The Cincinnati Bearcats (3-7, 1-6 Big 12) traveled to Morgantown, West Virginia to face the West Virginia Mountaineers (6-4, 4-3 Big 12) in an old school rivalry matchup. The Bearcats are coming off a huge 24-14 victory over Houston as they picked up their first Big 12 victory, snapping a seven-game losing streak. Meanwhile, the Mountaineers are coming off a 59-20 blowout loss to Oklahoma.
The Bearcats would fall to the Mountaineers 42-21 after West Virginia just dominated the Bearcats on all aspects of the game this afternoon. The Mountaineers outgained the Bearcats 634-344, with 423 of those coming on the ground behind career days from Garrett Greene and Jaheim White.
Garrett Greene led the Mountaineers with 358 yards of total offense after rushing for 154 yards and three touchdowns, on just 11 carries. Greene also had 210 yards of offense through the air after going 12-of-19 with a touchdown. Greene, became the first West Virginia quarterback to throw and rush for over 130 yards since Pat White did back in the 2007 season.
Jaheim White would lead the Mountaineers in rushing as the true freshman ran for 204 yards and a score on a game high 21 carries. White filled in for the banged-up CJ Donaldson, who indeed played tonight, but was limit after suffering an injury last week vs Oklahoma.
Emory Jones finished the game 14-of-24 for 166 yards and two touchdowns for the Bearcats.
Corey Kiner led the Bearcats in rushing with 13 carries for 56 yards.
“Tip your hat to Neal Brown and West Virginia, they did an outstanding job, they kicked our butts tonight,” Scott Satterfield said. “They outplayed us, out blocked us, out coached us, they did everything better tonight.” They’re offensive line as people have talked about this year, did an outstanding job, even when we had opportunities, we just couldn’t get the job done tonight. There’s still a lot to look forward too with Kansas next week.”
How it Happened
The Mountaineers started with a huge explosive play for 30 yards as Garrett Greene connected with Taylon Ray to put the Mountaineers in Bearcat territory. The Bearcats defense would hold strong after a 52 yard missed field goal by Michael Hayes set the Bearcats up with decent field position to start.
Scott Satterfield has mentioned over recent weeks that redshirt sophomore Brady Lichtenberg would see more playing time, and that was the case to start this one as Lichtenberg made his first start of his career in place of Emory Jones. However, the drive would be very short following a three-and-out as Scott Satterfield called Mason Fletchers number early on a 4th-and-1, something we haven’t seen much this season as Satterfield loves to be aggressive in those short yard situations.
The Mountaineers would respond with a 14 play, 91 yard drive capped off by a 3-yard touchdown run by Garrett Greene after Neal Brown calls a timeout on 4th-and-1 to set up the designed quarterback run. However, the Mountaineers completed just one pass on their second drive of the game, before a defensive pass interference gave the Mountaineers great field position in Bearcat territory that extended the drive. The Mountaineers who entered this one 7th in the country in rushing, had 86 yards on the ground on their first two drives, averaging 6.6 yards per carry.
The Mountaineers would pour it on the Bearcats after another quick three and out. However, the Mountaineers responded with a four play, 85-yard drive after Garrett Greene stood tall in the pocket and delivered a strike to running back Jaheim White for the 75-yard touchdown. Bearcats brought the corner blitz on the play, but Greene stood tall in the pocket as White snuck behind the Bearcats linebackers and was off to the races as Neal Brown and West Virginia would go on to score 14 unanswered to take a 14-0 lead with 12:46 remaining in the second quarter.
The Bearcats would struggle to get anything going offensively as the Mountaineers outgained the Bearcats 228-38 with 7:00 remaining in the first half. Despite the Bearcats defense getting a huge stop on 3rd and short, they just couldn’t find any rhythm on offense as the Mountaineer’s zone look took away the Bearcats run heavy offense.
