West Virginia Mountaineers They defeated the Cincinnati Bearcats 31-24 on Saturday afternoon, improving their record to 5-4 (4-2) on the season.

Here are a few thoughts from today’s game.

Two weeks ago, the Mountaineers were leading Arizona 24-7 with less than eight minutes left in the third quarter. The Wildcats outshot WVU 19-7 but still came up short. This week, West Virginia jumped out to a 24-7 lead against Cincinnati and was outscored 17-7 the rest of the game. This can’t happen regularly, even against average or above average teams. In the end it will cost them a game.

Things changed when Nicco Marchiol was caught in the end zone while making a circus tackle. If WVU had found the salary dirt there, the game would have been 31-7 and control would have been good. One play after the interception, Cincinnati completed an 80-yard field goal pass to make it a 10-point game. For whatever reason, Neal Brown didn’t feel comfortable throwing the ball down the middle of the field, which allowed Cincinnati to sniff out runs and throws underneath.

The Bearcats entered the week near the bottom half of the league with a series shutout, but they had no trouble containing the Mountaineers this afternoon. It’s been a very up-and-down season for the offensive line in terms of getting offensive lanes set up behind the backs, but CJ Donaldson’s role has been greatly diminished and there’s no explanation for that. He’s a heavy hitter and needs to be the one setting the tone for this offense, not someone who gets a few touches a game.

Changing the coordinator, even during the bye week, does not guarantee that everything will be okay. Don’t get me wrong, there’s still a lot to clean up, but significant progress has been made against rust today. Koonz’s team scored twice off turnovers, an area the team has struggled with all season.

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