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(AP) -- Iowa State never wanted to reach the point where it had to beat West Virginia on the day after Thanksgiving to become bowl eligible.
 
The Cyclones took care of that by winning their sixth game last weekend.
 
But it's not like the Mountaineers are nearly as scary as they looked to be in early October, either.
 
West Virginia (5-5, 2-5 in the Big 12) has fallen from the top 10 to the Big 12 basement in five long weeks.

Now it's the Mountaineers who need to beat Iowa State (6-5, 3-5) on Friday just to reach a bowl game - not the other way around.

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