CINCINNATI 24, WEST VIGINIA 21

Cincinnati - West Virginia had plenty of opportunities Friday night to seize control of its game with unbeaten and No. 5 Cincinnati. But the Mountaineers, in one fashion or another, blew almost every one of them. The result was an agonizing 24-21 loss to the Bearcats, a defeat that no matter how close or competitive still brought to a close any hopes WVU had of reaching its primary goals this season. "We took the fifth-ranked team in the country down to the wire and lost 24-21,'' West Virginia coach Bill Stewart said. "That's not a moral victory. But it was a great college football game.'' Indeed it was. It would have been even better had the Mountaineers been able to contain UC's high-powered offense when it mattered most or cash in on its own opportunities. But for the most part they could do neither. Zach Collaros passed for 205 yards, Tony Pike saw spot duty and threw two touchdown passes and Isaiah Pead rush for 175 yards as Cincinnati won in front of a crowd of 35,105, the largest in ancient Nippert Stadium history. As was the case a year ago in Morgantown, when WVU rallied late to force overtime before losing, this one also came down to the wire. The Mountaineers scored with 38 seconds to play on a 3-yard pass from Jarrett Brown to Bradley Starks. But unlike last year, West Virginia couldn't recover the onside kick and UC ran out the clock. The outcome provided monumental consequences for both sides. For the Mountaineers (7-3, 3-2 Big East), the loss mathematically ended any hopes of winning even a share of the Big East championship and earning a BCS bowl berth. Regardless of what West Virginia does against Pitt in two weeks, the league championship will come down to one game - Cincinnati at Pitt on Dec. 5. It also reduces West Virginia's realistic bowl options to only a handful, the most likely at this early date appearing to be the Papajohns.com Bowl on Jan. 2 in Birmingham. That is assuming the Gator Bowl chooses Notre Dame, that the Meineke Car Care Bowl opts for the Cincinnati-Pitt loser and that the St. Petersburg Bowl takes South Florida and the International Bowl goes for a northern team, Rutgers or Connecticut. For Cincinnati, however, the win leaves the door open to a multitude of opportunities. The Bearcats (10-0, 6-0) still must beat Pitt (8-1, 5-0) in that Dec. 5 showdown to earn the Big East title and the automatic BCS bowl berth. They also have a game to play at home in two weeks with Illinois. But if the Bearcats can win those two, they still have a chance to play for the national championship. It would most likely require a loss by Florida, Alabama or Texas in a game other than the Florida-Alabama SEC title game, but the possibility still exists. The final minutes provided some huge momentum shifts. With about 51/2 minutes to play and trailing 21-14, West Virginia had moved to a first down at the Cincinnati 24 before stalling. But instead of kicking a field goal to close the gap to 21-17, Stewart elected to go for it on fourth-and-8. Brown threw incomplete into the end zone with a defender holding onto his leg. Stewart said he didn't go for the field goal for two reasons: He wanted to go for the win right there and he was afraid his defense wouldn't be able to stop Cincinnati. "You saw what they did on the next play,'' he said, referring to a 43-yard Pead run that set up a field goal with 2:08 remaining to make the score 24-14. "We couldn't stop them. They're that good. I wanted to score and go for the win.'' In fact, Stewart said had the Mountaineers scored there he wouldn't have gone for a two-point conversion instead of tying the game. Of course, it didn't come to that. Still, West Virginia put up a good fight. Cincinnati gained 417 total yards, including 196 rushing, but the 24 points were the fewest the Bearcats have scored this season. By contrast, in a 47-45 win over Connecticut last week the Huskies had 711 yards. "All I know is West Virginia lost,'' said defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel. "We didn't come down here to hold them down. We came to win and we didn't.'' Brown completed 17-of-25 passes for 188 yards and Noel Devine rushed for 88, although he sat out the final two series with an accumulation of injuries. The Mountaineers had 390 total yards. At the game's outset, Cincinnati put together as efficient a scoring drive as one could ever see. With