Coming off a tough 31–17 home loss to No. 15 Utah, Iowa State (2–2) now prepares to host the West Virginia Mountaineers (3–1) at Jack Trice Stadium this weekend. Both teams enter this game looking to reassert themselves in the Big 12 race and take the next step towards bowl eligibility. 

Here are three and a half early thoughts ahead of this matchup against the Mountaineers:

West Virginia's quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. is coming off a 103-yard, three-touchdown rushing performance against Oklahoma State. Hawkins has proven to be a dual-threat headache for opposing defenses, having had 100+ rushing yards in three of the first four games while also being able to pass the ball with 609 passing yards and five touchdowns, completing 60.0% of his passes and having a passer rating of 169.4

Although Iowa State's defense has been disciplined to start the season, coming up for our game plan to stop Hawkins while also holding up against senior running back Cam Cook, will be a big challenge for this Iowa State defense.

In their conference opener against Oklahoma State, the Mountaineers carried out 88 offensive plays and gained 335 rushing yards. Once West Virginia's offense gets into a rhythm, it is able to tire out the front seven and reduce the number of substitutions. Iowa State will have to find a way to force Hawkins and West Virginia's offense into obvious passing situations. For the Cyclones, it will be important to contain the run and generate early tackles for loss to put themselves in good position to get off the field on third down.

In the game against Utah, Iowa State struggled to control the line of scrimmage on both offense and defense. Not being able to run the ball, only generating 111 rushing yards for the entire game, and not stopping the run really hurt the Cyclones. Utah running back  Wayshawn Parker tallied 239 yards from scrimmage and three touchdowns, with 174 yards (9.7 YPC) of those yards coming on the ground. Facing off against a high tempo team with a duel threat quarterback like West Virginia controlling the line of scrimmage will be important to winning this game.

Local Iowa State media has been quick to point this out already, but it is a valid point. This Cyclone team has yet to walk out of the tunnel to a normal crowd due to the season opener being delayed due to lightning (fans were still going back to their seats) and the other two home games being hampered by rain. 

Long story short, this crowd could be a big boost for Iowa State on Saturday - regardless of how many people are in the stands. 

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