By Cord Rankin
Scott Satterfield UC head coach W Va. 31 UC 24 Postgame Press Conference 11 9 2024.mp3
GAME BOOK
https://gobearcats.com/documents/2024/11/9/UC-WVU.PDF
CINCINNATI – The Cincinnati football team fought back from a 17-point second-half deficit and had a chance, but quarterback Brendan Sorsby’s backwards pass was ruled a fumble and returned for a touchdown by West Virginia linebacker Tyrin Bradley Jr. with 3:30 left to give the Mountaineers a 31-24 victory on Saturday at Historic Nippert Stadium.
Sorsby finished 25-of-36 for 279 yards and rushed for 48 yards and a score, but he had three turnovers, including a pick-six.
Cincinnati held a 436 to 248 edge in total yards and a 24-10 advantage in first downs. Senior running back Corey Kiner totaled a career-high 25 attempts for 91 yards and a score. Cincinnati celebrated the 100-year anniversary of the dedication of Nippert Stadium at the game.
“That’s a tough one, right there,” head coach Scott Satterfield said. “It was a tough one to go back and talk to your team about because they played so well, played so hard for most of the game. You look at the stats and it will make you sick. There’s a lot of things about it, but obviously, we can’t turn the ball over. We understand that you can’t just give them points and ultimately, we gave them 17, and that was the difference in the game. But I was proud of our guys. We had to continue to fight. We got back in there at the end, but just didn’t want to finish it”
Two first-half turnovers and a pair of long passes from West Virginia quarterback Nicco Marchiol put UC in a 24-7 hole late in the third quarter, but the Bearcats dug themselves out with transfers Logan Wilson and Evan Pryor providing game-altering sparks.
Wilson, a sixth-year safety who played at North Texas last fall, toe-tapped to stay in-bounds on an end zone interception to thwart a West Virginia drive that likely would’ve put the game out of reach, giving the ball back to the Bearcats’ offense.
On the very next play, Sorsby zipped a pass to Pryor, who was leaking out of the backfield. He caught the ball and ran 80 yards for the touchdown with 2:29 left in the third.
After the defense forced a 3-and-out, Sorsby led an 11-play, 71-yard scoring drive. He called his name on the final four plays, a stretch that culminated with a 12-yard rushing score by the QB that brought UC within three, 24-21, with 9:42 left.
Redshirt junior nose tackle Dontay “The Godfather” Corleone’s sack on WVU’s next possession led to a punt that was downed at the UC 6-yard line.
Trailing by three, Cincinnati converted a pair of 3rd-and-1 attempts on the ensuing drive, but Sorsby was hit while trying to throw the ball away, resulting in a scoop-and-score that put West Virginia ahead 31-21 with under four minutes remaining.
Cincinnati tacked on a 29-yard field goal with 36 seconds left to close the deficit to seven, 31-24, but the Bearcats’ onside kick attempt was recovered by the Mountaineers, ending the game.
Pryor finished with five catches for 100 yards and four rushes for 18. His 80-yard touchdown was his fourth score of 50+ this season and was the longest play by the Bearcats since Desmond Ridder found Tyler Scott for an 81-yard touchdown versus Miami (Ohio) on the first pass play of the 2021 season.
After stopping a fourth-down pass attempt by the Mountaineers on the opening drive, the Bearcats used a 13-play, 68-yard scoring drive capped by a 1-yard Kiner score to take a 7-0 lead at 5:17 in the first quarter.
Turnovers on UC’s next two drives put West Virginia in the driver’s seat and proved to be the difference in what ended up being a one-score game.
After forcing the Mountaineers to punt on their second drive, the Bearcats quickly drove into WVU territory and were aggressive on a 4th-and-1 call from the 24-yard line. Sorsby could not evade a West Virginia defender on a roll out, though, and his desperation pass attempt while falling to the ground was intercepted by safety Anthony Wilson, who returned it 76 yards for the game-tying pick-six with 12:31 remaining in the half.
West Virginia forced another turnover on UC’s next possession, jarring the ball loose from Sorsby as he ran for a first down on a third-down play from the Cincinnati 37-yard line. Despite facing a Mountaineer offense that was gifted a short field, the Cincinnati defense was able to hold WVU to 24-yard field goal after Wilson broke up a pass in the end zone. WVU kicker Michael Hayes II gave the Mountaineers a 10-7 lead with 8:40 left in the first half.
The teams traded punts until West Virginia extended its lead to 17-7 on a 10-yard touchdown grab by receiver Justin Robinson from Marchiol.
The Bearcats received the ball coming out of halftime, but were forced to punt again. The Mountaineers took advantage. On West Virginia’s first possession of the second half, Marchiol completed a 38-yard pass to receiver Traylon Ray on 3rd-and-10. The QB’s 8-yard keeper to paydirt put West Virginia ahead 24-7 at 8:29 in the third quarter.
Wilson, Pryor and Sorsby got UC back in the game but West Virginia’s +2 advantage in turnover margin proved to be the difference in the conference game.
Cincinnati dropped to 5-4 overall and 3-3 in the Big 12, while WVU improved to 5-4 overall and 4-2 in the league.
“We’re going to go back to this game like we always do,” Satterfield said. “We’re going to look and see the things that we have to do better, then go back out there and try to go win these games. I feel like we’ve got a good enough team to win all three of these games, but we have to take it one game at a time. We have to play mistake-free football and do the things that it takes to win football games.”
UP NEXT
Cincinnati begins a two-game road swing when it plays at Iowa State on Saturday night. Kickoff time is either 7 or 8 p.m. ET.
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