CINCINNATI — West Virginia managed only nine first downs and 248 total yards over 43 offensive plays in Saturday’s 31-24 victory at Cincinnati that keeps the Mountaineers in the thick of the race for one of two spots in the Big 12 Championship.
Despite being out-gained by 188 yards and managing 15 fewer first downs than the Bearcats, WVU moved to within one victory of bowl eligibility thanks in large part to critical and timely stops that produced three takeaways, two of which amounted to defensive touchdowns.
“We got pressure on the quarterback. If you want to force interceptions, that’s how you do it,” Mountaineer head coach Neal Brown said.
The first turnover came on the fifth play of the second quarter with UC clinging to a 7-0 lead and in control of the matchup to that point. Safety Anthony Wilson made an impressive open field tackle on Bearcat tailback Corey Kiner to prevent Cincinnati from generating a first down on third-and-4. On the next play, with UC facing fourth-and-1 from the WVU 20-yard line, KK Tarnue came free on a blitz and pressured quarterback Brendan Sorsby into an ill-advised throw that wound up being caught by Wilson. The Mountaineer safety returned the interception 79 yards for a tying touchdown.
“We got a really big-time stop on third down that was critical to make them have to snap it again,” Brown said. “They had [snap it again] to on fourth-and-1 and we showed a pressure we’ve used on the goal line some, but we haven’t shown since early in the season. KK came free and we were able to capitalize on a mistake. That definitely kind of got us going.”
On the third play of Cincinnati’s ensuing possession, linebacker Reid Carrico poked the ball free from Sorsby, and Tarnue recovered on the UC 37.
That directly led to Michael Hayes’ 24-yard go-ahead field goal — a scoring play that put the Mountaineers on top to stay.
While the Mountaineers allowed an 80-yard touchdown pass from Sorsby to Evan Pryor, and then a 71-yard scoring drive on the Bearcats’ next possession that cut the visitors’ lead to 24-21, the Mountaineer defense again delivered when it mattered most.
With WVU’s offense sputtering, UC got the ball back at its 6-yard line trailing by three with 7:16 to play.
The Bearcats picked up two first downs on six plays before facing first-and-10 from their 27.
On that play, linebacker Trey Lathan pressured Sorsby, who successful got the ball out before taking a sack, only to see it fall 2 yards behind the line of scrimmage. The Mountaineers’ Tyrin Bradley alertly pounced on the loose ball and returned the fumble recovery 14 yards for a touchdown with 3:30 remaining.
“We have so much belief in each other,” Bradley said, “that there’s never a doubt when we’re in the moment.”
In the Mountaineers’ first game with Jeff Koonz as defensive coordinator since Koonz replaced Jordan Lesley on October 29, West Virginia forced three turnovers. It entered the matchup with only six takeaways in eight games.
“A lot of times, play calls in the game are really overrated, but he did a really good job during the week of forming belief and creating buy in with the staff, and also creating buy in and belief with the players,” Brown said. “They wanted to compete for him. They were competing before, but anytime you have a change, you have to go in as the leader and create the buy in. He did a great job with that.”
Under Koonz, West Virginia strived to display defensive looks that could create more confusion from an opposing offense. That was the case in key spots against Cincinnati, and a quality pass rush with three sacks and three quarterback hurries helped lead to game-changing plays.
“Jeff will be the first one to tell you this — it’s a staff wide plan,” Brown said. “We did a nice job and made some adjustments during the bye week that helped us, and our kids executed in some key situations.
“I’m happy for him. I’m not surprised. He’s done this before. He understands the big picture. He has a calm demeanor. He handled it well and got us in some really good calls. Situationally, at the end of the game, he did a nice job understanding that yards didn’t matter. They had to fight the clock.”