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Mountaineers Lifeless in 36-Point Loss to Championship-Bound Cyclones

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Iowa State Athletics Communications

West Virginia looked like a team that had not played in three weeks and Iowa State looked like a team headed to the Big 12 championship game as the Cyclones defeated the Mountaineers 42-6 Saturday afternoon.

WVU (5-4, 4-4 Big 12) entered the game as the top defense in the Big 12 in terms of scoring and yards allowed, but No. 9 Iowa State (8-2, 7-2) put up the most points (42) and yards (483) the Mountaineers had allowed all season.

The Cyclones were led by their Heisman-hopeful running back, Breece Hall. The leading rushing in the Big 12 had 97 yards on the ground and 56 through the air as well as two total touchdowns.

Hall opened the scoring with a 23-yard touchdown with just under six minutes to go in the first quarter. Both teams only had four possessions in a slow-paced first half. ISU scored touchdowns on its first three, the fourth was the end of the half, while West Virginia went three-and-out on two and missed a 41-yard field goal on another.

Down 21-0 at the start of the second half, WVU’s defense forced the Cyclones to punt on both of their first two drives, giving the Mountaineer offense ample opportunity to get back into the game. Both WVU drive would end with the Mountaineers failing on fourth-down attempts.

After WVU’s offense failed to get back into the game, ISU’s offense put the game away. The Cyclones scored touchdowns on drives of 73 and 78 yards to go up 35-0. West Virginia would manage just two fields goals in the fourth-quarter as Iowa State scored one more touchdowns.

Iowa State quarterback Brock Purdy finished 20-23 for 247 yards and four total touchdowns. Kene Nwangwu joined Hall in the backfield to rush for 77 yards and a touchdown of his own. Defensive end Will McDonald sacked WVU quarterback Jarret Doege twice.

WVU’s offense managed just 263 total yards. Doege completed 21-41 passes for 209 yards. Running back Leddie Brown ran 14 times for just 48 yards. WVU’s defense had just two tackles for loss in the entire game.

The Mountaineers remain winless on the road (0-4) and will play one final game in this regular season, at home against Oklahoma next week, rescheduled from Nov. 28.

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