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Week 7 of the college football season was turned upside down, but none of the top 10 players were shown as West Virginia's No. 6. The Mountaineers only managed one touchdown during a 30-14 dismantling at the hands of the state of Iowa.
It's a disappointing defeat for a team that was hoping to play well in the Big 12 Championship Game, even though it remains a ton of work to be done before the Mountaineers seem ready for this stage. Dana Holgorsen's team has only 147 yards of offense at 3.3 yards per game. On the defensive, West Virginia needs the week off to recover and recalibrate. What does all this mean? Here are the takeaways from a great night in Ames.
West Virginia, of all teams, has major offensive problems
Write this two months ago and we would make fun of you. Now? It's a different story. We will tackle the offensive troubles of West Virginia on Saturday in a second, but first, understand that two games are coming. The Mountaineers stopped playing against Texas Tech in the fifth week, but were offensively cleared in the second half. Against Kansas, Will Grier had three interceptions of the end zone.
Which leads to this: the mountaineers have been held without offensive touchdown in five quarters in the last three games. With a quarterback like Grier and one of the best wide receivers in the country, this can not happen. But if you can not block ahead, then it does not matter who the type of skill is. But unlike the previous two games, Iowa State had the perfect defense. He usually showed a box of four or five players and dropped a group of players while keeping a mid-level spy for the support of the race. The Cyclones dared to run West Virginia (they could not) by removing all of Grier's deep options. It was a bad match for West Virginia from the start, but Holgorsen has to solve some deep problems in order to move forward (and find out if attacking coordinator Jake Spavital is part of those plans).
This includes Grier
Grier is not irreproachable in West Virginia's problems. It's not his fault that the Cyclones covered all his underdogs all evening. It is however the responsibility of the former Heisman candidate not to contribute to the negative games. The state of Iowa rushes regularly on three players, but goes to Grier several times. The cover bags occur, but one of Grier's weaknesses is his refusal to live to fight another. Sometimes this is manifested by forced throws that he should not. Sometimes this is manifested in him holding the ball too long. He had some of these plays on Saturday. On one occasion, he went off the field before throwing the ball. Another time, he tried to play outside the end zone and was dangerously close to losing the ball. The state of Iowa still has security.
Grier, through all this, has tried only 15 passes, which seems almost not real. But that shows how well the Iowa state had covered things and how little it did.
Brock Purdy looks like the real deal
The Cyclones committed the Big 12's worst offense until Purdy was on the field in Week 6 against Oklahoma State. Now, with two games to his credit, it's a different story. Iowa State averages 468 yards in the last two games. Purdy did a good job in avoiding tackles in the background – West Virginia's plan was to create a ton of pressure – and keeping her eyes down to make decisive throws like this .. .
It's a tight window to open, but Purdy has played these pieces. Now that running back David Montgomery is back, the state of Iowa's offensive seems much more daunting.
Iowa State is a Big 12 team to watch
Some defeats at the start of the conference will likely prevent the Cyclones from winning the Big 12 title, but it looks like a different team from September. The remaining calendar is favorable, however. There are only two games on the road – in Kansas and Texas – and a top 25 team, the Longhorns. After four games, Iowa State looked like a team that might qualify for the bowl. Now, it seems like it can match the effort of eight victories last year.
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