United Bank Playbook – Iowa State Preview

Tale of the Tape
Points Per Game	21.6	34.4
Points Against	16.6	34.6
Rushing Yards Per Game	97.2	172.0
Rushing Yards Allowed Per Game	114.9	133.0
Passing Yards Per Game	272.9	263.8
Passing Yards Allowed Per Game	180.1	283.9
Total Yards Per Game	370.1	435.8
Total Yards Allowed Per Game	295.0	416.9
First Downs For	158	206
First Downs Against	130	171
Fumbles/Lost	8/4	9/5
Interceptions/Return Yards	4/66	3/33
Net Punting	39.3	40.1
Field Goal/Attempts	11/15	12/12
Time of Possession	31:25	32:27
third Down Conversions	57/129	58/121
third Down Conversion Defense	35/104	44/103
Sacks By/Yards Lost	12/99	15/113

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia’s problem Saturday in Ames, Iowa, might be an Iowa State protection that’s ranked No. 1 within the Big 12 in whole yardage allowed, giving up simply 295 yards per recreation.
 
Iowa State additionally has the convention’s prime cross protection (180.3 ypg.) and the highest scoring protection (1.6 ppg.).
 
In the second half of video games this season, the stingy Cyclones are allowing simply six factors and 114.1 yards, whereas blanking three of their seven foes this yr after intermission.
 
And there’s extra … ISU’s protection is fifth within the Big 12 in takeaways with 11 and over the past two seasons, the Cyclones have had 19 video games of holding their opponents to lower than 400 yards of whole offense, tied for the second-most nationally.
 
Currently, Iowa State is engaged on a streak of 11 straight video games of not permitting greater than 400 whole yards relationship again to final season.
 
“Statistically, they are the best defense in the Big 12 and their video is very impressive,” West Virginia coach Neal Brown stated. 
 
In final Saturday’s loss to Oklahoma, 14 of the Sooners’ 27 factors got here on a pretend discipline aim and an interception return to the Iowa State 1.
 
Four of the Cyclones’ 5 Big 12 loss this yr have been by margins of seven (Baylor), three (Kansas), one (Kansas State) and three (Texas).
 
Fourteen extra factors strategically positioned would imply a distinction of 4 extra victories and a 7-1 total report as an alternative of the current 3-5 mark. That’s how shut Iowa State has been this season.
 
Veteran defensive coordinator Jon Heacock has 5 regulars with at the least three letters, together with senior defensive finish Will McDonald (6-foot-3, 236 kilos), a primary group All-American final yr who owns the Cyclone profession sack report with 32½ heading into Saturday’s recreation in opposition to West Virginia.
 
That’s third-most in Big 12 historical past.
 
Four-year letterman O’Rien Vance is one other identify acquainted to Mountaineer followers. The senior center linebacker has been in on 44 tackles this yr, one fewer than group chief Anthony Johnson (6-0, 207), a senior security.
 
Weakside linebacker Gerry Vaughn (5-foot-11, 231 kilos) additionally exhibits 44 stops.
 
Brown stated Iowa State’s line of defense can go seven or eight deep.
 
“They have done a great job of recruiting and evaluating defensive linemen to play within their three-down system,” he famous. “They play the run extremely well and they can rush the passer when they need to.”
 
Offensively, the Cyclones have one of the vital productive huge receivers within the nation in Xavier Hutchinson (6-foot-3, 205 kilos), a bodily senior who has at the least one catch in all 33 video games he is performed at Iowa State. The Jacksonville, Florida, resident set the college report with 83 receptions final yr, and he is closing in on that with 77 catches by means of the primary eight video games of this season.
 
He’s had at the least eight receptions in all eight video games this yr and have become the primary Big 12 receiver in 5 years to have at the least 4 10+ catch video games in a season. His finest recreation was a ten-catch, 154-yard efficiency in Iowa State’s 24-21 loss to Texas again on Oct. 15.
 
West Virginia’s senior cornerback Charles Woods, nonetheless recovering from a season-opening foot damage suffered within the first quarter of the Pitt loss, will seemingly draw the task of attempting to decelerate Iowa State’s finest receiver since Allen Lazard.
 
Sophomore quarterback Hunter Dekkers (6-foot-3, 206 kilos) tried a profession-excessive 57 cross makes an attempt in final Saturday’s loss to Oklahoma, the Hawarden, Iowa, resident connecting on 37 of these for 308 yards and a landing.
 
