The best part of this postgame scene was the part you didn’t see. Joe DeForest came into the room, drew a crowd, flopped down in his chair and exulted, “Relax! It finally paid off.”

What, I’m not certain, but I think I have an idea, and we’ll get to that. Yet WVU’s defensive coordinator also had that had on again and it was not on so tight that he missed the fact his defense very nearly gave the game away with the two personal foul penalties.

He remembered those and he hated those, but he saw a team, at long last, dig in and make a play when it needed to make a play.

Let’s not forget that from the very end of the 70-63 game, we knew there would come a time the defense would have to stand up and save the day and there just wasn’t great confidence it would happen.

And it did not happen as WVU lost five in a row with two games, and perhaps three, missing that decisive moment. It happened Saturday, though DeForest — and actually many other Mountaineers — had the same thoughts you were having.

Linebacker Josh Francis let them off the hook. He was penalized 15 yards for grabbing Richardson’s facemask after Francis made the tackle.

“Not again,” DeForest thought.

The defense, which allowed just 396 yards, its best work in Big 12 play, let Iowa State inside the 20 to the 14, but forced a third-and-10. Richardson’s pass was incomplete, but defensive end Will Clarke had a penalty flag thrown at him for illegal use of hands to the face of an opponent.

The Cyclones had first-and-goal at the 7. WVU had that familiar feeling.

“In the back of your mind, you’re like, ‘Oh, no. Really? We just stopped them and now we’re going to get a person foul?’ “