MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — For all of its defensive issues, of which plenty have surfaced over the first seven games, West Virginia has shown it has a quarterback capable of special performances.
Michael Hawkins Jr. delivered his best one yet in a Mountaineer uniform Saturday, and led an 82-yard drive to set up Jack Cassidy’s winning 35-yard field goal as time expired, giving West Virginia its lone lead in a 45-42 victory against Cincinnati on Homecoming at Milan Puskar Stadium.
The most critical play of the contest came with WVU (4-3, 1-3 Big 12) facing third-and-9 from its own 2-yard line and the game tied at 42. Hawkins went deep down the sideline to Prince Strachan, and the wideout came up with a 41-yard reception in single coverage.
“Mike can make all the throws and we have pretty good wideouts,” WVU head coach Rich Rodriguez said. “We didn’t run the ball well today. I have no hesitation on any pass play that Mike can make the throw, and today, he made a lot of them. The best one was the deep ball to Prince.”
Two plays later, the Hawkins to Strahan connection struck again for 39 yards, leaving the Mountaineers in position to all but run out the clock in advance of Cassidy’s winning boot.
“We could have maybe tried to score and all that, but I felt good with the ball in the middle of the field,” Rodriguez said. “I trusted Jack, and he nailed it.”
It was somewhat sweet redemption for Cassidy, who had missed his first field goal this season from 49 yards late in the first half, and later had a kickoff sail out of bounds.
“You dream of it, but you don’t want to make too much of the moment either,” Cassidy said.
The 23rd meeting between the Bearcats and Mountaineers was a memorable one that saw the teams trade touchdowns throughout, including Hawkins’ 37-yard pass to DJ Epps on the first play of the fourth quarter that tied it at 28.
Cincinnati (4-2, 1-2) regained its seven-point lead when JC French threw an 11-yard TD pass to Cole Tabb, but the Mountaineers again had an answer and got even at 35 when Amari Latimer rushed for a 3-yard touchdown with 7:29 remaining.
The Bearcats wasted no time in regaining the lead as French found Malachi Henry for a 59-yard gain on third-and-7, and two plays later, the visitors were on top 42-35 after Tabb crossed the goal line on a 6-yard run.
“It looked like the same story, right? We couldn’t get over the hump,” Rodriguez said.
WVU countered and got Hawkins’ 36-yard pass to tight end Ryan Ward to convert third-and-10, before the quarterback found tailback Cam Cook on a swing pass that went for a 40-yard tying touchdown with 3:52 to play.
“Mike never panics, and he was seeing the field pretty well, especially in the passing game,” Rodriguez said.
Cook was largely unchallenged on the touchdown, which was somewhat of a theme throughout.
“An extremely poor job tackling in the secondary today,” UC head coach Scott Satterfield said. “I mean, it was awful. It’s about as bad as it gets, quite honestly.”
Needing a timely stop that too often has eluded the Mountaineers, the WVU defense delivered down the stretch and forced a three-and-out. However, Cincinnati punter Max Fletcher took off running to his right and looked as though he might make an effort to get the first down, before his punt was nearly blocked. Instead, it turned into a 66-yard boot that UC downed on the WVU 1.
“It’s third-and-9 from the two, and you let them off the hook,” Satterfield said.
A 4-yard touchdown pass from French to JV Gibson opened the scoring, though the Mountaineers came up with a red zone stop on UC’s second series, which ended with French stopped for no gain on fourth-and-1 from the Mountaineers’ 15.
Two of West Virginia’s four punts came on its first two series, before the Mountaineers drove 81 yards in 10 plays on their third possession and got even at 7 on Hawkins’ 12-yard TD run.
There were three touchdowns over the final 5:04 of the opening half, the first of which was a 51-yard pass from French to Isaiah Johnson that left UC with a 14-7 advantage.
Hawkins’ 2-yard touchdown run two plays after his 43-yard pass to Epps on fourth-and-7 enabled the Mountaineers to knot the matchup at 14, but the Bearcats needed only four plays to cover 75 yards and got a go-ahead TD on Tabb’s 28-yard run that left the visitors with a seven-point halftime lead.
Hawkins’ 4-yard TD pass to uncovered tight end Josh Sapp opened the second-half scoring, before French plunged into the end zone on a fourth-and-goal sneak from the WVU 1 to leave UC with a 28-21 lead entering the fourth quarter.
But that wasn’t enough to overcome Hawkins, who completed 9-of-10 passes for 241 yards with two touchdowns in the fourth quarter.
“We had a lot of explosive passes,” Hawkins said. “My guys were getting open and allowing me to put the ball there. They kept getting open all game, which helps.”
Hawkins finished 25-for-33 with 464 yards and three touchdowns. His passing yardage is the most for any Mountaineer since Will Grier against Oklahoma in 2018 and the most WVU has produced in a game since 2019 against Texas Tech.
“Taking it week by week in the passing game and getting comfortable with my receivers and running backs,” Hawkins said. “It’s definitely slowed down each week and I’m seeing it well.”
Hawkins added 77 rushing yards on 26 carries, while Cook was held to 40 yards on 15 attempts.
Epps had eight receptions for 163 yards after being held without a reception in last week’s loss to Arizona.
French threw for a career-best 389 yards and completed 22-of-30 passes.
The Bearcats rushed for 233 yards, highlighted by Tabb’s 118 on 15 carries. French added 52 yards on 13 attempts.
WVU is 19-3-1 against the Bearcats and has won five straight in the series.