West Virginia quarterback Will Grier came into Ames with Heisman aspirations. His 6th-ranked Mountaineers hadn’t lost — or even trailed at any point all season — and a Big 12 Championship was in their sights.

Instead, Grier and West Virginia ran into a brick wall in the form of Iowa State’s defense.

“That was one fun-ass game,” said JaQuan Bailey, junior defensive end.

The Cyclones held Grier — who came in with 21 touchdowns and six interceptions on the season — to 11-of-15 for 100 yards, one touchdown and one interception.

Keep in mind, Iowa State was without two defensive starters. Defensive tackle Ray Lima and safety Lawrence White were out with injuries. Yet Iowa State answered the call, one week after giving up 42 to Oklahoma State.

“That’s kind of been our focus on the season,” said Greg Eisworth, sophomore safety. “Offense might have a good game one game, then the defense, we don’t perform the best, and vice versa. It was good to kind of see both sides of the ball come together.”

The Cyclone defense allowed 152 yards, 100 through the air and 52 on the ground. West Virginia had averaged 527 yards per game entering Saturday’s contest, and over 41 points per game. The 152 yards from West Virginia is its lowest total of any game this century.

Iowa State’s pass rush was key all night long. Grier was sacked seven times, and three Cyclones — Eisworth, Braxton Lewis and Mike Rose — made their first career sacks.

“I think a lot of it was just trying to give them something they haven’t seen,” Eisworth said. “[The defensive line] is only rushing three. To keep pressure on the quarterback and then our linebackers adding in, and coverage in the back end [all contribute].”

None of West Virginia’s drives lasted longer than five plays, and one drive gained more than 25 yards. One of the Mountaineer touchdowns was scored on a blocked field goal that was returned 72 yards by West Virginia’s Derrek Pitts Jr.

Additionally, Bailey had two sacks, bringing his season total to 4.5 and his career total to 15. Those 15 sacks tie him for fourth all-time in school history.

As a team, the defense’s seven sacks tied last week’s seven for the most in a single game in school history.

“Just by studying each opponent,” Bailey said about picking up sacks in the last two weeks. “Basically just being ruthless.”

Iowa State has now upset three top 10 teams — No. 3 Oklahoma (38-31), No. 4 TCU (14-7) and No. 6 West Virginia (30-14) since October 2017. Coach Matt Campbell’s squad has won six in a row in the month of October dating back to last year, including four wins over ranked teams.

“I don’t know the answer to that,” Campbell said. “You want to continue to get better week in and week out. We’re still a young team in a lot of ways — when you have youth and you continue to grow and build a program, I think you hope the trajectory is going forward rather than backwards or plateauing.

“This group uniquely has really gotten better every week. I think it’s why we’re really confident in what this group is about. Last year we did that but it felt like we plateaued at some point.”

Iowa State has a bye week next, which might be the best time for it. Running back David Montgomery has been dinged up but still ran for 189 yards and a touchdown against West Virginia, while Lima and White are “day-to-day” Campbell said.

Following the bye, Iowa State hosts Texas Tech (4-2, 2-1 Big 12). The Red Raiders have averaged 43.2 points per game so far, meaning Iowa State’s defense faces another tall task.

“It will be really interesting to see this group’s choice,” Campbell said. “We’re at the midway point in the season. Where do we go from here? What’s our story?

“We’ll see. I think we’ve got some really good leadership and I really feel like these guys want to continue to get better week in and week out.”