MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- No. 15 Iowa State nearly dug out of a 20-point hole but West Virginia's injury-riddled defense made a series of late stops in a 20-16 win on Saturday.

Though the Mountaineers (6-3, 4-2 Big 12) entered as two-point favorites, the win had an upset feel given the Cyclones' terrific October.

With David Montgomery rushing for 115 yards, Iowa State (6-3, 4-2) scored the game's final 16 points, but couldn't finish the comeback while twice settling for field goals inside the West Virginia 10-yard line.

It marked a stark turnaround for a Mountaineers defense that started the weekend ranked 115th in the FBS. And it happened with three starters missing and a fourth who went down in the first half.

"We had some puppies who started growing up into dogs today," Mountaineers defensive coordinator Tony Gibson said.

Will Grier threw for 316 yards and two touchdowns, including a 55-yarder to Ka'Raun White, who caught four passes for 167 yards. However, West Virginia's high-powered offense took a turn by running the ball a season-high 47 times.

Justin Crawford ran for 102 yards on 25 carries, and Kennedy McKoy gained 60 yards, converting a third-and-17 draw play in the final 2 minutes to kill the clock. The team's 208 yards rushing more than doubled what West Virginia had averaged in its last four games.

"I've been pretty critical of our guys for three weeks now," Mountaineers coach Dana Holgorsen said. "I'm proud of our guys and the way they responded to recalling them out. Running the ball against what Iowa State) did defensively was going to be important."

Plagued by five turnovers last week, West Virginia committed one on Saturday. Grier's deep ball led to D'Andre Payne's interception in the end zone that gave Iowa State a chance with 4:57 left. That opportunity ended when Mountaineers safety Kenny Robinson broke up a fourth-and-7 pass from Kyle Kempt.

Kempt finished 27 of 40 for 249 yards with a touchdown and an interception, falling to 4-1 as the Cyclones' starter.

White caught his long touchdown and set up another with a 63-yard catch for West Virginia. When Evan Staley's 36-yard field goal stretched the cushion to 20-0 in the second quarter, Iowa State had allowed the same number of points it did in the previous three games combined.

That turned out to be all the Cyclones yielded, as West Virginia didn't scratch over the final 36 minutes.

Iowa State got on the board late in the half on Garrett Owens' 42-yard kick, a drive extended by dual personal fouls on the West Virginia defense after a third-down stop.

Allen Lazard's 1-yard touchdown grab made it 20-10 and capped an 86-yard Iowa State drive to open the third quarter.

After stopping West Virginia's fourth-and-1 try, the Cyclones marched into Mountaineers territory and had two cracks from inside the 2. On fourth-and-goal from the 1, Iowa State coach Matt Campbell played it safe with Owens' 18-yard field goal that only cut the deficit to 20-13.

"That was the momentum swing back to us," Gibson said. "That was huge."

The decision to kick came back to haunt the Cyclones in the fourth quarter.

"I thought we were coming back into the game," Campbell said. "I thought we were playing really good on defense and we could get the ball back. I wanted to give ourselves a chance to win it at the end of the football game. And we had our chance, but we just came up short."

Midway through the fourth quarter, Iowa State reached the 7-yard line before Kempt's third-down pass for Montgomery was broken up in the end zone. Again, Owens came on for the field goal.

"Guys got tired of being told how soft we are and how we can't play tough," West Virginia linebacker Al-Rasheed Benton said. "We've heard about how many touchdowns in the red zone we give up, so it was good to see our guys in there battling."

Iowa State erased a 17-3 deficit in last month's upset at Oklahoma and nearly pulled off a similar rally this time. That became Campbell's silver lining despite the end of a four-game winning streak.

"I think the old Matt Campbell probably loses it at halftime, but I didn't because I really trust our kids," he said. "There's too much good leadership in our locker room for us to quit or bag it."

NOTES: Despite the loss, Iowa State remains in contention for a berth in the Big 12 championship game and its first league title since 1912. ... RB Justin Crawford matched his season high of 19 carries in the first half as West Virginia committed to the running game. ... Cyclones WR Allen Lazard (five catches for 49 yards) caught a pass for the 44th consecutive game, extending the nation's longest active streak. ... West Virginia played without three defensive starters: LB Xavier Preston, DE Adam Shuler and S Toyous Avery. In addition, CB Mike Daniels was injured midgame.