West Virginia was in desperate need of a win against Cincinnati. And the game went a bit like most WVU games this year: the offense was effective, and the defense was awful.
To be fair, the defense had a stretch in the first half where they weren’t bad. They stopped the Bearcats on a fourth down, and the next two drives, Cincy didn’t get a single first down. WVU’s offense was uncharacteristically struggling a bit, and the score was only 7-7 with just under seven minutes left in the first half. After that point, however, defense seemed to become optional for both teams. Cincinnati scored a touchdown, but WVU responded with one of their own. Cincy answered back with an 85-yard drive that took less than a minute. WVU was able to get a shot for a long field goal at the end of the first half, but missed it, and trailed 21-14 at halftime. The Mountaineers tied things back up on the opening drive of the second half. The teams exchanged punts, and then chaos reigned. The next six drives (three by each team) resulted in touchdowns, and it was 42-42 when Cincy took over with a little under four minutes to play.
The WVU defense actually came up big and forced a punt – and it was an incredible punt that put the Mountaineers at their own 1 yard line with just over two minutes to go. There were some runs with limited success, but Michael Hawkins was able to hit Prince Strachan with two big passes (41 and 39 yards), which put WVU into field goal position. West Virginia’s big Irish kicker (Jack Cassidy is 6-6, 235 pounds, and from Derry, Ireland) was perfect from 35 yards, and WVU won 45-42. That kick—which was the last play of the game—was the first time WVU had a lead in the entire game.
WVU has one more game before its open week, and that game is a road contest at TCU. The Horned Frogs were picked in the upper half of the Big 12 in preseason polls, but have so far been a disappointment. The issue has been offense: in their three losses, they have scored 10, 13, and 10 points. Their two wins are over FCS Grambling, and Arkansas State (a Sun Belt team with a losing record and a bad defense). Their defense has actually been one of the better ones in the Big 12, and they haven’t given up more than 21 points in any of their first five games.
This sets up an interesting battle: strength vs. strength (WVU offense vs TCU defense), and weakness vs. weakness (TCU offense vs WVU defense). I’m guessing WVU will score over 21 points, but TCU will be well over 13 points as well. It could come down to big plays on special teams, or turnovers.
WVU is having some success in other sports, though. The golf team had one of its best tournaments ever at the Big 12 Match Play Championships. the Mountaineers entered as the No. 12 seed, and were in a group with No. 4 seed Kansas (#19 in NCAA rankings), No. 5 seed TCU (#25 in the rankings), and No. 13 seed Baylor. WVU went undefeated against those three, and won its group. That earned the Mountaineers a match against top-seeded (#7 in the NCAA) Oklahoma State. The Cowboys are loaded: they feature Preston Stout, who is the defending NCAA Champion and #1 ranked amateur in the world. The rest of their lineup includes four others who appear in the World Amateur rankings, at #11, #16, #52, and #154. West Virginia managed to tie OSU after 18 holes, 2.5-2.5. There was a playoff hole in which all five golfers played and the lowest combined total won. WVU was an impressive -4, but OSU was -6. Still, this was an incredible tournament showing (WVU’s best ever in a Big 12 Championship). That kind of result should be a great confidence builder for the Spring Season.
Notes: Kickoff for the TCU game is at noon, and it will be on ESPN2…The cross country team jumped up to #3 nationally in the NCAA rankings…WVU’s basketball teams have officially started practice. The women were picked 4th in the Big 12, and come in at #25 in ESPN’s preseason rankings. The men were in a tie for eighth with Cincinnati.
