Brock Prudy’s final pass fell incomplete over the back line of the end zone as time expired and unranked West Virginia stunned No. 22 Iowa State 38-31 in a Big 12 matchup on a rainy Saturday afternoon in Morgantown, W.Va.
Jarret Doege completed 30 of 46 passes for 370 yards, three scores and two interceptions for the Mountaineers (4-4, 2-3 Big 12), who gashed Iowa State for 492 yards in total offense, the most the Cyclones have given up in a game this season.
Purdy finished 16 of 27 passing for 185 yards and a touchdown and Breece Hall rushed for 167 yards — 123 coming on two big plays — and a touchdown for the Cyclones (5-3, 3-2), who had a three-game winning streak snapped.
Hall, however, also had a key fumble into the end zone on Iowa State’s next-to-last drive, leaving the Cyclones trailing by a touchdown when they took over with 3:42 left.
Laddie Brown scored on a pair of 2-yard runs in topping the 100-yard mark rushing for the third time this season with 109 yards on 22 carries for West Virginia. Bryce Ford-Wheaton had two touchdown receptions for the Mountaineers among his six catches for a season-high 106 yards and Winston Wright had six receptions for 100 yards and a score.
The back-and-forth affair was tied five times until Brown’s second score with 9:25 left in the game broke a 31-31 tie.
The game was deadlocked 17-17 at the half after Iowa State’s Andrew Mevis and West Virginia’s Casey Legg swapped field goals of 34 and 31 yards, respectively, in the second quarter.
Iowa State scored two touchdowns in the third quarter with Purdy’s 1-yard run giving it a 31-24 lead. But West Virginia knotted the score 11 seconds into the final stanza on Doege’s 22-yard pass to Wright.
The Cyclones scored on two big plays in the first quarter with Hall going 70 yards on his second carry of the day and Purdy hitting Tarique Melton for a 68-yard score.
The Mountaineers countered with a pair of 75-yard drives that ended with touchdowns on Brown’s 2-yard rush and Doege’s 20-yard strike to Ford-Wheaton.
–Field Level Media
