Iowa State has a big chance to get its first Big 12 win of the season — and the Jimmy Rogers era — this Saturday. The Cyclones (2-2 overall, 0-1 in Big 12 play) host West Virginia (3-1, 0-1 Big 12) at Jack Trice Stadium.
It’s an even 6-6 series between these two programs, which had never met before West Virginia joined the Big 12 in 2012. The Mountaineers won five of the first six. Since then, the series has been more favorable for the Cyclones. Iowa State has won each of the last three meetings in Ames and five of the last six overall.
West Virginia is 3-1 to start the season in the second year (or ninth year) under coach Rich Rodriguez, who led the program from 2001-07, departed for Michigan, and found his way back to Morgantown last year after a couple of other stops.
Rodriguez’s teams don’t hide what they’re trying to do: they want to run the ball. Dual-threat QB Michael Hawkins Jr. has more rushing attempts (72) than passing attempts (60) through four games, and running back Cam Cook leads the nation with 99 carries. Cook’s 510 rushing yards is best in the Big 12, while Hawkins’ nine rushing touchdowns leads the conference. The backfield duo has already combined to rush for 935 yards this season.
West Virginia has scored three or more rushing touchdowns each game. It has only eclipsed 200 yards passing once (a 52-7 blowout win over UT Martin). In total, West Virginia has attempted 65 passes and run the ball 229 times. Simply put, Iowa State will need to stop the run on Saturday.
In their most recent game, the Mountaineers lost 41-24 to Oklahoma State despite jumping out to a 14-3 lead. They allowed Oklahoma State to tally 609 yards of total offense, including 389 passing yards for OSU quarterback Drew Mestemaker.
The Mountaineers and Cyclones will go at it, beginning at 12 p.m. ET. You can watch the game live on TNT.
