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AMES, Iowa (AP) Skyler Howard threw for 330 yards and tied a career high with five touchdowns and No. 19 West Virginia rolled past Iowa State 49-19 on Saturday.
Freshman Martell Pettaway burned his redshirt and ran for 181 yards in his debut for the Mountaineers (9-2, 6-2 Big 12), who outscored Iowa State 28-3 in the second half.
Howard's 71-yard TD toss to Shelton Gibson and Pettaway's 4-yard touchdown run, the first of his career, made it 35-19 late in the third quarter. Gibson followed with a 40-yard TD catch to give West Virginia to 23-point cushion.
Justin Crawford, who ran for 331 yards against Oklahoma last week, was replaced by Pettaway after two series.
Kene Nwangwu had a 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown and Cole Netten kicked four field goals to lead Iowa State (3-9, 2-7). But settling for three instead of converting for seven points - and losing the turnover battle 4-0 - killed the Cyclones chances.
Jacob Park threw for 371 yards and David Montgomery ran for 141 yards for Iowa State.
THE TAKEAWAY
West Virginia: The Mountaineers blew a chance at a possible run at the Big 12 title with an ugly 56-28 loss to the Sooners last week. Beating the Cyclones on the road might not seem like much, but the Mountaineers showed resolve in a game that was close for a half.
Iowa State: The improvement the Cyclones made from September to November was impressive, even though the game snowballed out of control Saturday. It figured to take a few years for Iowa State to become respectable in the Big 12. With a full offseason, a year of conference play under his belt and an emerging quarterback in Park, young coach Matt Campbell might get the Cyclones near bowl contention in 2017.
UP NEXT
West Virginia closes the regular season against Baylor, which has lost five straight.
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