(Football News – Photo Illustration/MetroCreative)
Just as Mountaineers fans were starting to relax for the second game in a row, the momentum suddenly shifted and West Virginia had to hang on for a 31-24 victory against Cincinnati on Saturday. Our team never seems to make things easy.
Leading 24-7 late in the third quarter, WVU was looking for another point to tie the game, but was denied by an interception in the end zone. The Bearcats then quickly converted an 80-yard touchdown pass, and what looked like an impending blowout suddenly turned into another nail-biting finish.
From the time of the interception to the rest of the game, Cincinnati gained 223 yards, while the Mountaineers gained 5 yards on just seven plays. The final game statistics were equally shocking. The Bearcats had 24 first downs compared to 10 for West Virginia. Cincinnati ran for 436 yards to 43 in the 79, and West Virginia ran for 248 yards.
But statistics don’t always tell the whole story. The Mountaineers got the point with three turnovers and two defensive scores, helped by two strong punt returns on special teams. The 17 points of attack WVU scored were set up by short fields, with scoring drives starting on Cincinnati’s 37 and 41 and West Virginia’s 49.
The Mountaineers’ offense continued for most of the afternoon. Quarterback Nikko Marchiol completed two long passes, but accounted for nearly half of WVU’s total offensive yards on just three plays. WVU had three outs in the fifth inning.
New defensive coordinator Jeff Koontz’s first effort was an overall success.
They gave up a lot of yards and allowed one long score when coverage appeared to be broken, but otherwise the defense played well enough for the Mountaineers to win. West Virginia had three sacks and seven tackles for loss, along with three turnovers and two defensive TDs. Some may say that Cincinnati’s quarterback cost his team the game with two bad decisions that led to points by the defense, but some of those were due to pressure from the defense.
The Mountaineers currently have a 4-2 record in the Big 12 Conference and have won all three of their road games.
If they can protect their home field, they have a chance to do well.
This Saturday: Baylor comes to Morgantown off its bye week having won three straight after a poor start to the season.
The Bears need to get the WVU offense back on track, as they are averaging 45 points in their last three games. This is where the magic of picking games turns out to be consistently wrong. So let’s see if we can maintain that jinx.
Baylor 34 West Virginia 28.
