CINCINNATI — Brendan Sorsby was in the midst of a season to remember heading into Saturday’s showdown with West Virginia.
He had thrown 15 touchdown passes, only four interceptions and had completed 65.9 percent of his passes in leading the Bearcats to the brink of bowl eligibility.
Then his dream season turned into a nightmare Saturday.
The West Virginia Mountaineers turned three turnovers by Sorsby into 17 points to register a 31-24 Big 12 win Saturday in Cincinnati. Sorsby threw an ill-advised pick-6 on fourth down that gave West Virginia life. His fumble at the Cincinnati 36 gave West Virginia three points and his botched pass late turned into a backwards pass that was recovered for a scoop and score that killed Cincinnati’s comeback bid.
Despite being outgained 436-248, West Virginia (5-4, 4-2) won for the second straight week on the road and drew to within a game of bowl eligibility while Cincinnati (5-4, 3-3) fell for the second straight outing. The Bearcats had 24 first downs to West Virginia’s nine.
“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”
Leading 24-21, West Virginia’s Trey Lathan forced a backwards pass with a hit on Sorsby and Tyrin Bradley Jr. picked it up and ran 13 yards for the game-clinching score with 3:30 left in the game.
Cincinnati drove for a 29-yard field goal with 36 seconds remaining but West Virginia recovered the onside kick to seal the victory.
West Virginia quarterback Nicco Marichol completed just 9-of-16 passes for 156 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Cincinnati’s Sorsby completed 25-of-36 passes for 279 yards, one touchdown, one interception while rushing for another score.
The Bearcats gained the early momentum when the defense stopped West Virginia on their opening drive, forced a punt and marched 68 yards in 13 plays to take a 7-0 lead.
Corey Kiner capped the drive with a two-yard run to the left outside pylon for his second touchdown of the season.
Already up, 7-0, the Bearcats were driving for another score when they faced 4th-and-1 from the West Virginia 20 early in the second quarter. Kekoura Tarnue broke free on a rush of Sorsby and was bringing him to the ground when Sorsby flipped the ball in desperation for running back Evan Pryor.
Safety Anthony Wilson Jr. picked off the pass and raced 79 yards untouched for the game-tying touchdown.
On the ensuing series, Sorsby had 3rd-and-4 from the Cincinnati 31. Sorsby took off on a scramble and had the first down when he was stripped of the ball from behind by Reid Carrico. Tarnue recovered at the Cincinnati 37. Nicco Marichol connected on a 28-yard pass to Jahiem White to the Cincinnati 9. But West Virginia settled for a field goal and a 10-7 lead.
The game swung back in Cincinnati’s direction when Logan Wilson intercepted a pass for Rodney Gallagher III in the end zone. On the next play from scrimmage, Sorsby found Pryor all alone in the left flat and Pryor raced up the left sideline 80 yards for the score that drew Cincinnati within 10, 24-14.
Sorsby cut West Virginia’s lead to 24-21 with a 12-yard spinning touchdown run with 9:42 left in the fourth. After a 57-yard Nathan Hawks return to the Cincinnati 49, the Cincinnati defense forced a punt and got the ball back at their 6.
The Bearcats have two difficult road games at Iowa State and at Kansas State before returning home for a regular season finale against TCU on Nov. 30. They must win once more to qualify for a bowl one season after a 3-9 season.
“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.”
