La'Michael Pettway's sleepless night leads to big game at West Virginia

MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — Iowa State wide receiver La’Michael Pettway was so frustrated with how he played in his team’s win over Texas Christian last weekend that he stayed awake for hours, watching and rewatching his performance.

It wasn’t until 4 or 5 a.m. that Pettway finally got some sleep.

“It was tough,” Pettway said of his catchless performance against the Horned Frogs. “But I just knew I had another opportunity in front of me to come back and get better at whatever I didn’t do well last week.”

Pettway made the most of this opportunity, hauling in a game-high eight receptions for 81 yards in Iowa State’s 38-14 win over West Virginia at Milan Puskar Stadium on Saturday.

“I’m really proud of him just because in big moments tonight, boy, he made some big plays that ended up being the difference in the game,” said Iowa State coach Matt Campbell.

The 6-foot-2, 233-pound Pettway sure did, with a career-high in receptions exactly one week after one of the toughest games of his career. A total of 10 different Iowa State players had a catch against TCU. But not the graduate transfer from Arkansas, who led the Razorbacks in receiving last year with 30 receptions for 499 yards and four touchdowns.

He was well on his way to another strong season, this one with Iowa State, by catching 13 balls for 173 yards and three touchdowns through the first four games of the season. Then the TCU shutout happened. And it gnawed at him.

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“Just knowing that I went a game and it felt like I was a non-factor, you know what I mean,” Pettway said. “I didn’t feel like I played well personally.”

That’s why Pettway had trouble sleeping that night. So, to pass the time, he stayed up into the morning repeatedly watching the game on his iPad.

“I sat at there and watched the game, rewatched the game and just continued to rewatch the game to see what I didn’t do well,” Pettway said.

It had to have helped. Pettway was prolific and clutch. Four of Pettway’s catches came on third down. Two of them, a 12-yard reception and a 9-yard reception on third downs, kept a fourth-quarter drive alive that set up Brayden Narveson's 45-yeard field goal to give Iowa State a two-score lead.

“Receiver is a funny spot when you have a quarterback like ours, because the ball gets spread to where it’s supposed to go,” Campbell said. “I think sometimes, naturally as a receiver, you can get frustrated when you don’t get the football. But I’ve never seen that from La’Michael. I’ve been so impressed with his senior leadership since he’s been here.”

Such leadership showed up behind the scenes when Pettway decided to figure things out on his own. He may not have slept well last Saturday night, but a lot can change in a week.

“I’m always comfortable,” Pettway said. “I just wait for the ball to come my way. I’ve been doing this my whole life, so its not something I have to get re-comfortable with.”