MORGANTOWN, WV – The Cincinnati Bearcats beat West Virginia in possession time, total yards, and passing yards on Oct. 17 at Milan Puskar Stadium, but still came away with a 45-42 heartbreaking loss to the Mountaineers.
It would be the team with the final possession winning and that team was the Mountaineers who stopped the Bearcats just shy of the two minute timeout. UC pinned them at the 1-yard line on a punt by Max Fletcher, but West Virginia quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. got out of a major pickle with a 3rd-and-9 completion from the 2-yard line to Prince Strachan for 41 yards.
Not long after, WVU was in position to kick a 35-yard field goal, and the Bearcats lost despite having six separate leads in the game against the Mountaineers. The final score was 45-42, putting West Virginia at 4-3 (1-3 Big 12) and UC at 4-2 (1-2 Big 12).
The Bearcats outgained the Mountaineers 622-598 and outrushed them 233-134, but much like their 2024 matchup at Nippert Stadium, WVU got the curious win.
"As good as it was stopping the run, it was that much bad in passing (defense)," UC coach Scott Satterfield. "There was a lot of one-on-one opportunities and they made the plays and we didn't. We just needed a little something in the pass defense. We just never could get the stop to get up two (touchdowns)."
Grading Cincinnati Enquirer's predictions for Cincinnati Bearcats, West Virginia Mountaineers
We predicted a UC Bearcats road win.
Outcome: When Cole Tabb scored his third touchdown of the game on a 6-yard-run, UC had its sixth lead of the game at 42-35. Unfortunately, West Virginia would tie less than two minutes later, then finally stop UC near the two-minute timeout.
UC pins WVU at the 1-yard line, but Hawkins Jr. later makes them pay on a 3rd-and-9 from the 2-yard line with a 41-yard pass to Strachan to keep the drive alive. Eventually it's Cassidy with a 35-yard field goal for a Homecoming win, 45-42. The game was there to win and wasn't.
We also predicted both sides would have a 100-yard rusher.
Outcome: Nope. You would have thought this would be easy, but UC held Hawkins Jr. to a season-low 77 yards on the ground and Cam Cook, one of the nation's top runners, to 40 yards. Cole Tabb comes in for the injured Gi'Bran Payne to gain 118 yards to cover UC, but the Mountaineers missed the century mark with their runners and only had 134 rushing yards total.
We said JC French IV would have to throw for over 200 yards.
Outcome: He did. French had a UC-best 389 yards, going 22-for-30 for three touchdowns. He again had no interceptions. So, there's one correct prediction. Predicting Michael Hawkins Jr. to throw for 464 yards would have been far-fetched, but he did, completing 76% of his passes with a 223.9 quarterback rating. French completed 73% for a 215.3 rating.
Finally, the over/under points total was 63.5, and the Bearcats and Mountaineers went over. We mistakenly predicted UC would be under that total.
Outcome: Well, it wasn't a good week for me to look for employment in Las Vegas. The Mountaineers and Bearcats combined for 87 points.
Overreactions from Cincinnati Bearcats at West Virginia
That's it! Clean house! UC Bearcats are 4-2
There are six games to play and UC can either tank or help themselves, with four of the six teams being ranked in the Top 25. In college football, anything can happen and on the same day UC seemed to give one away at West Virginia; several top contenders also lost.
Top-ranked Georgia fell to unranked Auburn, No. 2 Notre Dame lost at No. 8 BYU, No. 6 Alabama lost at No. 14 Tennessee, unranked Florida beat No. 7 Texas, No. 9 Ole Miss smacked No. 13 Missouri, No. 22 LSU shut out No. 16 Mississippi State and No. 20 Houston beat No. 18 Oklahoma State.
There are several Top 25 teams with two losses.
On the flip side, four of UC's next six games are against Top 25 teams. The opportunity is there to sink or swim.
UC's defense isn't any better
Shutting down the No. 4 rushing offense, holding West Virginia to 134 rushing yards when they averaged 295, seems impressive.
However, Michael Hawkins Jr. more than doubled his best passing numbers, throwing for 464 yards against the Bearcats' porous secondary. Injuries to nose tackle Josh Hough and safety MJ Cannon hurt, but you can't challenge a team to throw the ball and then get gashed like Peyton Manning or Tom Brady were back there chucking spirals.
Playing at home in Big 12 is an advantage
UC had six leads and never trailed in Morgantown until the final field goal. On Oct. 3 in Arizona, they surely would have played better at Nippert, minus the two time zones of travel. Saturday, Oct. 17, the home team won in most of the Big 12 games. UC will be the decided underdog vs. Texas Tech and Utah in the coming weeks.
West Virginia had just 48,160 in their 60,000-seat stadium, but it was Homecoming and the crowd left happy. Oct. 24 is UC's Homecoming. You may not be happy with this 4-2 team, but long-term Bearcat fans have suffered through far worse.
Grading Cincinnati Bearcats at West Virginia Mountaineers
Overall: C
This was a highly winnable game where 42 points should have been plenty to win. But odd things happen on college gridirons on Homecoming and the Mountaineers capitalized on UC's shoddy pass defense.
Offense: A-
Getting 389 yards passing from JC French IV probably wasn't top of mind for most fans. And, UC outrushed the No. 4 rushing team in the country. Their only fault is not converting late in the game and allowing West Virginia one more possession. In hindsight, most would agree that when it was 4th and 3 from the UC 33-yard line, it might have been wiser to have gone for the first down than punt. Fletcher responded with a terrific punt, but if your secondary has holes, teams will find them.
Defense: C-
UC held Michael Hawkins Jr. and Cam Cook to season lows in rushing. They just didn't figure Hawkins Jr. would more than double his career-high with 464 passing yards.
Special Teams: C
Max Fletcher averaged 44.8 yards per kick and had the 66-yard punt, which should have helped UC win the game. However, he also had a 16-yard punt. UC had no yards at all in the return game.
Coaching: C-
UC's defensive plan vs. the WVU run was effective, but their pass defense had more holes than a fresh pack of Swiss cheese. With 2:05 to go and 4th down on their own 33-yard line, it might have made sense to go for it rather than punt away as it was evident that the last team with the ball would win. The Bearcats gave away the ball, and the Mountaineers would only need one more chance. WVU scored on their last four possessions.
Texas Tech makes their 1st visit to Nippert Stadium vs. Cincinnati Bearcats
Saturday, Oct. 24, UC hosts the Texas Tech Raiders for the first time. The teams played to a 10-10 tie in 1968 in Lubbock and then again there in 2024, with the Red Raiders winning the shootout 44-41.
Brendan Sorsby threw for 426 yards and four touchdowns in that game, then left to join Texas Tech last January. Reports of past gambling issues surfaced months later, and Sorsby was eventually declared ineligible and will be aiming for the NFL Draft next April as the NFL declined to hold a supplemental draft over the summer.
So, what seemed like the "Sorsby Bowl" will not feature the former Bearcats quarterback, but you can bet there's plenty of bad blood that will generate interest in this game.
Texas Tech went to 6-0 on Oct. 17 with a 53-25 win over Arizona State in Lubbock.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Grades, overreactions from UC Bearcats late loss at West Virginia