D.J. Epps fumbles on last drive, WVU football falls to Iowa State for second-straight loss of season
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MORGANTOWN -- West Virginia football faced third-and-11 down three points with under one minute to play. Quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. dropped back and avoided a tackle as the pocket collapsed. He escaped and connected with D.J. Epps for the first down. Epps broke a tackle, looking for more yards, and fumbled the ball, giving the ball to Iowa State.
The Mountaineers lost back-to-back games, for their second loss of the season, to Iowa State 45-42 in Ames, Iowa, Saturday afternoon. WVU moved to 3-2 on the year and is still searching for a Big 12 win. The Cyclones moved to 3-2 and picked up their first Power Four win.
"We were too undisciplined," Rich Rodriguez said. "Not coached well enough to give us a chance."
Iowa State punched in a touchdown on the previous drive, and WVU needed to at least get in field goal range. The Mountaineers were on the other side of midfield, and with the yardage picked up by Epps, were close to field goal range. He fumbled, and the Cyclones picked up the first and ended the game.
"D.J. was just trying to make a play," Rodriguez said. "He's just got to be careful."
Hawkins and the offense were tested against one of the top defenses so far this season, and played right with Iowa State in a shootout. WVU had 518 yards of total offense, which was the second game this season with 500 yards of total offense.
Hawkins went 11-for-23 passing for 227 yards and two touchdowns. He had another 149 yards of rushing and two more scores.
The defense just once again couldn't create a stop. The Mountaineers needed to halt Iowa State with under two minutes to play, and instead of a stop, allowed a 74-yard drive, ending in a touchdown from Iowa State running back Aiden Flora for two yards. Flora burst off for a 63-yard touchdown the drive before.
Flora gashed the WVU defense in every way possible. Flora had 212 yards rushing and three touchdowns on the ground. He also had two passing touchdowns on two trick plays that tricked the Mountaineers’ defense. He completed both of his touchdown passes.
After allowing 600 yards of offense to Oklahoma State the week before, WVU's defense didn't improve and gave up 577 yards of offense to Iowa State. The Cyclones have only had 500 yards of offense once this season against Bowling Green.
"You gotta stop somebody to win the game," Rodriguez said. "We had a couple of opportunities to do that, and we couldn't."
The defense did contain quarterback Jaylen Raynor, which was a point of emphasis on the week, and he only rushed for 48 yards. WVU linebacker Isaiah Patterson picked off Raynor when Iowa State was driving. Raynor completed 19 of 27 passes for 264 yards and one touchdown. Wide receiver Cody Jackson was Raynor's top target. He had six catches for 160 yards and a score.
The Mountaineers also didn't have the cleanest game penalties-wise. WVU had 10 flags for 86 yards. It was the most this season.
"Penalties were atrocious," Rodriguez said. "Some of them were warranted, and some of them are kind of close. Pass interference penalties on long yardage situations. We had a couple of illegal procedures. It was the first time with some opposing noise, but we got to be better than that.”
WVU is in a similar situation to last year, in Rich Rodriguez's first season back in Morgantown. The Mountaineers had the high of winning against Pitt, and lost five straight games in the Big 12. WVU beat Virginia in a ranked win and has now lost two games since.
The Mountaineers stare down Arizona at home in a week, who will be a tough out, with talented quarterback Noah Fifita. WVU needs to go back to the drawing board, especially on defense, to get the season back on track.
“I thought we were fixing some of the issues, and we just didn’t,” Rodriguez said. “We got to do a better job.”