Iowa State Takes Advantage of WVU’s Mistakes, Spoils Coal Rush Night in Morgantown

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – It was up to West Virginia to show they were up to the difficult task of trying to match the atmosphere at Milan Puskar Stadium for WVU’s Coal Rush game against No. 11 Iowa State. And while the Mountaineers marched down the field on their opening possession, the fireworks would not be as plentiful for throughout the rest of the game.

West Virginia’s first score of the night was thanks to Garrett Greene gaining yards, both with arm and his legs, and then Jahiem White punching the ball into the end zone. And the defense was up for the task on Iowa State’s answer drive, too.

After Rocco Becht, the son of 2024 WVU Sports Hall of Fame inductee Anthony Becht, fired a 37-yard strike near the sideline to Jayden Higgins to open the Cyclones’ first possession, the Mountaineer defense held strong. A missed field goal later and the score remained 7-0, WVU.

However, West Virginia fails to keep the momentum for too long, matching the missed Cyclone field goal with one of their own as Michael Hayes fails to convert a 36-yarder. Becht and the Cyclones then grabbed the momentum for themselves, as he found Jaylin Noel for a 60-yard bomb all the way to pay dirt. This score tied the game at 7 early in the second quarter.

Following a failed WVU drive, Becht aired it out as the Cyclones sliced up the West Virginia secondary and ran right through the defensive line, giving Iowa State their first lead of the game and a 14-7 advantage with 2:39 left in the half. Greene was only able to get WVU close enough to cut into the deficit with a field goal, bringing the score to 14-10.

Iowa State’s drive at the end of the half was starting to feel like how Penn State scored at the end of the first half and never looked back, but Sean Martin and Jaheem Joseph got together on a monster sack to keep the score intact.

Despite training at the half nonetheless, West Virginia ran into the locker room still believing they were in the game.

It was in the third quarter when WVU and Greene made their first big error of the game. Greene threw an interception on the play right after he scrambled for a 28-yard gain. Becht then made sure the Mountaineers paid for the turnover, leading the Cyclones to their second touchdown.

It was now up to Greene to make up for the points he coughed up and mount a comeback. Instead, Greene threw his second interception. And as expected, Iowa State scored again to add more salt in West Virginia’s open wound. The Cyclones held a comfortable edge of 28-10 with just under five minutes left in the game.

Greene tried to do whatever he could and did tack on a second touchdown in the final minutes, but it didn’t really matter.

Neal Brown and West Virginia once again failed to capitalize on a big opportunity against a quality opponent, losing 28-16. The now 3-3 (2-1, Big 12) Mountaineers head into another night game against another quality conference opponent next week with fans left unenthusiastic once again.