5 West Virginia players to watch against Iowa State

AMES — Frustration.

That’s the word that best describes the state of Iowa State’s football program in the wake of five straight Big 12 losses. The Cyclones’ string of five consecutive winning seasons in conference play has officially ended — and the outlook remains cloudy.

Enter ninth-place West Virginia.

If last-place ISU (3-5, 0-5) is to retain hopes of salvaging the season and playing in a sixth straight bowl game, a win absolutely must come at 2:30 p.m. Saturday against the Mountaineers (3-5, 1-4) at Jack Trice Stadium.

“We’ve just got to find a way to get both the run game and the passing game going,” Cyclones wide receiver Jaylin Noel said after his team’s 27-13 loss to Oklahoma.

Here are five Mountaineers to watch in what should be another close game:

QB J.T. Daniels

The former USC Trojan and Georgia Bulldog has found a good home in Morgantown, where he’s been productive, but turnover-prone as the No. 1 quarterback for the first time in his college career.

Daniels has thrown for 250-plus yards in four of West Virginia’s five conference games and owns a 12-to-7 touchdown-to-interception ratio. The 6-foot-2, 226-pound Irvine, Calif., native completed 23 of 39 passes for 275 yards, two touchdowns and one interception in the Mountaineers’ 41-31 loss last Saturday against seventh-ranked and unbeaten TCU at home.

LB Lee Kpogda

Kpogda’s college career has been a winding one.

The 6-1, 230-pounder from Winston-Salem, N.C., started at Syracuse, before spending one season at the junior-college level and joining the Mountaineers’ program this season. The disruptive Kpogda ranks 10th in the Big 12 in total tackles with 36 and also has two sacks. The junior totaled 43 tackles as a backup for the Orange in the COVID-abbreviated 2020 season, including two tackles for loss and a sack.

RB Tony Mathis Jr.

West Virginia’s running backs room has been decimated by injuries and as of Monday afternoon, it was unclear if any of its top three tailbacks will be able to play Saturday in Ames.

Mathis, the Mountaineers’ second-leading rusher, sat out the TCU loss, as did third-leading rusher Justin Johnson Jr. So why not feature leading rusher C.J. Donaldson? Well, he rushed for 104 yards and two touchdowns against the Horned Frogs, but left the game with a lower leg injury his head coach, Neal Brown, described as “bad.”

So this is a dart throw, but Mathis has been solid and has had more time to heal. His breakout game came in the Mountaineers’ 43-40 upset of Baylor, where he rushed for 163 yards and two touchdowns.

WR Bryce Ford-Wheaton

The versatile redshirt junior earned his first career start against ISU in 2019 and has been a top producer ever since.

The 6-3, 227-pounder leads West Virginia with 48 catches for 567 yards and five touchdowns, but has reached the end zone just once in the past six games. He caught a pair of touchdown passes in each of the first two games of the season — both narrow losses to Pitt and Kansas.

WR Sam James

The 6-0, 176-pound senior is coming off his highest-yardage game of the season — a six catch, 95-yard performance against TCU.

James has caught two touchdown passes and along with sophomore Jaden Prather (428 receiving yards, three touchdowns), serves as a speedy sidekick to Ford-Wheaton.

Comments: robgray18@icloud.com