MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — What began as a night full of anticipation for West Virginia turned into extreme disappointment as the Mountaineers were unable to overcome a sloppy offensive showing against a stingy defense in what amounted to a 28-16 loss to 11th-ranked Iowa State at Milan Puskar Stadium.

“Two things that stick out, we had two turnovers, they had zero, and that resulted in 14 points. We had six penalties and they had one,” WVU head coach Neal Brown said. “We were leading the country in that category coming into the game. Disappointing, and the table was kind of set, and in the second half when it was winning time, we didn’t win. Our guys fought and competed, but they made a couple more plays than we did.” 

Donning black jerseys on what was dubbed a Coal Rush to honor the state’s rich mining tradition, West Virginia (3-3, 2-1) received the opening kickoff, twice converted on third downs and punctuated its 14 play, 75-yard series with Jahiem White’s 8-yard touchdown run as the tailback evaded multiple defenders on his way to the end zone.

Asani Redwood’s third down sack of Cyclones’ quarterback Rocco Becht on Iowa State’s opening series forced Kyle Konrardy into attempting a 47-yard field goal, but it missed wide, and the Mountaineers regained possession with a chance for an early two-score lead.

WVU appeared on its way to doing just that when Greene connected with Justin Robinson for 9 yards on third-and-8 to put the Mountaineers 5 yards short of the red zone, but after Rodney Gallagher was unable to hang on to Greene’s pass on third-and-3, Michael Hayes missed wide on a 36-yard field goal attempt — the kicker’s first unsuccessful field goal this season.

“I have to get clarity on that,” Brown said of the incompletion to Gallagher, which was originally ruled a reception. “The ball definitely moved. I want to see the view where they had beyond a doubt that he didn’t maintain possession. His knee is down. He does have to bring the ball down. That was big. We’d have had the ball inside the 10-yard line, and then we miss the field goal. We should never miss that field goal, but we did.”

The Mountaineers fell flat from that point forward, starting with Becht’s 60-yard touchdown pass to wideout Jaylin Noel, who capitalized on a coverage bust for an easy score that allowed the visitors to get even at 7 with 13:05 to play in the opening half.

“Momentum is real,” Brown said. “That hurt for sure. It hurt we didn’t convert and hurt missing the field goal, and we had a really poor communication on the explosive play.” 

Brown said defenders got different defensive calls on the play, which the Cyclones caught the Mountaineers off guard on and capitalized in the form of the long TD.

“They tempo’d us and using the helmet communication, half of them got one call and half of them got the other,” Brown said. “I’ll have a better answer for you Monday.”

That was the start of a strong showing for Becht on a night where his father, Anthony Becht, was honored during a break in the action for being inducted into the WVU Sports Hall of Fame this year.

West Virginia punted for the first time on its third series, and though it was able to flip the field and have the Cyclones start at their 9, it proved irrelevant.

Iowa State (6-0, 3-0) put together a 17 play, 91-yard drive and went on top to stay when Carson Hansen accounted for his first of three touchdowns on an 11-yard run. The Cyclones converted all three of their third downs on the long possessions that put them in front, including Becht’s 18-yard pass to Jayden Higgins on third-and-10.

“Something we have to go back and look at on film, the third down and fourth down conversions, we have to clean up,” WVU linebacker Josiah Trotter said. “Those hurt us.”

The Mountaineers countered with a quality series, but it stalled when Greene was brought down for a 2-yard loss on third-and-2 just outside the red zone, forcing Hayes into a 43-yard field goal that he converted 32 seconds before halftime.

Iowa State took its 14-10 lead into the break, and the teams exchanged punts to start the second half.

The Cyclones punted for a second time in the third quarter, and after the Mountaineers took over at their 14, Greene’s 14-yard pass to tight end Kole Taylor and the quarterback’s 28-yard run on the next play, allowed WVU to enter Iowa State territory.

However, two plays later, Greene had a pass intercepted by Jamison Patton on second-and-6 from the Iowa State 29. Brown felt the Cyclones got away with premature contact on Taylor.

“Looked like a two-hand push in the back, and that should be called not nine out of ten times, but ten out of ten times,” Brown said.

On the ensuing series, Iowa State got into the red zone and was faced with third-and-goal from the 6 when Becht threw an incomplete pass well out of the end zone, only for a defensive holding penalty on cornerback Ayden Garnes keeping the Cyclones’ offense on the field. Hansen reached the end zone on a 3-yard run on the next play and the visitors upped their lead to 21-10 with 11:57 left.

Any chance for the Mountaineers to rally from an 11-point fourth-quarter deficit for the second time in as many Big 12 home games vanished when Greene threw an ill-advised pass that was intercepted by Jontez Williams at the WVU 40-yard line. It marked Greene’s sixth interception in his last four games and the Cyclones’ 10th pick this season.

“I was trying to do too much. It’s my fault,” Greene said. “They’re a drop eight team and they want quarterbacks to do that. I fell right into it.”

After Hansen converted a fourth-and-2 with a 5-yard run on an option, the tailback scored his third touchdown on a 2-yard run with 4:42 remaining.

Greene’s 10-yard touchdown pass to White with 1:10 to play marked the game’s final scoring play.

Iowa State finished with a 394-354 advantage in total yards. Becht completed 18-of-26 passes for 265 yards. Hansen rushed 20 times for 96 yards.

Greene was 18-for-32 with 206 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. He was WVU’s leading rusher with 10 carries for 87 yards. White added 46 yards on 12 attempts, while CJ Donaldson was limited to 17 yards on nine rushes.

“We didn’t run it well enough to win, but we didn’t do that poorly running the football either,” Brown said.

The Mountaineers were plagued by several poor snaps from center Brandon Yates that led to negative plays.

“Yates has a little bit of a hand issue, but they were a factor,” Brown said. “Three resulted in negative plays, but there was probably eight to ten in the game. 

“We did [consider changing centers]. Whether we should or shouldn’t have, that’s probably up for discussion. Brandon had played so well. He’s our starting center and he’s going to be our starting center this year.”