MORGANTOWN — If, as West Virginia University football coach Neal Brown said this past week, the final four games of 2024 will write the Mountaineers’ tale of this season, the first chapter looked pretty good.
Big defensive plays allowed WVU to grab an early 17-point lead over Cincinnati and, as the Mountaineer offense struggled, one last big defensive play sealed a 31-24 win for West Virginia on Saturday at Nippert Stadium.
The victory was the third conference road win for West Virginia (5-4, 4-2 Big 12) this season and the second straight road win for the Mountaineers after a pair of home losses.
WVU decided to add to the degree of difficulty for that victory. After jumping to a 24-7 lead, the Mountaineers watched the Bearcats (5-4, 3-3 Big 12) claw back into contention with back-to-back touchdown drives that cut WVU’s lead to 24-21. Yet, with 3:30 left in the game, Tyrin Bradley corralled a backward pass from Cincinnati quarterback Brendan Sorsby that bounced along the turf, taking it 14 yards for a touchdown that put the Mountaineers ahead 31-21.
That was the second defensive touchdown of the day for WVU, which earned 17 points off turnovers from the Bearcats. That performance came in the first game of Jeff Koonz’ tenure as WVU’s defensive coordinator. He rose to that position from inside linebackers coach and special teams coordinator after former defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley was dismissed during the bye week.
“We’ve been close,” Brown said after the game. “We’ve had some drops and we’ve had the ball bounce the wrong way, and today it bounced our way.
“I think, in life, if you just continue to do the right things and you buy in and you do the best you can,” he added, “eventually you’re going to get a break.”
At the game’s outset, it looked like it could have been more of the same struggles for the Mountaineers. WVU moved the ball to Cincinnati’s 32 on its initial drive, but gave the Bearcats the ball back on downs. UC proceeded to conduct a 13-play, 68-yard touchdown drive for a 7-0 lead.
WVU went three and out on its next drive and Cincinnati responded by driving to WVU’s 23. But on fourth and 1, Sorsby floated a pass to the flat while in the grasp of a WVU defender. Anthony Wilson plucked that pass from the air and ran it 79 yards for West Virginia’s first touchdown and a 7-7 tie.
That play seemed to spark the Mountaineers, who pulled away to a 24-7 lead helped by short fields courtesy of defensive stops. WVU’s offense needed the help.
The Mountaineer offense never really got going. It gained only 248 yards in the game – compared to Cincinnati’s 436. WVU could muster just 92 rushing yards on 28 carries, a 3.3-yard average, and 156 yards passing from quarterback Nicco Marchiol, who completed nine of 15 passes with a touchdown and an interception.
Marchiol was making his second straight start for Garrett Greene, who has been missing since the second half of WVU’s Kansas State loss with a head injury. Greene traveled to Cincinnati and dressed for the game. Brown said he was the emergency quarterback for the game, and a decision on his status for next weekend will be made within the next few days.
Still, Brown was very disappointed in how the offense performed.
“That’s the worst we played in two years,” Brown said. “Just flat. Not good enough. Credit Cincinnati’s defense. They did some good things, but we couldn’t get out of our own way.”
Meanwhile, Sorsby finished with 279 yards on 25-of-36 passing with a touchdown and an interception and Cincinnati running back Corey Kiner led all players with 91 rushing yards and a touchdown. Jahiem White led WVU with 64 rushing yards.
Brown still had plenty to be happy about. The WVU defense came up with several big plays with three turnovers, three sacks, three quarterback pressures and a pass breakup. On special teams, punter Oliver Straw averaged 43.6 yards per punt and put three of his five punts inside Cincinnati’s 20. Preston Fox excelled on both kick and punt returns with a top kick return of 43 yards and a top punt return of 29 yards.
The Mountaineers want a strong December finish like last year’s, where they won three of four games that month. Brown thinks that, if everything can come together at the same time for the team, that could happen.
“We haven’t played a game yet where we’ve had all three phases play well,” he said. “If we can play at a high level in all three phases, we can definitely be one of the better teams in the league.”
WVU’s next chance comes Saturday with a 4 p.m. home contest against Baylor (ESPN2).
-by Derek Redd