Collaros at quarterback, UC mixed the run and the pass, faced only one third down and marched to a first down at the West Virginia 10. Then Pike entered the game, playing for the first time in a month, took a shotgun snap and coolly fired a touchdown pass to Armon Binns in the middle of the end zone and a 7-0 lead. Meanwhile, West Virginia's offense was, as has been the case in recent weeks, stuck in neutral. The first two possessions resulted in one first down, 25 total yards and two quick punts. That changed when Cincinnati did something entirely uncharacteristic - turned the ball over. Keith Tandy knocked the ball loose from tight end Adrien Robinson at the end of a 20-yard play and Sidney Glover recovered near midfield. Brown then completed passes of 14 yards to Starks and 12 to Jock Sanders to convert third-and-six, then ran it in himself from the 8 to tie the score at 7-7. Cincinnati blew a chance to regain the lead early in the second quarter. Pead broke a 52-yard run to the WVU 23, but West Virginia's defense stiffened and Jake Rogers missed a 34-yard field goal. Then West Virginia took a 14-7 lead by going 80 yards in eight plays, the big ones a 24-yard pass from a scrambling Brown to Alric Arnett and Ryan Clarke's 37-yard scoring run on a short-yardage play. It didn't last long, though, because Mardy Gilyard returned the ensuing kickoff to the West Virginia 42 and six plays later Pead scored from the 2 to tie the score at 14. Well, he eventually scored because on the play he leaped and tried to stretch the ball over the goal line and lost it. WVU's Chris Neild recovered and the Mountaineers seemed to have the ball and the lead, but the replay official overturned the call and gave the Bearcats a touchdown. Cincinnati began the second half the same way it started the first - going 10 plays and 64 yards to take a 21-14 lead. And again it was Pike who came in at the end of the drive almost as a closer, throwing a 6-yard pass to D.J. Woods for the score. Cincinnati 24, West Virginia 21 West Virginia 7 7 0 7 -21 Cincinnati 7 7 7 3 -24 UC - Binns 10 pass from T. Pike (Rogers kick) WV - Browns 8 run (Bitancurt kick) WV - Clarke 37 run (Bitancurt kick) UC - Pead 2 run (Rogers kick) UC - Woods 6 pass from D. Pike (Rogers kick) UC - FG Rogers 38 WV - Starks 3 pass from Brown (Bitancurt kick) WV UC First downs 22 18 Totals yards 390 417 Passing yards 188 221 Passes 17-25 19-28 Had intercepted 0 1 Rushing 46-202 30-196 Penalties 4-25 4-39 Fumbles lost 0 1 Time of possession 34:23 25:37 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING: WV - Devine 25-88, Clarke 5-60, Brown 8-34, Sanders 7-14, Austin 1-6; UC - Pead 17-175, Collaros 10-44, Willilams 1 minus-1 PASSING: WV - Brown 17-25-0-188; UC - Collaros 17-24-1-205; T. Pike 2-4-0-16 RECEIVING: WV - Starks 5-50, Sanders 4-42, Arnett 2-35, Lyons 2-34, Johns 1-10, Devine 1-9, Rodgers 1-4, Urban 1-4; UC - Binns 5-62, Robinson 3-59, Woods 3-40, Gilyard 3-22, Guidugli 1-18, Pead 2-13, Williams 2-7 How they scored FIRST QUARTER -UC: Armon Binns 10 pass from Tony Pike (Jake Rogers kick), 9:56. Drive: 9 plays, 73 yards, 2:57 elapsed. Key play: Isaiah Pead 7 pass from Zach Collaros on third-and-4. UC 7-0. -WVU: Jarrett Brown 8 run (Tyler Bitancurt kick), 3:19. Drive: 7 plays, 49 yards, 3:40 elapsed. Key play: Jock Sanders 12 pass from Brown on third-and-7 to UC 12. Tie 7-7. SECOND QUARTER -WVU: Ryan Clarke 37 run (Bitancurt kick), 8:05. Drive: 8 plays, 80 yards, 3:23 elapsed. Key play: Alric Arnett 24 pass from Brown on third-and-12. WVU 14-7. -UC: Pead 2 run (Rogers kick), 5:26. Drive: 6 plays, 42 yards, 2:39 elapsed. Key play: Mardy Gilyard kickoff return to WVU 42. Tie 14-14. THIRD QUARTER -UC: D.J. Woods 6 pass from Pike (Rogers kick), 11:07. Drive: 10 plays, 64 yards, 3:48 elapsed. Key play: Binns 11 pass from Collaros to WVU 28. UC 21-14. FOURTH QUARTER -UC: 38 FG Rogers, 2:08. Drive: 7 plays, 56 yards, 3:15 elapsed. Key play: Pead 43 run. UC 24-14. -WVU: Brad Starks 3 pass from Brown (Bitancurt kick), :39. Drive: 7 plays, 64 yards, 1:24 elapsed. Key play: Wes Lyons 21 pass from Brown. UC 24-21. AP photo Cincinnati running back Isaiah Pead goes over West Virginia defensive back Robert Sands (2) for a second-quarter touchdown. Pead lost control of the ball and WVU recovered the fumble, but a video review ruled a touchdown for the Bearcats. Reach Dave Hickman at 304-348-1734 or dphickman1@aol.com