Suddenly, West Virginia is 9-2 overall with a 6-2 mark in Big 12 play, levels the Mountaineers had not reached since joining the conference in 2012. And Dana Holgorsen, who was 2-1, 1-3, 1-3 and 1-3 in November in his first four years, is 7-1 in the past two years. He’s not only 15 games above .500 overall, better than he’s ever been before, but he’s now over .500 in the 11th month, and that includes a 7-3 mark in road games. WVU will not have a three-game losing streak in Big 12 play for the first time ever.

Saturday’s performance was unquestionably solid. The Mountaineers were mostly clean, and the unnerving holding penalties weren’t fatal. They turned over a team that doesn’t turn it over and made it count on the scoreboard.

There was a season-high point total, a season-high touchdown total, a rubber defense that built a moat in the red zone and a line of people who did what we either expected — Rasul Douglas, Shelton Gibson, — or unexpected Marcus Simms, Marvin Gross — and everyone and everything came together at the proper time.

“This was tough,” Holgorsen said. “We knew this thing was going to be tough. Iowa State is a good football team. They battle hard. It means a lot to them. They put up a fight. Going into halftime, I thought we were fortunate to be up, but our guys did a good job coming out in the second half and playing much better.

“That group is tough to beat like we beat them, so I’m proud of the way we did that.”

How do you win in November? You need to run the ball and play defense and flaunt depth. The Mountaineers have the sort of depth that lets them go deep into the depth chart on defense and keep an above average offense out of the end zone — and Iowa State did set program highs for yards and points per game in Big 12 play this season. WVU played the second half without Kyzir White, arguably the top defender the past several weeks, and used Gross in his stead.

If you want to understand the difference between then and now, remember Marvin Gross playing at Oklahoma in 2013 and recall Gross playing quite capably Saturday. He’s a backup in both instances, but the two scenarios have virtually nothing else in common.

The Mountaineers also have the sort of depth that lets them use a running back who’d never played before. Martell Pettaway was fantastic in the first action of his career, and the third running back to carry on the day became the fourth to have a 100-yard day and the fourth to lead the team in rushing.

Pettaway took the field with 4:56 left in the 41st quarter of the season.

“I think in a footrace, he might be the fastest one,” Seider said. “It’s debatable. They all go at it. But this kid ran a 10.6, 10.7 100 meters in high school. That’s what a lot of people don’t know about him. They don’t know that he ran track.”

On a drive Howard opened with a run for 11 yards, Pettaway gained 4 and later lost 1. By halftime he was at 91 yards, and the 5-foot-10, 203-pound Pettaway was handling anything the Mountaineers ordinarily run with the other three.

“He’s a smart kid,” Holgorsen said. “He looked pretty dang good, but he looked pretty dang good in practice, too. Until it happens in a game, you don’t know how he’s going to handle it, but I’d say he handled it pretty well.”