42-6.

That was the score the last time West Virginia and Iowa State met on the football field and it might not have even been as competitive as that score indicates.

It was the low point of the 2020 season and a game where the Mountaineers were manhandled. The game was 21-0 at the half and never got better in the second as the Mountaineers could only muster a pair of useless field goals while being outgained 483 to 263 in the yardage department.

“I could list a bunch of reasons why but the bottom line is they really physically dominated both lines of scrimmages. When it comes down to it, that’s what happened,” head coach Neal Brown said.

When asked about the game, Brown took a coy approach saying that his team wouldn’t remember the score because young people struggle to recall even things as far back as a week ago.

But that might not be the case.

That game was a vocal point for West Virginia in the nine months leading up to the season from a physical and strength standpoint due to how much the Cyclones controlled the game.

That makes the score pretty easy to recall for all involved.

“We had it up on the board in our little graphics all through winter and summer so that’s implanted in my head pretty well,” senior quarterback Jarret Doege said.

The Mountaineers clearly didn’t play well and while they had issues with COVID-19 that would play out even more in the coming weeks, that isn’t an excuse. The Cyclones simply beat West Virginia up at the line of scrimmage and that must change if things are going to be any different this time around.

An uphill challenge for any team, especially when you consider that Iowa State returns many of the same pieces from a season ago and has positioned themselves again as one of the front runners in the Big 12 Conference championship race. The Cyclones are playing their best football of the season and is coming off a 24-21 win over No. 8 Oklahoma State, their third victory in a row.

The Cyclones have also defeated West Virginia on three straight occasions, but in 2019 starting quarterback Austin Kendall left the game on the first series after an injury. This edition will have the teams meeting in Morgantown with a chance for the Mountaineers to pull off a possible upset.

A year is a long time, but we’re going to find out how far this West Virginia team has come after getting punched in the mouth by the Cyclones a season ago.

Every game is different and West Virginia is going to have the opportunity to prove just that.

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