Know Your Foe: Iowa State Defensive Breakdown

The Mountaineers will go up against the top defense in the Big 12

The West Virginia Mountaineers (3-5, 1-4) are on the road to take on the Iowa State Cyclones (3-5, 0-5) Saturday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. EST and the action will be streaming on ESPN+.

Iowa State ranks at the top of the Big 12 Conference, or near the top, of every single defensive category. The only outlier on yards allowed per game comes from the ground but the Cyclones still rank second league, giving up 114.9 yards per game but in conference games, they’ve allowed 147.8 ypg and rank fourth.

They hold opponents to 32.7% third down conversion rate and 16.3 first downs per game, both stats rank first in the Big 12.

Nirmalendu Majumdar/Ames Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK

Middle linebacker O’Rien Vance has been key to stopping the run and is tied with safety Anthony Johnson Jr. with 45 total tackles and Vance has a team-high 5.0 tackles for a loss while 2021 Co-Defensive lineman of the year Will McDonald IV has a team-best 3.5 sacks.

Corner TJ Tampa is playing is making his case for first team all-conference honors with a league-best seven pass breakups, he’s also made an impact in the run game with 3.5 tackles for a loss. 

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