MORGANTOWN, W.Va — Carson Hansen rushed for three scores, Rocco Becht threw a touchdown pass and No. 11 Iowa State beat West Virginia 28-16 on Saturday night.
The Cyclones (6-0, 3-0 Big 12) opened the season with six wins for the first time since 1938. They forged a first-place tie in the league with BYU and idle Texas Tech, with Colorado playing later Saturday.
Iowa State broke open a close game by scoring two touchdowns after intercepting West Virginia’s Garrett Greene in the second half.
Becht found Eli Green on passes of 12 and 34 yards on consecutive plays to set up the Cyclones at the West Virginia 17. A third-down holding call on West Virginia cornerback Ayden Garnes gave Iowa State first-and-goal at the 3, and Hansen scored on the next play for a 21-10 lead early in the fourth quarter.
Jontez Williams made his third interception of the season on West Virginia’s next drive, and Iowa State took over at the Mountaineers’ 34. Hansen ran for 20 yards on the ensuing drive, capped by his 2-yard scoring run for a 28-10 lead with 4:42 left.
Hansen, a sophomore who also scored on an 11-year run in the second quarter, finished with 96 rushing yards, one shy of the career high he set last week against Baylor. He ran for a total of 67 yards all of last season.
West Virginia (3-3, 2-1) was held to 148 rushing yards against the league's top defense after amassing 389 yards on the ground a week ago at Oklahoma State. The Mountaineers were hurt by several high snaps that threw off their timing and runs parallel to the line of scrimmage that lost yardage.
Becht completed 18 of 26 passes for 265 yards, including a 60-yard scoring toss to Jaylin Noel in blown coverage in the second quarter.
Becht's father, Anthony, was honored at the game for his induction into the West Virginia Sports Hall of Fame. He played tight end for the Mountaineers from 1996-99 and 11 seasons in the NFL.
Jahiem White had an 8-yard scoring run and a 10-yard TD catch for West Virginia.
The takeaway
Iowa State: The Cyclones answered the challenge on both sides of the ball in winning their seventh straight road game. Becht played smart and efficient, and the nation's sixth-best scoring defense was stout again.
West Virginia: The Mountaineers many too many mistakes at key times and now have lost eight consecutive games to ranked opponents.
Up next
Iowa State: Hosts UCF on Saturday night.
West Virginia: Hosts No. 18 Kansas State on Saturday night.