David Montgomery – Noteworthy
It was arguably West Virginia’s biggest test, on the road at night against a plucky Iowa State team with a stifling defense and a dangerous young quarterback. The sixth-ranked Mountaineers failed miserably. Freshman Brock Purdy threw for 254 yards and three TDs and Iowa State throttled West Virginia 30-14 on Saturday, handing the Mountaineers their first loss in emphatic fashion. David Montgomery had a career-high 189 yards rushing for the Cyclones (3-3, 2-2 Big 12), who capped a wild day by beating a Top 25 team for the fifth time in seven tries after dropping 20 in a row to ranked teams. Iowa State held the Mountaineers to 152 yards overall and zero points in the second half. “They didn’t come up with a magical defense to stop what we were doing,” West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen said. “We didn’t do anything right. We didn’t make plays, we didn’t keep our eyes where they needed to be. We didn’t run fast, we didn’t get off coverage, we didn’t make good decisions. We didn’t call good plays, we didn’t tackle them, we didn’t block.”
The only solace for West Virginia (5-1, 3-1) was that it was the fourth Top 10 team to fall Saturday. LSU pounded No. 2 Georgia 36-16, No. 7 Washington fell 30-27 in overtime at No. 17 Oregon, and No. 8 Penn State lost to Michigan State 21-17. Iowa State scored 20 straight points after spotting West Virginia an early touchdown off a turnover. Purdy, in his first career start, then found Deshaunte Jones through a pair of defenders on a sprawling 32-yard TD grab that put Iowa State ahead 28-14 with 12:17 to go. – AP College Football