CINCINNATI — When Neal Brown opted for Jeff Koonz to coordinate West Virginia’s defense 11 days ago, there was hope Koonz could improve the picture the Mountaineers presented leading up to plays, which too often, had been picked up on by the opposition.
“The structure is the structure. We can’t give them answers to the test,” Brown said during his weekly media session leading up to Saturday’s matchup at Cincinnati. “We have to do a better job disguising whether it’s our movements up front or coverages in the secondary.”
Koonz helped the Mountaineers do exactly that for a large portion of the matchup with the Bearcats as West Virginia confused Cincinnati quarterback Brendan Sorsby into three turnovers, two of which resulted in defensive touchdowns to pave the way in the Mountaineers’ 31-24 victory at Nippert Stadium.
The Mountaineers (5-4, 4-2) led 24-21 with inside 4 minute remaining and the Bearcats were in possession facing first-and-10 from their own 27 after gaining a pair of first downs to move off their goal line.
Pressured by Trey Lathan, Sorsby went to throw, but the ball ended up behind the line of scrimmage, and Tyrin Bradley alertly picked it up and raced 14 yards to the end zone for what was in essence a game-sealing touchdown with 3:30 remaining.
“The points off turnovers were obviously the difference in the game,” Brown said. “It’s nothing earth-shattering. Excited for our defensive guys. It’s been a tough couple weeks for them. We’ve been close, we’ve had some drops and the ball bounce the wrong way, and today, it bounced our way. If you buy in and do the right things in life, eventually things will go your way.”
The Bearcats got a Nathan Hawks 29-yard field goal with 36 seconds remaining, before Traylon Ray recovered the ensuing onside kick.
With Nicco Marchiol making his second consecutive start at quarterback, the Mountaineers moved well into Cincinnati territory on the game’s opening series, but turned it over on downs.
The Bearcats were then aided by WVU jumping offside before a fourth-and-1 play as the home team marched 68 yards in 13 plays and scored the first points on Corey Kiner’s 2-yard touchdown run to lead 7-0 at the 5:17 mark of the opening quarter.
UC regained possession leading by seven and moved into the red zone, but on fourth-and-1 from the WVU 20, Sorsby was pressured by KK Tarnue and ended up throwing an ill-advised pass that was intercepted by Anthony Wilson, who returned the pick 79 yards for a game-tying touchdown 12:31 before halftime.
“Working on our disguise, showing different looks. playing around with the quarterback, his eyes and everything like that,” Wilson said. “We did a great job showing different looks in the game.”
On the third play from scrimmage of Cincinnati’s ensuing series, Sorsby was stripped by Reid Carrico and Tarnue recovered, leaving WVU with possession at the UC 37. The Mountaineers got to the Bearcats’ 6, before settling for a go-ahead 24-yard field goal from Michael Hayes.
“He had two turnovers on back-to-back series and he was struggling,” Brown said of Sorsby. “He’s played really well. Early in the game and later in the game, he bounced back and was efficient. We tried to mix up our looks secondary wise more so than we have been. We disguised better with our safeties. We played some man in situational calls and that helped us today as well.”
WVU forced consecutive three-and-outs and got the ball back at the UC 41 thanks to a 29-yard punt return from Preston Fox with 5:05 remaining in the half.
After Jahiem White broke off consecutive runs of 15 and 16 yards, Marchiol found wideout Justin Robinson for a 10-yard touchdown on an inside slant.
“That’s something I’ve always prided myself on since high school at Chandler, Arizona,” Marchiol said of the slant. “That was my bread and butter. It’s crucial. I have full faith in anything they call, but I get a little more excited when it’s over the middle and you have a big target like Justin Robinson. I seem to prefer those throws over the middle.”
WVU settled for the 17-7 halftime lead, and after a T.J. Jackson sack of Sorby helped limit UC’s first second-half series to four plays, the Mountaineers capitalized on starting 1 yard shy of midfield and produced a second offensive TD on Marchiol’s 8-yard run. It came two plays after the southpaw connected with Ray on a 38-yard pass play.
The Mountaineer defense continued to excel and forced another punt that left the visitors in position to add to their lead. When Marchiol threw a 50-yard completion to Robinson, it appeared they would just do that. However, on third-and-3 from the UC 22, Marchiol’s pass intended for Rodney Gallagher was intercepted by Logan Wilson in the end zone for a touchback.
On the next play, Sorsby threw an 80-yard touchdown pass to Evan Pryor, who was uncovered out of the backfield and raced down the sideline past a pair of defensive backs to bring his team to within 10 points with 2:29 remaining in the third.
“I don’t know if I’ve been in a game with so much emotional swing and so many pendulum swings,” Brown said.
An immediate three-and-out from the Mountaineers kept hope alive for UC, and the Bearcats then generated a 71-yard drive that Sorsby finished off with a 12-yard TD run with 9:42 to play.
WVU, which did not have a first down in the fourth quarter or on either of its last two series, went three-and-out again after starting from the UC 49 as a result of a 49-yard kickoff return from Fox.
Still, the kickoff return helped the Mountaineers flip the field and forced Cincinnati to start at its 6 before Bradley’s defensive score.
“We knew we were going to give him some looks that he probably hadn’t seen before. It was up to us to make the plays and we did that,” Bradley said.
Marchiol completed 9-of-15 passes for 156 yards.
White rushed for 64 yards on 13 carries, but WVU managed only 92 yards on the ground, ending a streak of 11 straight games it had lost when failing to rush for 100 or more yards.
West Virginia was held to 248 total yards on 43 plays.
“The offense wasn’t good enough. As an offensive coordinatoer, I’m really displeased, but as a head coach, it’s great anytime you go on the road and win,” Brown said. “That’s the worst we’ve played in two years on offense. Credit the Cincinnati defense for doing some good things, but we couldn’t get of our own way. I have further belief after today that if we can play well in all three phases, we can be one of the better teams in this league.”
The Mountaineers were without receiver Hudson Clement, who did not dress for the game after injuring his hamstring in practice.
Sorsby was 25-for-36 with 279 yards and rushed for 48 yards on 14 attempts. Kiner added a game-high 91 rushing yards on 25 carries.
Pryor had 100 receiving yards on five receptions.
The Mountaineers entered having forced six turnovers in eight games and generated three takeaways to improve to 3-0 away from home in the Big 12 and hang in the race for one of two spots in the league title game.
“When you talk about guys having your back,” Marchiol said, “the defense had mine big time here.”