Iowa State Football: Can Cyclones pull off mammoth upset of West Virginia?

The No. 6 West Virginia Mountaineers hit the road to take on Iowa State football which took down No. 25 Oklahoma State a mere week ago.

Iowa State is one of the most fun teams to watch in all of college football. The Cyclones may not have a flashy offense like Oklahoma or a top of the line defense like Texas, but what they do have is a great football mind in Matt Campbell.

The Cyclones went into Stillwater last week and won a shootout against Oklahoma State behind the arm and legs of freshman quarterback Brock Purdy. This week’s matchup could be the game to watch if Purdy puts on a show again in Ames against the fourth-ranked passing offense nationally led by NFL quarterback prospect Will Grier.

West Virginia is coming off a win over Kansas in which they won comfortably but gave up a few too many plays than it’d like. Quarterback Will Grier hit four different receivers for scored and added on to his Heisman campaign with 300-plus passing yards but hindered his team a bit by throwing three interceptions. Leddie Brown picked up the slack on the ground by rushing for 100-plus yards and a score in his own right.

Defensively, the Mountaineers are vastly improved from a year ago with their rush defense improving from 104th nationally to 26th nationally in a years time. David Long Jr. has really came along in the run defense with 10 tackles for loss which ranks top-20 nationally and he doesn’t appear to be stopping considering he’s leading the team in tackles by a large margin. The pass defense has actually improved from 91st overall in 2017 to 47th overall in 2018.

Iowa State’s stock has soared in the last week due to the emergence of Purdy. His recruitment picked up significantly going into signing day with Alabama and Texas A&M both offering him late. He ultimately decided to go with the Cyclones and appears to believe in the vision that Campbell has in place.

Purdy has given Iowa State a a dynamic player at quarterback that they’ve lacked during Campbell’s tenure and the impending showdown between him and Grier will make for great TV this week and I’m here to give you everything you must know about this Big 12 matchup.

Date: Saturday, Oct. 13
Time: 7:00 p.m. ET
Location: Ames, Iowa
Venue: Jack Trice Stadium
TV: FOX Sports 1
Live Stream: FOX Sports Go or FuboTV

Players to Watch

West Virginia

• QB, Will Grier
• WRs, David Sills V, Gary Jennings Jr., and Marcus Simms
• RBs, Kennedy McCoy and Leddie Brown
• LB, David Long Jr.

Iowa State

• QB, Brock Purdy
• RBs, David Montgomery OR Kene Nwangwu
• DB, Greg Eisworth
• DE, JaQuan Bailey

Keys To Victory

This game has shootout written all over it so the key is to limit the mistakes. Last week, Grier threw three picks in the red zone and that just simply can’t happen this weekend. Going into this week most didn’t think that Iowa State would have the legs on offense to keep up but they are now looking Purdy good going into the matchup. If you want to keep on the right track in the Big 12 and on the national stage, don’t make any bonehead moves.

Iowa State has to make sure that Brock Purdy doesn’t make the big freshman mistake. Whether it’s taking a sack late in the game, throwing a big pick, or losing the ball late, they need to make sure the very person keeping them in the game doesn’t take them out of it. Also, Grier has made some big turnovers here lately and those have to be cashed in for points. Opportunities can’t be wasted when you’re a home dog.

Betting Odds

Courtesy of OddsShark

Line: West Virginia -6.5
Over/Under: 56

Prediction

They cut it close with Oklahoma, they did it last week against Oklahoma State, and they’ll do it again this week. The Cyclones have played every team close all season long and it seems that they finally have a quarterback that can give them that extra edge in crunch time. I’m taking the Cyclones outright against a turnover-prone West Virginia team.

Final Score: Iowa State 42, West Virginia 38