West Virginia rebounds all around in Cincinnati win
It was fitting on a day when West Virginia immortalized legendary head coach Don Nehlen that the Mountaineers put together their best performance of the season on the ground.
The offense rolled up 424 rushing yards, the most under Neal Brown, and the most for the program since the Mountaineers had 426 against Kansas during the 2015 campaign. In total, West Virginia finished with 636 offensive yards and averaged a staggering 9.8 yards per play in the 42-21 win over Cincinnati.
That total was the most since Pat White and Steve Slaton engineered 10.2 yards per play in a 45-28 win over Pittsburgh during the 2006 season. A stark contrast from the struggles that the program had in a demoralizing 59-20 loss to Oklahoma the week before.
“Had a little extra pressure on us to come out and win today with him getting honored,” Brown said. “But glad we could get it done.”
Never was that difference more noticeable than the play of redshirt junior quarterback Garrett Greene who joined Pat White as the only other player in program history to rush and pass for 150+ yards in the same game. White did it twice during his career, but Greene was markedly better than he was last week.
Greene finished the game completing 12-19 passes for 210 yards and a score, while rushing for 154 yards and 3 more scores, the second time he has accounted for that many rushing touchdowns in a game this season. The lone mistake for Greene was an interception late in the contest.
“Garrett bounced back he’s the ultimate competitor. Knew he would play well after not playing as well last week, but he was really, really good today,” Brown said.
Greene passed the credit off to his teammates, but admittedly didn’t really get past his performance against the Sooners until Monday of the week leading up to the matchup with the Bearcats. But the Mountaineers put together a good game plan that also was simple to execute.
The dual-threat option didn’t falter. It was the first time that he had struggled to find any success in a game the week prior but used that opportunity to perhaps put together his best performance.
“I was really itching to get back out there. What I showed at Oklahoma wasn’t my brand of football. I wasn’t good enough to compete on the road,” Greene said.
On the 65 total offensive plays, the Mountaineers put Greene in situations where he was forced to make choices either reading in the run game, decisions on a run-pass-option or pre-snap and post-snap on traditional passing plays. But that is where the offense is simply at its best.
“We’re asking him to make a lot of decisions and we’re putting a lot on his plate. I think he’s at a point in his career where the best way for us to be successful is to put a lot on his plate,” Brown said.
Another element that Greene has brought to the table is his competitiveness and Greene was on as both a runner and a passer throughout the contest.
On the defensive side, the Mountaineers played very well throughout three quarters after allowing 59 points to Oklahoma holding the Bearcats to just 7 points and 173 yards. But the group did allow Cincinnati to put up 14 points and 171 yards in the final frame with the game out of reach.
It was a fitting close to senior day at West Virginia but there’s still meat on the bone. The Mountaineers will travel to Waco to play a 3-8 Bears team with a chance to finish the regular season 8-4 and 6-3 in the league. It would be the first time since 2018 that the program would have reached either of those marks.
But despite the struggles of the Bears, West Virginia is just 1-4 in Waco with the only win coming in 2017. The opportunity is there and the Mountaineers are hoping to carry over this performance.
“The seven wins is good; we need to get to eight and get to nine. If we can get to nine wins that’s significant. We got to go to Waco and that’s a tough trip,” Brown said.
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