WVU bounces back with dominating win over Cincinnati, 42-21
Chris Jackson
MORGANTOWN — It was supposed to be a Blue and Gold Saturday at Mountaineer Field, with West Virginia finishing off its home season against Cincinnati.
Instead, it turned into a Greene and White day for the Mountaineers
It was a day where 12 players would walk on Senior Day and day when Don Nehlen, the Hall of Fame coach, who turned around the direction of the West Virginia program back in 1980 and led it into national prominence, would stand there before 43,588 fans, friends and relatives — five of the grandchildren and nine great grandchildren — and see his name unveiled on the Diversified Energy Terrace, immortalizing him with the players who have had their numbers retired.
The day, of course, belonged to Nehlen and those seniors — Jared Bartlett, Beanie Bishop Jr., Devin Carter, Marcus Floyd, Zach Frazier, Luke Hamilton, Davoan Hawkins, Lee Kpogba, Noah Massey, Doug Nester, Malachi Ruffin and Jalen Thornton — but it was Greene, the quarterback, and White, a true freshman running back, who muscled their way into the festivities.
White put on a spectacular show as he rushed for a career-high 204 yards and caught a 75-yard touchdown pass from Greene.
“I don’t know how many Jaheim ran for but he’s the best back in America,” Greene gushed.
Those two led the Mountaineers to a 42-21 victory over Cincinnati in a game that guaranteed a winning season but, much more important than even that, erased the horrible nightmarish trip to Oklahoma a week earlier when the Sooners pushed them around to the tune of 59-20.
“Our guys,” Neal Brown would say, “were embarrassed last week. Any time you fail in a national TV game and play your worst game of the year there will be aftershocks. I have full expectation and belief our guys will come out and play a good football game.”
Maybe no one more than Greene, who completed only 12 of 27 passes for154 yards and ran for only 24 yards against the Sonners before mercifully being replaced by backup Nicco Marchiol.
“Obviously last week I didn’t play good enough. I wasn’t even close to my best. To beat a team on the road you have to play better, so I practiced with that mentality the whole week,” Greene said.
It was a lesson in humility but it also was a test of character and Brown was certain coming into this one that Greene was sitting on a monster effort.
“Oklahoma was a game where Garrett’s decision making and fundamentals were costly,” Brown said. “But he has played well all year and can’t let that last game affect him today or the rest of the season. He’s one of the better players in the Big 12 and has to go out and prove it.”
Did he ever.
Greene had his best day as a Mountaineer. He accounted for 336 total yards — 154 rushing on 11 carries, which is 14 yards per carry, with three touchdowns while passing for 210 yards on 12 completions out of 19 attempts with a touchdown.
“I thought Garrett bounced back,” Brown said. “I thought last week was the first time he hadn’t had success this year. There’s been varying levels of success, but he just didn’t play like himself and it ate at him.
“He’s the ultimate competitor and has a lot of skills as far as throwing the ball and all those things, but the best trait he has is his competitiveness. He took it personal and came back and performed.”
You could almost see the fire burning inside him from the opening plays of the game, a 28-yard pass to Traylon Ray followed by a 12-yard throw to Rodney Gallagher before he passed the torch to Jaheim White for a run that covered the first 11 yards of what would become a career day of 204 rushing yards on 21 carries.
While that first drive stalled with a missed field goal, the next time they had the ball they showed what was to come. White rushed for 18 and 10 yards before leaving with a minor limp, Greene tossed in a 22-yard run followed by an 8-yard scamper that helped carry the ball to the 3.
Faced with a fourth-and-1, Greene faked to CJ Donaldson going right, which opened up the middle enough to allow Greene go in the end zone standing up.
It did not take long for them to score again, this one a play they have waited for all season … a pass from Greene, who took a big hit just as threw, to the fleet White, who gathered it in, slipped away from one defender and 75 yards from the line of scrimmage he went into the end zone with the longest TD of the year for WVU.
Greene didn’t see what transpired, having been knocked onto his back, but White had to outrun the ball to the spot, make a difficult catch and then break loose.
“Jaheim is just a phenomenal football player. Any way I can get the ball in his hands, that’s my goal,” Greene said.
At this point you knew where this game was going and there was nothing Cincinnati could do to stop it.
“Dominant performance,” Brown said. “The stats speak for themselves. Two 100-yard rushers, over 400 rushing yards.”
West Virginia’s first possession of the second half was more of the same as the Mountaineers marched 88 yards to a third rushing score for Greene, this one on an 18-yard score. White gained 49 yards on the drive to reach 75 on 12 carries in the game and it stood at 35-7 in the third quarter.
“You keep seeing Jaheim White getting better and better,” Brown said. “He was elite today.”
WVU kept the pressure on into the fourth quarter when the lead grew to 42-7 and he started mixing in some substitutes and Cincinnati took advantage of it to score a couple of touchdowns while WVU scored one and had a second removed on a penalty, so the final score did not equate to what transpired before everyone’s eyes.
This was total domination for the team that had been picked 14th and last in the preseason poll. It gave them a chance to finish with six conference victories if they can win at Baylor next week and eight overall in the regular season with a bowl game left.