West Virginia Beats Iowa State 31-24, Ends Losing Streak, Becomes Bowl Eligible

With a late goal line stand, capped off by a fumble forced by Darwin Cook and recovered by Karl Joseph, WVU is finally back on the winning side of things after a five game losing streak. More importantly, the season was just officially extended by one more game as WVU will be going bowling sometime in the next month or so.

After being mostly held in check for the bulk of the game, Tavon finally broke a big one with six and a half minutes to go on a 75 yard tip pass and run. He again was used out of the backfield, but credit Iowa State's defense (and some film study from the Oklahoma game) for mostly containing him and tackling well. He still managed 74 yards on 14 carries. Plus, Mountaineers fans were treated to the welcome back party of Shawne Alston who made a welcome return to pre-JMU game form with 130 yards on 19 carries. These last two games are clear evidence as to how important the running game is for the entire offense to be effective. Geno had a rather pedestrian, yet effective, day going 22 of 31 for 236 yards and 2 TDs, with 75 of those yards coming on the tip pass to Tavon. He was also victimized by several dropped balls that were catchable. Stedman chipped in 82 yards and a touchdown reception to the cause.

The defense did just enough and came through with THE key turnover late in the game to seal the outcome. Iowa State was never able to really establish the run outside of a few broken plays and QB zone reads. Freshman quarterback Sam Richardson was knocked silly a few times, though I don't think an official sack was recorded. The 2 minute drill woes continued to haunt the Mountaineers as the Cyclones were able to mount a touchdown scoring drive with a short clock to work with in the first half.

The Mountaineers return to Milan Puskar Stadium for the season finale and Senior Day against the Kansas Jayhawks next Saturday at 2:30 pm ET.