The Mountaineers would take over at midfield as their drive only lasted two plays after a 33-yard rush by quarterback Garrett Greene set up a 14-yard touchdown run to give the Mountaineers a 21-0 lead with 6:07 remaining in the first half. Greene, a dual threat quarterback has simply made the Bearcats pay in the quarterback run game, as the Bearcats were trying to take that away and make him throw the ball like the Sooners did last week.
Brady Lichtenberg would return and provide a huge spark as the run game opened up as Corey Kiner had four carries for 25 yards as the Bearcats offense finally had some momentum late in the first half. Lichtenberg would then stay poised after a high snap, keeping his eyes down field to connect with Evan Prater for a 22-yard gain to march into the red zone for the first time this afternoon. Lichtenberg would follow up with a huge 17-yard run to put the Bearcats at the Mountaineers 1. Emory Jones, would then come in and cap off an 11 play, 75-yard drive following the one-yard TD run after perfectly executing the tush push play.
Garrett Greene and the Mountaineers responded with a 4 play, 75-yard drive capped off by a 30-yard run from Greene to start the drive. The Drive would quickly end after Greene called his own number and took it 26 yards for the score to extend their lead back to 21. Greene quickly sucked the life out of the Bearcats despite building momentum late in the half it was just silenced by that 26-yard touchdown run.
The Bearcats were outgained 338-139 at the half, as Greene just became a one man show for the Mountaineers as he had 275 yards of total offense and three touchdowns for the Mountaineers in the first half. The Bearcats would simply have no answer as the junior quarterback was controlling the offense as West Virginia averaged nearly 10 yards per play in the first half. The Bearcats would have to make some adjustments early on the opening drive of the second half or West Virginia could quickly slam the doors on the Bearcats.
The Bearcats would look to get Xzavier Henderson involved on the opening drive of the second half after two quick receptions would move the chains for the Bearcats. However, the offense would stall forcing yet another Fletcher punt, his fifth of the night. The Bearcats continued to find any rhythm on offense and West Virginia continued to dominate on all three phases this afternoon. West Virginia would capitalize on that as they continued to just wear down the Bearcats defense.
Greene, would lead a 12 play, 88-yard drive highlighted by an 18-yard run touchdown, his third of the game to give the Mountaineers a 35-7 lead with 4:39 remaining in the third quarter. A drive that was set up by freshman Jaheim White, who had 39 yards on four carries on that drive. The Mountaineers scored on 5 of their first 7 drives, and it should actually be six following the missed field goal on the opening drive.
The Mountaineers continue to pour it on the Bearcats following another 3-and-out for the Bearcats offense would quickly escalate into a six play, 74-yard touchdown drive for the Mountaineers capped off by a four-yard touchdown from Jaheim White that gave the Mountaineers a 42-7 lead at the start of the fourth quarter.
The Bearcats would respond with six play, 96-yard drive after Emory Jones connected with Xzavier Henderson for a huge 55-yard gain on 3rd and 15. Jones would then throw a beautiful flea flicker down the left sideline to a wide open Chamon Metayer for the 30-yard touchdown to trim the Mountaineers lead to 42-14 with 12 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
Jaheim White would rally off 68 yards on two carries a few moments later and just like that the Mountaineers were back in the red zone for the 7th time of the night. The Mountaineers would look to find the end zone again before a tripping penalty wiped the Mountaineers 7th touchdown off the board. However, the Bearcats responded with the games first turnover as Ken Willis would intercept Greene’s pass in the end zone, his second in as many weeks.
The Bearcats would capitalize off the interception as Jones, found a wide open Chamon Mateyer on the flea flicker for a thirty-yard touchdown to make this a 42-21 game. The Bearcats seemed to find some light, but it was just too late this evening as they fell to the Mountaineers 42-21.
Up Next
The Bearcats (3-8, 1-7 Big 12) will return to Nippert Stadium next Saturday vs Kansas for Senior Day as they look to end the season with a huge win vs a nationally ranked opponent.
