The Day After: West Virginia football vs. Cincinnati
The West Virginia football team bounced back at home racing past Cincinnati in a 42-21 win on a day when the program immortalized legendary head coach Don Nehlen.
The Mountaineers moved to 7-4 on the season and and WVSports.com takes a look back at what unfolded in our weekly feature The Day After.
HOT:
The offense. This was the best that West Virginia has looked all season on that side of the football. The Mountaineers rolled up 634 yards, 42 points, 424 rushing yards and averaged a whopping 9.8 yards per play. All while controlling the time of possession by over nine minutes in the process. West Virginia got their best game of the season from quarterback Garrett Greene, who will be featured later in this space, and the unit as a whole was a true bright spot for this team after a disappointing performance against Oklahoma. If the Mountaineers are hitting like this, they're hard to beat.
The offensive line. Despite being down two starters at times, the line paved the way for the offensive performance and again was critical to the success. It was exactly the response the team needed after their worst performance of the year.
Jaheim White. The true freshman earned his first career start and responded with a dominant performance. He turned 21 carries into 204 rushing yards with a touchdown and even turned in the longest play of the season on a 75-yard touchdown catch.
Defense for three quarters. West Virginia permitted just 7 points and 173 total yards through the first three quarters in this game as the Mountaineers dominated both sides of the ball. It was a strong response after the unit gave up 59 points against Oklahoma.
NOT:
The fourth quarter on defense. Despite the dominant effort for three quarters, the Mountaineers didn't close the game strong allowing 14 points and 171 yards during that final frame. It's nit-picking to a degree, but it isn't what you want to see.
The lone interception. Greene played almost a perfect game, but the one turnover was an ill-advised throw in the red zone. Again, nit-picking here but Greene has done a great job limiting those type of mistakes all year and while the game was likely already out-of-hand those type of miscues can't occur.
DEFINING PLAYS:
4th and 16 from UC 31. West Virginia stalled after a strong start and had to settle for a 51-yard field goal that didn’t come close, keeping the game scoreless.
3rd and 2 from UC 42. The Mountaineers held the Bearcats on third down when the run attempt by Kiner netted only a yard and the missed field goal didn’t hurt.
4th and 1 from UC 3. After using a pair of timeouts on offense on the drive, West Virginia elected to go for it on fourth and one and Greene kept the football and walked into the end zone almost untouched to give the Mountaineers an early 7-0 edge.
3rd and 8 from WVU 17. After two runs, Greene took the ball off the left side and scrambled his way by putting his shoulder down to get just enough to move the sticks and keep the drive alive. On the next play, Greene would connect with running back Jaheim White for a 75-yard touchdown toss, the longest play of the season for the offense to that point.
1st and 10 from UC 13. After the two teams exchanged some empty possessions, West Virginia got the ball at the Cincinnati 40 to start the drive and two plays later Donaldson would break a tackle and bounce off the left side for a 13-yard touchdown untouched into the end zone to go up 21-0.
1st and goal from WVU 1. Cincinnati engineered their best drive of the game going 75-yards in 11-plays capped off by a one-yard tush push play by Emory Jones to give the Bearcats at least some life to cut the score to 21-7 before halftime.
2nd and 6 from UC 26. But that would be short lived. After two explosive plays put the West Virginia offense deep inside Cincinnati territory, Greene took the ball off the right side and scampered into the end zone untouched to put the Mountaineers back ahead 28-7 with 40 seconds left in the half.
2nd and 13 from UC 18. After another lengthy drive, Greene scored yet again on a read play where he was able to cut up field and zig zag his way into the end zone for his third rushing touchdown of the game to put the Mountaineers comfortably ahead 35-7.
1st and goal from UC 4. Any chance that Cincinnati might have had was erased when Jaheim White was able to push into the end zone for a score to give the Mountaineers a 42-7 edge and they would salt the rest of the game away from there.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
0 - Sacks allowed by the West Virginia offensive line for the second consecutive week.
2 - Players that have now passed and rushed for 150 yards in the same game at West Virginia. That list includes Pat White, who did it twice, and now Garrett Greene.
3 - Rushing touchdowns by Garrett Greene. It's the second time this season he has hit that mark after doing it against UCF. It hadn't been done since 2008 before that.
4 - Consecutive drives that ended in touchdowns for West Virginia after the lone punt for the Mountaineers in the second quarter.
5-1 - Record for West Virginia at home in 2023.
6 - Kickoff return yards allowed.
9.7 - Yards per carry for Jaheim White who rushed for 204 yards and a touchdown.
9.8 - Yards per play for West Virginia. The highest of the Neal Brown era and best mark since hitting 10.2 against Pittsburgh in 2006.
10 - Tackles by Lee Kpogba, the third time this year he's at least hit that mark.
14 - Games in a row that West Virginia has rushed for 140 yards or more.
17-3-1 - Record for West Virginia against Cincinnati.
20 - Pass breakups by Beanie Bishop on the season. He finished with 1 in this game.
26 - Explosive plays by West Virginia, either passes of 15+ yards or runs of 10+.
29-29 - West Virginia record under Neal Brown.
63 - Completion percentage by starting quarterback Garrett Greene after only being at 37-percent a week ago against Oklahoma.
75 - Longest play of the season on the White touchdown catch.
424 - The most rushing yards of the Neal Brown era. It is the most against any team since hitting 426 against Kansas in 2015.
634 - The most yards West Virginia has racked up in the Neal Brown era and the most overall since hitting 703 against Oklahoma in 2018.
2018 - The last time West Virginia football was ranked.
GAME BALL:
Garrett Greene. Anytime you join elite company like Pat White with your play on the field, you're likely going to be an easy pick for this section. Three times in the history of the program has a player ever rushed and passed for 150-yards in the game and two of those were White. Greene bounced back from his worst performance of the season to play arguably his best completing 12-19 passes for 210 yards and a touchdown to go along with 154 yards and 3 touchdowns rushing. Greene was tasked with making decisions in the run and pass game and responded. This team is simply completely different when Greene plays this well given his dual threat and big play ability.
BIGGEST QUESTION/CONCERN MOVING FORWARD:
Can West Virginia close on the road? For a team that was picked 14th in the pre-season in the Big 12, the Mountaineers now find themselves at 7-4, 5-3 overall in the league with a lot left to play for when they close on the road at Baylor.
West Virginia is already going bowling but since joining the Big 12 in 2012 has only been able to hit eight wins three times. This is a chance to hit that number against a Bears team that at 3-8 doesn't have a lot to play for at this point.
A win also would give the Mountaineers their most wins in the Big 12 since the 2018 season when the program finished 6-3. A win also would keep alive the possibility for a team that was picked at the bottom of their league to finish this season with 9 wins. No matter how optimistic you were coming into the season, you didn't call that.
But winning at Baylor has proven difficult over the years with a 1-4 record and that only win coming during the 2017 season in a 38-36 thrilling contest. The last time the program traveled to Waco they were demolished 45-20 in 2021.
Still, if anything this team has been able to rise to the occasion in these moments far more often than not this year. Can they do it one more time?
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