The West Virginia Mountaineers (4-4, 3-2) travel to Ohio to take on the Cincinnati Bearcats (5-3, 3-2) Saturday afternoon. Kickoff is set for noon and the action will broadcast on FS1.
Before the season ever started, this looked like a gimme-win for the Mountaineers. Cincinnati was coming off the heels of a disappointing first year in the Big 12 and had extremely low expectations entering the 2024 campaign.
This game is by no means a gimme, and I think you could say that for anyone WVU has remaining on its schedule. Even after as Nicco Marchiol played at Arizona, the Mountaineers are going to be working at a disadvantage at quarterback. The Wildcats showed last week in their loss to UCF how vulnerable they can be defensively. The good thing working for Marchiol here is that Cincinnati’s defense, statistically, is worse, so there will be opportunities to create explosive plays.
The biggest concern I have in this matchup is West Virginia’s defense. Just because Jordan Lesley is out as defensive coordinator doesn’t necessarily mean things will be fixed. As Neal Brown has stated several times, there is no changing the personnel.
I’m siding with Cincinnati picking up their first win over West Virginia at Nippert Stadium.
Prediction record: 5-3.
West Virginia crushed Cincinnati last year in Morgantown 42-21. The Mountaineers held a 35-point advantage heading into the fourth quarter and rushed for 424 yards with running back Jahiem White leading the way with a career-high 204 yards and a touchdown while quarterback Garrett Greene ran for 154 yards and three touchdowns.
The Bearcat defense has not seen much improvement but despite allowing over 400 total yards per game, which ranks 14th in the Big 12, Cincinnati is fourth in the league in points allowed at 21.1.
Although Greene will not be available this weekend, Nicco Marchiol has shown he can be effective with his legs and is arguably the better passer, especially with the tight windows in the redzone. I suspect the offense will continue to grow with Marchiol in his second consecutive start and the running game will continue to find success against the Bearcats.
West Virginia fired its defensvie coordinator during the bye week and it may be the shot in the arm this unit needed. They have put solid halves together this season, but it’s been scarce, and there have been second half collapses, and it took the Mountaineer offense to hold the ball for the final four and a half minutes of the game against Arizona to hold on for the win.
I believe the defense will show enough improvements to give Mountaineer fans hope against one of the better quarterbacks in the league and the offense will continue to evolve with Marchiol under center. I don’t believe the Mountaineers will replicate the dominance against the Bearcats like last season but I do think they find a way to win late. WVU picks up its fifth win of the season 27-24.
Prediction record: 5-3.
