Each week WVSports.com Managing Editor Keenan Cummings provides a look at some of the things that stood out to him during the course of the game and on the stat sheet.
These observations are a snap shot of what unfolded in the West Virginia 31-24 road win over Cincinnati and what could happen next for the Mountaineers.
--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.
--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.
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