--West Virginia is now 5-4 on the season and 4-2 in the Big 12 after back-to-back road wins in the league. This one again was a lot more difficult than it needed to be leading 24-7 with a chance to extend that lead to leading just 24-21 with the Bearcats having the ball just two possessions later but this team made the plays to get this done. I thought this team played very hard in this game and that's always a good sign of the pulse on the unit and while they were jump started by a bad play by Cincinnati on the pick six, this team again found a way to win on the road. And they did that without their starting quarterback, starting spear, leading wide receiver, a key wide receiver and even more pieces. That is a good sign. The Mountaineers are now 3-1 on the road this year.
--Redshirt sophomore Nicco Marchiol remains undefeated as a starter now pushing to 3-0 with back-to-back wins. He wasn't as sharp today throughout but completed 9-15 passes for 156 yards with a touchdown and an interception. He missed on some read things yet again, but also delivered the ball really well on some go-balls down the field where he dropped the ball in perfectly down the field in some critical third down situations. He was 3-6 for 96 yards on third down in this game. I think that Garrett Greene is likely still the starter now that he's cleared, but Marchiol has come in and played well when called upon. I liked the play calling early in the game and Marchiol had some very good throws but also missed some easy ones like the one to Rodney Gallagher in the end zone. He's made a lot of strides, but there's learning left to do.
--Cincinnati held West Virginia to just 92 rushing yards, which is the lowest total since the Mountaineers mustered just 85 against Penn State. The program had lost 11 consecutive games when rushing for under 100 yards with the last win against Army in the 2020 bowl game. Had you told me that West Virginia would have rushed for under 100 yards and mustered just 248 yards there is no way that I would have believed that they'd win this game on the road, but it was a complete team effort. The offense wasn't good enough today, but the defense picked them up. The offense only had one turnover but was 3-11 on third down and 0-1 on fourth down. They had 9 (!) total first downs.
--It wasn't perfect but outside of a few plays, really thought the West Virginia defense did a much better job with the simple stuff of just lining up, being in position and making plays. This unit came into the game and had forced only six turnovers all season but managed to generate three in this one and turned two of those into touchdowns. The 80-yard bust on the wheel route was bad, the tackling attempts on it were even worse, but outside of that Cincinnati really hard to earn most of what they were able to get on the offensive end. In the second half, they found a little something with the legs of Brendan Sorsby but overall this was a strong effort from a unit that has been beaten up at times this year, including by myself this week. The Mountaineers took advantage of one miserable play by Sorsby on the pick six, but made the fumble return happen and also forced the other fumble when he took off on run. This defense forced four three and outs and held the Bearcats to 7-16 on third down and 0-1 on fourth down. West Virginia doesn't win this game without the effort of that group and Cincinnati only had 9 explosive plays.
--Out of the four scoring drives for Cincinnati one had the bust on the 80-yard touchdown in just one play, but the others were 13 plays (touchdown), 11 plays (touchdown) and 14 plays (field goal). Like I said on the podcast this week, you can live with teams going 10+ plays and earning it but it's the major mistakes that get them in a hurry that's killed this unit. They were almost perfect today in that regard and even would have been had the effort been better on the tackle attempts on that wheel route.
--The biggest stat of the game. West Virginia had 17 points off turnovers, Cincinnati was at 7.
--West Virginia had multiple defensive touchdowns the last time in 2013. That's impressive. Cincinnati hadn't had a turnover inside their own 40 all season until today.
--One of the biggest plays of that game was a false start on Cincinnati under a minute which made them use their timeouts to save 10 seconds and in the process made it an absolute necessity that they had to recover the onside kick which of course they did not.
--Preston Fox was a huge factor in this game when it comes to field position. He had 3 punt returns for 46 yards and 3 kick returns for 84 yards. He has continued to handle that role very well, despite getting hit hard by the punter you'll take a 29-yard return. The Mountaineers averaged starting at their own 41 yard line, while Cincinnati was at their own 21.
--Oliver Straw also had a very good day punting the ball with an average 43.6 yards per kick and three of those inside the 20. On the scoop and score near the end of the game, that likely doesn't happen if West Virginia doesn't back them up to start with inside their own 15.
--Justin Robinson had only two catches in this game but they were a 10-yard touchdown and 50-yard catch on third down. Good things just seem to happen when the football is thrown his way. Traylon Ray also had a very impressive 38-yard catch down the field.
--West Virginia now will host Baylor who is a combined 0-6 in Morgantown. The Bears have won their last three games, but the Mountaineers have put together back-to-back road wins and will come home for two games that really could come to define their season. This team hasn't made it easy at times, but they have found a way to win the past two games and that's all that matters.
