The West Virginia football team held on to beat Cincinnati on the road 31-24 to move 4-2 in the Big 12 Conference.
The Mountaineers are now 5-4 on the season, and WVSports.com looks back at what unfolded in our weekly feature The Day After.
HOT:
The defense. Give the group applause because after getting beat up and undergoing a coaching change with Jordan Lesley being dismissed, the Mountaineers defense responded in a big way. West Virginia forced a total of three turnovers which resulted in 17 points and scored two defensive touchdowns. Outside of one bust on a missed assignment, the Mountaineers also made Cincinnati earn it and drive the field. This was a unit that played with confidence and put together a good performance under new coordinator Jeff Koonz in his debut atop the defense.
Special teams. West Virginia has continued to play well in this department and this was no different. The Mountaineers controlled field position largely due to their return teams with Preston Fox handling the bulk on punt and kickoff, while Oliver Straw pinned the Bearcats deep on three separate occasions and flipped the field. The special teams unit also continues to tackle well and cover kicks and it's been a major plus this season.
Fight. This football team was down 7-0 and on the verge of giving up more points but found a way to flip the game and never quit. This football team played hard on both sides of the football and while it wasn't always pretty they never let up.
Justin Robinson. He only had a pair of catches in this game but both of them were significant as Robinson hauled in a 10-yard touchdown toss and a 50-yard catch down the field. Good things happened when the program has thrown to No. 2.
Penalties. West Virginia has been one of the least penalized teams in the country this year and that continued in this one with just 3 yellow pieces of laundry for 15 yards. Only one was particularly costly on the first Cincinnati drive.
NOT:
The offense. West Virginia made some nice plays at times in this game, especially on third down, but overall the Mountaineers won a game on the road where they mustered just 248 yards, 9 first downs and 92 yards rushing. That simply isn't good enough and it's not likely that the program is going to be able to survive.
Putting it away. West Virginia was leading 24-7 with a chance to effectively end the game at the Cincinnati 22-yard line but threw an interception in the end zone. On the next play, the Mountaineers had their only true costly missed assignment of the game and from there it was a battle down the stretch to close things out.
DEFINING MOMENTS:
4th and 4 from UC 32. West Virginia picked up eight on third down to make it manageable on the opening drive of the game. Marchiol dropped back and fired the football to Rodney Gallagher and it bounced off his hands on a high throw giving the football to the Bearcats after an opening drive that spanned 44 yards but netted zero points on the scoreboard for the Mountaineers.
4th and 1 from UC 41. After gaining nine yards when West Virginia lost contain on third down, the Bearcats lined up to go for it on fourth down and jumped into the neutral zone giving the Cincinnati offense a first down around near midfield. The Bearcats would score ten plays later to take a 7-0 lead.
3rd and 3 from WVU 32. On the ensuing possession, the Mountaineers faced a third and short but elected to do a quarterback power to the right which ended up losing a yard and forcing a punt after a quick three and out already trailing 7-0.
4th and 1 from WVU 20. The Bearcats again quickly moved the ball inside West Virginia territory but facing a fourth down and 1, the Mountaineers got pressure in the backfield and Sorsby made the ill-advised decision to flip the football as he was getting sacked which was picked off by Anthony Wilson and returned 79-yards for a touchdown to make the score 7-7.
3rd and 4 from UC 31. Facing a third down, Sorsby took off with the football and appeared to pick up the first down but the ball was knocked loose by Reid Carrico and recovered by the West Virginia defense for their second turnover forced in as many drives. That would lead to a field goal.
3rd and 3 on UC 24. After the two teams exchanged three and outs the Bearcats got the football back and on third and short Sorsby was stopped and forced another punt. After a big Fox punt return, the Mountaineers would then take over at the Cincinnati 41-yard line.
1st and goal from UC 10. Marchiol pulled the ball on a run-pass option and fired it into Justin Robinson for a touchdown to give the Mountaineers a 17-7 lead and he took a big shot in the process.
3rd and 5 from UC 20. Sorsby dumped the ball off Corey Kiner and he leaped a defender but Keke Tarnue came up and knocked him out of bounds a yard short for the third consecutive three and out.
3rd and 7 from the UC 39. After a first down run, the Mountaineers were able to get the Bearcats in a long situation where Jackson was able to get to the quarterback and sack him. After another penalty on the return, the offense would take over on their own 49 yard line.
