Iowa State still searching for success in the run game entering Saturday’s game against West Virginia

AMES — There’s no secret formula. There’s no magic pill.

When it comes to healing Iowa State’s chronically ailing running game, it’s vital to address the root causes, not the upsetting symptoms.

“Insight-wise, we’ve just got to do better,” said Cyclones head coach Matt Campbell, whose struggling football team seeks its first Big 12 win at 2:30 p.m. Saturday against West Virginia at Jack Trice Stadium. “We’ve got to continue to find ways to generate the consistency.”

The search for production on the ground has been a long and frustrating one, but at least the running backs room continues to get healthier for ISU (3-5, 0-5).

Leading rusher Jirehl Brock has inched closer to 100 percent as has backup Cartevious Norton. Both played in the Cyclones’ 27-13 loss last Saturday to Oklahoma, but managed just 49 combined rushing yards on an evenly-split 22 carries. They did flash, at times, however, and Campbell believes his team’s run game — just like its troubling conference win-loss record — is within a hair’s breadth of veering into positive territory.

“Jirehl’s averaging (4.6) yards a carry,” Campbell said. “(Quarterback) Hunter (Dekkers) is over 4 yards a carry night now. … And then you look at the numbers and doggone, we’re not running the ball the way we need to be able to run the football.”

Not by a long shot. Dekkers’ ability to scramble for chunk yardage has helped a bit, but ISU remains mired in last place in the Big 12 in rushing yards per game (62.0).

West Virginia (3-5, 1-4) ranks eighth in the league, but averages 130.4 yards per game, so the difference between eighth and 10th remains vast.

That could change Saturday, though.

Mountaineers head coach Neal Brown told reporters Tuesday his team’s leading rusher, C.J. Donaldson, is out for the year. It gets worse for West Virginia, though. Second-leading rusher Tony Mathis Jr. is “questionable” and third-leading back Justin Johnson Jr. is merely “probable” in an offense that features an array of big-play threats in the passing game, led by receiver Bryce Ford-Wheaton, who’s caught five touchdown passes.

“As most West Virginia teams that we have played, you’re talking about elite athleticism,” Campbell said. “You look at the wide receiver position and you go back to last year’s game (a 38-31 Mountaineers win), and there are guys that can make plays all over the place.”

The same holds true for ISU’s Xavier Hutchinson-led receiving corps, but Saturday’s outcome will likely hinge on who can establish a strong running game and dictate tempo.

Campbell said that’s all dependent on “flow” — a state the Cyclones haven’t been in for quite a while, but one that feels well within reach as his team seeks the beginnings of a late-season upswing.

“I think it’s just our precision of continuing to do the little things right,” ISU guard Jarrod Hufford said. “Obviously last week we had the snap snafu and the (three) interceptions. Those are drive killers and it showed they could be game killers. I think once we hammer down, going back to the basic fundamentals of throw the ball, catch the ball, run the ball, block people — I think if we continue to really hammer on those, then we’ll have success.”

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