Completed Event: Football versus Iowa on September 6, 2025 , Win , 16, to, 13
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Iowa State University Athletics
Saturday, November 26
Ames, Iowa
2:30 PM
Iowa State
3-9 , 2-7
19
vs
49
West Virginia
9-2 , 6-2
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
F
West Virginia
14
7
14
14
49
Iowa State
13
3
3
0
19
Photo by: Athletics Communications
Iowa State Ends Season With Loss to No. 19 WVU
11.26.2016 | Football
AMES, Iowa – Iowa State closed out the 2016 football season with a 49-19 loss to No. 19 West Virginia Saturday at Jack Trice Stadium. With the defeat, ISU finishes the season 3-9 overall and 2-7 in Big 12 play. WVU moves up to 9-2 on the year, 6-2 in league play.
The Cyclone offense racked up 561 yards of total offense, led by a career-high 371 passing yards from Jacob Park. However, the ISU defense struggled to stop West Virginia's big plays, as the Mountaineers' Skyler Howard threw for 330 yards and five touchdowns.
Keys of the Game
ISU was first on the board via a 40-yard Cole Netten field goal, but were quickly put in a 14-3 hole with two quick-strike West Virginia touchdowns. Iowa State immediately responded when Kene Nwangwu returned the ensuing kickoff 97 yards for a score to cut the deficit to 14-10. The Cyclones followed that with another Netten field goal, this one from 28-yards, to cut the WVU lead to a single point after one quarter.
The Mountaineers continued to hit big plays against the Cyclones as Skyler Howard found Marcus Simms on 48-yard pass to get back ahead 21-13. Netten netted his third field goal of the afternoon from 32-yards to cut the WVU lead to five at 21-16.
WVU started the second half forcing an ISU punt, and they went long again, with Howard connecting with Shelton Gibson for his second score of the game, a 71-yarder, to up the visitors' advantage to 28-16. ISU responded with a Netten 31-yard field goal to take the deficit back down to single digits at 28-19, but the Mountaineers put together a strong 86-yard drive on the ground that was capped off by a 4-yard touchdown by Martell Pettaway to up the WVU advantage to 35-19.
The combination of Howard and Gibson combined for the second time 83 seconds into the fourth quarter for a 40-yard score to up the Mountaineer advantage to 42-19. The advantage moved to 49-19 when Howard put up his fifth TD pass of the game, this one to Trevon Wesco.
Players of Note
Kene Nwangwu took a kickoff 97 yards to the house for a touchdown in the first quarter. Already with four kickoff returns over 40 yards on the season, the freshman finally broke on for ISU's first kick return for a touchdown since 2013.
Trever Ryen had a punt return of 27 yards in the first half, marking his sixth punt returns of at least 25 yards on the season. On offense, the junior reeled in four catches for 44 yards.
Allen Lazard caught four passes for 103 yards, his school-record sixth game of 2016 with over 100 receiving yards. The junior finishes the 2016 season with 1,018 receiving yards, the fourth time in ISU history a Cyclone receiver has posted over 1,000 yards.
Cole Netten's four-field goal game was the 10th time in ISU history a Cyclone kicker has had at least four field goals. The senior drained kicks from 40, 28, 32 and 31 yards on the evening. Combined with his extra point on Nwangwu's touchdown, Netten finished his career with 300 career points, an Iowa State record.
David Montgomery had his second 100-yard rushing effort in the past three games, running for 141 yards. He also tied his career-long run with a 46-yard effort in the third quarter.
Cyclone Quick Hits
*Attendance was 51,365, the 39th-straight game at Jack Trice Stadium with over 50,000 fans.
*Joel Lanning, David Montgomery and Mike Warren all finished the season with over 500 rushing yards, the first time in school history ISU has had a trio of players over the 500-yard barrier.
*Kene Nwangwu's 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown was the third-longest kick return in school history, and Iowa State's first kickoff return for a score since DeVondrick Nealy took one to the house against TCU in 2013.
*Allen Lazard finished the day with four catches for 103 yards, his school-record sixth game of the season with over 100 receiving yards. He finished 2016 with 1,018 receiving yards, the third-most by a Cyclone in a single season.
*Cole Netten hit 4-of-4 field goal attempts, the first time a Cyclone placekicker has drained at least four field goals since Bret Culbertson's five-field goal game against Iowa in 2007.
Team Stats
WVU
ISU
Total Yards
613
561
Pass Yards
341
371
Rushing Yards
272
190
Penalty Yards
70
85
1st Downs
25
21
3rd Downs
3
4
4th Downs
1
1
TOP
28:16
31:44
1st Quarter
WVU 0, ISU 3
ISU - Netten, Cole 40 yd field goal 6 plays, 27 yards, TOP 1:56
WVU 7, ISU 3
WVU - White, Ka'Raun 34 yd pass from Howard, Skyler (Molina, Mike kick) 7 plays, 49 yards, TOP 2:15
WVU 14, ISU 3
WVU - McKoy, Kennedy 3 yd run (Molina, Mike kick), 4 plays, 54 yards, TOP 1:14
WVU 14, ISU 10
ISU - Nwangwu, Kene 97 yd kickoff return (Netten, Cole kick)
WVU 14, ISU 13
ISU - Netten, Cole 28 yd field goal 7 plays, 79 yards, TOP 2:03
2nd Quarter
WVU 21, ISU 13
WVU - Simms, Marcus 48 yd pass from Howard, Skyler (Molina, Mike kick) 4 plays, 61 yards, TOP 1:36
WVU 21, ISU 16
ISU - Netten, Cole 32 yd field goal 10 plays, 55 yards, TOP 3:29
3rd Quarter
WVU 28, ISU 16
WVU - Gibson, Shelton 71 yd pass from Howard, Skyler (Molina, Mike kick) 2 plays, 80 yards, TOP 0:38
WVU 28, ISU 19
ISU - Netten, Cole 31 yd field goal 9 plays, 56 yards, TOP 3:04
WVU 35, ISU 19
WVU - Pettaway, M 4 yd run (Molina, Mike kick), 8 plays, 86 yards, TOP 3:24
4th Quarter
WVU 42, ISU 19
WVU - Gibson, Shelton 40 yd pass from Howard, Skyler (Molina, Mike kick) 7 plays, 88 yards, TOP 3:03
WVU 49, ISU 19
WVU - Wesco, Trevon 6 yd pass from Howard, Skyler (Molina, Mike kick) 5 plays, 47 yards, TOP 2:14
Game Leaders
CMP
23
TD
0
YDS
371
INT
1
Players Mentioned
QB
/ Football
WR
/ Football
RB
/ Football
PK
/ Football
RB
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