3rd and 10 from UC 47. Marchiol uncorked a throw down the left sideline to Traylon Ray who was able to make a leaping catch for a 38-yard gain to move the sticks. That drive would end with an 8-yard gain to give the Mountaineers a 24-7 lead with 8:29 left in the third.
3rd and 3 from UC 22. The Mountaineers moved the football down the field again, but this time Marchiol attempted a throw to Rodney Gallagher on a fade and the ball was tipped up into the hands of Logan Wilson to keep the score at 24-7 with 2:42 remaining in the third quarter.
1st and 10 from UC 20. On the next play, Sorsby found the running back out of the backfield and bad tackling attempts down the sideline led to an easy 80-yard touchdown to cut it to 24-14.
3rd and 5 from WVU 42. After a three-and-out, West Virginia’s defense had a chance to get off the field but allowed Sorsby to rush for 17 yards and a first down. The Bearcats would add another touchdown to cut the score to 24-21 with 9:42 left in the game.
1st and 10 from UC 27. Sorsby dropped back to pass and was hit causing the ball to go backward and it was picked up by Tyrin Bradley for the second defensive touchdown of the game to make it 31-21.
3rd and goal from WVU 11. The Mountaineers were able to break up a pass on the ensuing Cincinnati drive in the end zone which resulted in a field goal to cut it to 31-24.
The onsides attempt. Traylon Ray was able to recover the football and end the game for the Mountaineers giving them consecutive wins on the season.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
2 - Catches by Justin Robinson, one for a 10-yard touchdown and another for a 50-yard passing play on third down.
3 - Turnovers forced by the West Virginia defense. They had six on the season prior.
3-0 - Big 12 road record for West Virginia.
10 - Consecutive losses prior to beating Cincinnati when the Mountaineers rushed for 100 yards or fewer.
13 - Tackles by Fatorma Mulbah, the nose tackle for the Mountaineers. He had 22 on the season coming into the game.
15 - Consecutive times that West Virginia has started with the football.
17 - Points off turnovers for West Virginia.
41 - Average starting field position for West Virginia compared to Cincinnati starting at their own 21-yard line.
96 - Passing yards for Nicco Marchiol on three completions on third down. He had 60 yards on six completions.
248 - The fewest number of yards in a winning effort since the 17-6 win over Pittsburgh during the 2023 campaign with 211 yards.
1973 - The last time West Virginia won a football game with 9 or fewer first downs in a 20-13 win over Maryland. They have lost 11 consecutive games.
2013 - The last time that West Virginia scored two defensive touchdowns in the same game against Baylor.
GAME BALL:
The defense. This is well deserved for a group that has been beaten up at times this season but played one of their best games of the season and this win certainly doesn't happen without them. The Mountaineers forced a total of three turnovers, including turning two of those into touchdowns on an Anthony Wilson pick-six and Tyrin Bradley fumble return for a touchdown. The unit allowed a total of four scoring drives in the game and each of them spanned at least ten plays outside of a missed assignment in the back end on an 80-yard touchdown pass. Still, the defense forced a total of four three-and-outs in this game and held the Bearcats to 7-16 on third down. The group did a much better job lining up and getting in position and it paid off in the results.
BIGGEST QUESTION/CONCERN MOVING FORWARD:
Who starts at quarterback? West Virginia has now won consecutive road games with redshirt sophomore Nicco Marchiol beating Arizona and Cincinnati to move the overall record to 5-4 overall with three games left to play. But those starts were because redshirt senior quarterback Garrett Greene was knocked out of the game at halftime against Kansas State and was injured and unable to play during since.
Greene was medically cleared this past week ahead of the Cincinnati game but was unable to practice which made the decision to roll with Marchiol an easy one, especially after how well he performed on the road at Arizona. The results weren't as shiny in this one completing 9-15 passes for 156 yards with a touchdown and a pick, but he did make some key throws to move the sticks at various points in the game.
Still, overall the offense struggled against the Bearcats and even with a 3-0 record as a starter the question now becomes will Greene get the job back against Baylor?
West Virginia has three games remaining in their season and the decision that head coach Neal Brown ultimately makes will be the biggest question on the minds of everybody heading into this coming week.
----------
• Talk about it with West Virginia fans on The Blue Lot.
• SUBSCRIBE today to stay up on the latest on Mountaineer sports and recruiting.
• Get all of our WVU videos on YouTube by subscribing to the WVSports.com Channel
• Follow us on Twitter: @WVSportsDotCom, @rivalskeenan, @wesleyshoe
