West Virginia suffered their first Big 12 loss of the season to No. 11 Iowa State on Saturday night, losing, 28-16.
Staff writer Wesley Shoemaker picks out five things from the game yesterday that stood out and dives into each.
Mounting Miscues
It's hard to beat the No. 11 team in the country — it's even harder when a team hurts themselves.
West Virginia squandered multiple opportunities, allowing Iowa State to stay in the game early and be able to pull away late.
The first big miscue came when the seemingly ultra-reliable Michael Hayes missed a 36-yard field goal. That would've put West Virginia up two scores and had Iowa State on the ropes early. Instead, three plays later, the Cyclones score on a 60-yard touchdown to tie the game right back up.
The second glaring mistake came from Garrett Greene on his first of two interceptions. Greene and the Mountaineers trailed by four after the defense compiled a couple of stops to start the second half.
Greene was driving inside the Iowa State 30 yard line, but threw a ball right to the Iowa State defense. If WVU scores there, even if it's just three points, that's an entirely different ballgame. WVU had a chance to seize momentum and to possibly take a lead, but instead of scoring there, they went, interception on offense, touchdown allowed on defense, interception on offense.
Those moments changed the game and not in a good way for WVU.
Failing to get the signature win
West Virginia had every opportunity possible to get a marquee win they were craving.
Instead, they squandered what seemed to be another golden opportunity to get a big win over a quality opponent at home.
WVU is still winless against ranked teams since they last beat Iowa State in 2021, and is 3-16 under Neal Brown against ranked teams.
The Mountaineers are now 0-2 in their two games against ranked teams this season. They lost to Penn State at home and then now have this loss to Iowa State. The fans showed out and the vibes were high in Morgantown on Saturday night, but the Mountaineers couldn't deliver again.
All three of WVU's losses are to ranked teams who are undefeated through seven weeks of the football season.
Greene Struggles
For West Virginia quarterback Garrett Greene, accuracy has been the main point of emphasis for almost a year now.
Greene completed just over 56 percent of his passes in the loss on Saturday, but his two interceptions are what really set the Mountaineers back. Both Greene and head coach Neal Brown thought there was contact on the first interception, but on the second interception, Greene made a poor decision.
Either way, there have been times this season when Greene looks like an overall improved quarterback. Other times, his decision-making can be called into question, and he doesn’t seem to have taken a step forward. Saturday seemed to be more of the latter, especially in the second half.
Consistency on Offense Outside of Greene
Some of the inconsistencies from Greene came from snapping issues that occurred throughout the night.
Center Brandon Yates had multiple high snaps, which made the mesh point on certain read plays a nightmare and threw off the timing of a lot on offense.
On the topic of the running game, it was a good start on the first drive of the game, but then it was an up-and-down the rest of the way.
Greene led the way with 87 yards on the ground, but the two running backs, CJ Donaldson and Jahiem White, never seemed to fully hit their stride. White, who was making a lot of plays early, finished with 46 yards on 12. carries. Donaldson had 17 yards on nine carries.
While a lot of this could stem from the nature of the Iowa State defense, the Mountaineer offense never could find their groove against the Cyclones.
Wasted Golden Opportunity for Big 12 Standings
The opportunity was there for the taking as both Iowa State and West Virginia entered Saturday night with undefeated records.
At the end of the day Saturday, three teams remained undefeated in Big 12 play, while five teams had one loss in conference play.
The Mountaineers had a great chance to protect their home turf and continue to stay atop the Big 12 standings. Instead, they fell and now are entering the middle of the pack of the Big 12.
Things are still very important for the Mountaineers though as they face Kansas State who is also 2-1 in Big 12 play. While it seems far-fetched to talk about because of the way WVU played on Saturday night, they still have all of their goals in front of them. They can get another crack at trying to beat a top team in the league this upcoming week when they host Kansas State.
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