they had that showed the ball moved," Brown said of the replay call.
Still, WVU had a shot at field goal from the 36 and Michael Hayes missed it wide left.
Instead of leading 10-0 with momentum, Iowa State had the ball and Becht went back to pass and spotted taking a solo trip down the seam without a Mountaineer defender within shouting distance. It was a 60-yard touchdown and things never were the same again.
"Momentum is real," Brown said. "That hurt for sure.You have to make that field goal."
Iowa State dominated the entire second period, just as WVU had the first period, and took a 14-10 lead into the locker room, but the Cyclones have been a second half team through their first 6-0 start since 1938 and it showed.
WVU played hard but felt as if it were three against one, Iowa State, the officials and themselves stopping everything they tried to do. They couldn't do anything about Iowa State's clean game, the officials awful performance, but worst of all was the mistakes they made all night.
"We made too many mistakes to win against the No. 11 team in the nation," Brown said. "I'm very disappointed."
The game got away from there but the Mountaineer hung in there until there were two minutes left in the third quarter when Greene threw consecutive interceptions that led to two touchdowns.
One of the interceptions, Brown maintains, was interference that wasn't called.
"That was 100% interference," Brown said. "Not 9 out of 10 times. Ten out of 10."
Still, in the end, Brown admitted that "we lost the game" and that the officials didn't take it from the Mountaineers, who now are 3-3.