No. 11 Iowa State defeated West Virginia 28-16 on Saturday.
The Mountaineers started strong but couldn’t get it done in the end. A few things can be learned from their loss to the highest-ranked Big 12 team.
Greene Accuracy Concerns Still Linger
WVU quarterback Garrett Greene didn’t have his best performance slinging it, to say the least. He completed just 56% of his passes and threw two costly interceptions. Leading up to the season, Greene’s accuracy was a significant area of focus and something that was said to have greatly improved. However, Greene hasn’t totally sold that yet this season against highly-touted opponents. He had trouble connecting downfield and in the middle of the field against Iowa State.
Passing Attack
Going off of that, the passing attack needs to be more effective if WVU wants to have a chance at being ranked opponents like Iowa State. The Mountaineers will not be able to win every game by dominating the ground game like they did against Oklahoma State. WVU gained 206 yards on 32 attempts (6.4 yards per attempt) and had one touchdown, which came from a Jahiem White reception. Greene targeted three guys the most: Hudson Clement, Kole Taylor, and Traylon Ray. With West Virginia needing to take it up a notch in the air, look for Greene to continue to look their way.
Turnovers
West Virginia committed two turnovers (interceptions), while Iowa State had none. From the two turnovers, Iowa State turned them into 14 costly points. This isn’t the first time WVU has lost the turnover battle this season and it always seems to hurt them when they do. They have turned the ball over 10 times this season and forced only five turnovers. Besides the fact they would like to be more safe with the ball on offense, it would be very beneficial to them if they could start creating more turnovers on defense.
The Defensive Front
Besides allowing three rushing touchdowns, the West Virginia defensive front continues to provide optimism for the season ahead. While Saturday was not their best game by any means, the longest rush they allowed was 14 yards. They held Iowa State to under three yards per rush attempt. On top of that, they got to the quarterback twice, resulting in four total tackles for loss, which resulted in -18 yards. With West Virginia looking to take it up a notch overall, look to the defensive front to give them team momentum and keep them in close games in the future..