However, the lefthander threw three interceptions, together with one returned to the Cyclone 1 that resulted in Oklahoma’s recreation-sealing landing with 4:36 left within the recreation. Dekkers is finishing 67.2% of his cross makes an attempt for two,151 yards and 14 touchdowns with 10 interceptions.
 
Tight ends have been a giant a part of Iowa State’s offense prior to now, however the three seeing the majority of the motion this season – Easton Dean (6-foot-6, 249 kilos), DeShawn Hanika (6-foot-6, 238 kilos) and Tyler Moore (6-foot-5, 249 kilos) – have mixed to catch simply 24 passes for 214 yards and two scores to date this season.
 
Iowa State has relied totally on Dekkers’ arm to compensate for a run recreation that’s producing simply 97.2 yards per recreation and solely 3.2 yards per try. Jirehl Brock (6-foot, 220 kilos) is Iowa State’s prime ball service with 420 yards and two touchdowns on 91 makes an attempt. He had a 61-yard run in Iowa State’s 43-10 win over Ohio.
 
Despite being on the backside of the Big 12 standings this yr, the Cyclones have continued to attract properly at MidAmerican Energy Field at Jack Trice Stadium. Iowa State is averaging 58,525 for its 5 dwelling dates to date, together with 58,716 who got here out for final Saturday’s Oklahoma loss.
 
Jack Trice Stadium is taken into account one of the vital troublesome street venues within the Big 12, significantly at evening.
 
Saturday’s recreation will kick off at 3:30 p.m. and might be televised on Big 12 Now (Mark Neely, Chad Brown, and Shane Sparks).
 
West Virginia snapped Iowa State’s three-recreation successful streak within the collection final yr in Morgantown, 38-31, and owns a 6-4 total benefit. The Mountaineers are 3-2 in Ames however haven’t received there since 2016.
 
“Ames is a tough place to travel to, and it’s a tough place to play,” Brown admitted.
 
WVU is coming off a 41-31 loss to seventh-ranked TCU however had the soccer with a possibility to take the lead late within the recreation. A 3-and-out collection with the Mountaineers trailing simply 34-31 gave the ball again to the Horned Frogs, who turned the possession into factors when quarterback Max Duggan accomplished a fourth-down, 29-yard landing cross to Savion Williams with simply 20 seconds left within the recreation.
 
TCU had 4 explosive performs for touchdowns within the first half in opposition to the Mountaineers.
 
West Virginia is searching for an improved efficiency on the street in convention video games. WVU’s final two street video games at Texas and Texas Tech resulted in defeats by mixed scores of 86-30.
 
“We’ve got to be better,” Brown stated. “We’ve got to handle the travel. We haven’t played well on the road the last two weeks, so we’ve got to be able to handle that without a doubt.”
 
The Mountaineers do have a street win at Virginia Tech on Thursday, Sept. 22.
 
Quarterback JT Daniels is finishing 63.1% of his cross makes an attempt for 1,961 yards and 14 touchdowns with seven interceptions. Junior Bryce Ford-Wheaton continues to steer WVU with 48 catches for 567 yards and 5 touchdowns, and he is skilled some success prior to now in opposition to Iowa State’s protection.
 
Leading rusher C.J. Donaldson suffered a decrease leg damage throughout final Saturday’s loss to TCU and is out for the rest of the season. Second-leading rusher Tony Mathis Jr. didn’t play in opposition to TCU after getting injured in opposition to Texas Tech, and Brown will not be positive of his availability on Saturday.
 
Backup operating again Justin Johnson Jr. has additionally been banged up, leaving only one wholesome again, freshman Jaylen Anderson.
 
“It’s a challenge. Any time somebody goes down because of injury it’s a challenge for the staff and it’s a challenge for the position room, but it’s a next-man-up philosophy,” Brown identified. “The next guy has got to be ready to go and our expectation is our production will not go down.” 
 
Others Brown dominated out for Saturday motion embrace beginning left guard James Gmiter and beginning weakside linebacker Lance Dixon. The fourth-yr coach does anticipate to get beginning proper guard Doug Nester again for this Saturday’s recreation and a few others who’ve been banged up might be added to the 70-man journey roster later this week.
 
“I think the team that scores touchdowns in the red zone wins the game,” Brown concluded.
 
Mountaineer Sports Network protection begins with the GoMart Mountaineer Tailgate Show at 12:30 p.m. on stations all through West Virginia and on-line through WVUsports.com and the favored apps WVU Gameday and the Varsity Network.
 
Regular community protection with Tony Caridi, Dwight Wallace and Jed Drenning will get underway at 2:30 p.m.