WVSports.com looks at the Iowa State postgame press conference from West Virginia Mountaineers head coach Neal Brown and determines the three most interesting topics of discussion.

We examine what was said as well as what it means for the football team both this week and moving forward.

1. Injury and personnel updates - Saturday saw West Virginia’s personnel take some hits.

Cornerback Keith Washington, who’s been a standout for the West Virginia defense this season with three interceptions, dressed for Saturday’s loss to Iowa State but was sidelined with a muscle injury. This paved the way for true freshman Nicktroy Fortune’s first career start.

“(Washington) wasn’t able to practice all week and hurt it kind of midway in the fourth quarter last week versus Texas and it’s a muscle injury so you it’s one of those things you can’t really rush it because if you do, then you put him at risk for being out longer,” Brown said. “He couldn’t run full speed.”

The other starting cornerback, Hakeem Bailey, was ejected from the game after a targeting call during the third quarter which would then put true freshman Tae Mayo at Bailey’s position.

Since Bailey was ejected in the second half, he will have to sit out the first half of next week’s road game against Oklahoma.

“That’s the first time he’s played in a game,” Brown said regarding Mayo. “We’ll get him ready and he’ll probably have to play next week and so we’ll get him some reps and get him ready.”

Redshirt junior quarterback Austin Kendall played just one offensive series before he was sacked and fumbled on a 3rd-and-2 early in the first quarter. Kendall didn’t return and Brown said during postgame that his injury is in his chest area.

“I think we’ll know more tomorrow and Monday,” Brown said after the game. “The good thing is it’s not an arm or a shoulder injury.”

Senior running back Martell Pettaway and junior wide receiver Tevin Bush were also not active for the game.

According to Brown, Bush is injured and the plan moving forward with Pettaway is to redshirt him if the team’s backfield stays healthy for the rest of this season. Brown also said that redshirt sophomore Alec Sinkfield went down and was not available in the second half.

2. Allison and the run game’s performance - Redshirt junior Jack Allison saw his first game action since he played one series in a lopsided loss to Missouri during week two.

That lone series he played ended with him throwing a pick-six, but Allison fared better against the Cyclones, completing 18-of-24 passes for 140 yards with a touchdown and interception.

Brown saw some positives in Allison’s performance, but admitted that Kendall’s injury changed the team’s approach offensively.

“You kind of get into a catch-22 where when you get into a game plan week and you have to do some things to give yourself some opportunities against somebody who’s pretty good on defense,” Brown said. “You have to do some different things. When you do different things, you want to make sure that your starting quarterback is getting a ton of those reps.

“Jack didn’t get a lot of reps so we kind of had to right there in the middle of the first quarter kind of change and basically went to some plays that we thought he was comfortable with.”

West Virginia’s run game struggled throughout the contest against Iowa State as the Mountaineers gained just 41 rushing yards on 28 carries, averaging 1.5 yards per carry.

After gaining 146 total yards during the first half, the Mountaineers racked up just 44 yards during the second half.

Overall, Brown described the offense’s performance Saturday as a struggle.

“As coaches, we've gotta figure out some better ways to get our guys in situations,” Brown said. “Anytime you give up vertical penetration in the run game and your running back has to adjust his movements, you’re going to struggle and they did.”

3. Brown talks defense - West Virginia’s defense helped keep the Mountaineers in the game up until the fourth quarter.

The Mountaineers trailed by just seven points at 21-14 heading into the game’s final quarter, but Iowa State would go on to put up 17 points during the fourth quarter to seal the game.

Even with numerous freshmen playing such as Fortune, Mayo, spear Tykee Smith, safety Kerry Martin and defensive lineman Jordan Jefferson, Brown was encouraged with how the defense performed late in the second quarter and then during the third.

“Late in the third and into the fourth (Iowa State quarterback Brock Purdy) was able to move around and kind of extend some plays,” Brown said.

“We lost some guys in coverage. It’s hard. They’ve got some good players at receiver. They’ve got some length. We’re out there playing with a bunch of young guys and it’s hard. I thought we initially did a good job of covering, then we lost him some when he started moving around.”

The unit did struggle to get pressure on Purdy at times, get off the field and did have some penalties that extended drives such as the personal foul call on VanDarius Cowan after a third down stop during the second quarter.

This call gave Iowa State a first down and the Cyclones eventually scored on that drive to take a 14-7 lead.

Iowa State finished the game going 6-for-14 on third down and a perfect 3-for-3 on fourth down.

“We had a hard time getting pressure,” Brown said. “They did a really good job. We tried to blitz, we tried to drop eight. They cut us a bunch in our blitz stuff. We didn’t do a very good job playing those cut blocks.”

WATCH: Musings from the Mountains | West Virginia Football vs. Iowa State Recap | Episode 31

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