MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia looks to put last weekend's disappointing performance at Oklahoma behind it when it faces Cincinnati this Saturday at Milan Puskar Stadium.
 
WVU (6-4, 4-3) saw its two-game, Big 12 winning streak come to end in Norman as the Mountaineers were unable to slow Oklahoma's running and passing attack in a 59-20 defeat – West Virginia's worst since a 48-10 loss at Texas Tech last season.
 
Oklahoma quarterback Dillon Gabriel passed for 423 yards and was responsible for all eight touchdowns in helping the Sooners register 644 yards of total offense.
 
The Mountaineers, who scored 88 points in their prior two games against UCF and BYU, couldn't keep pace with the Sooners and completed just 32% of their pass attempts for the night.
 
"We've got to redeem ourselves," West Virginia coach Neal Brown said earlier this week. "We've gone through a season of nine games where we've played relatively good football. There are a couple of quarters we'd like to take back, but we've really been pretty consistent in all three phases. Then (last) Saturday, on offense and defense, it was just not good enough."
 
Brown said his team's dismal performance last weekend is somewhat perplexing.
 
"We didn't make enough plays to make it competitive, and that was disappointing," he said. "I thought our special teams did a really nice job, so we've got to build on that. I felt like we were playing our best football going into the game, but we didn't answer the bell, so this is a redemption opportunity. It's our last home game, and we have an opportunity to finish our home slate 5-1."
 
Quarterback Garrett Greene completed just 10 of his 27 pass attempts for 154 yards and comes into this Saturday's game connecting on just 50.9% of his 210 passes for 1,699 yards and 12 touchdowns. His completion percentage is the lowest of any starting quarterback in the Big 12 this season.
 
CJ Donaldson Jr. contributed 79 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries against the Sooners before his night ended in the third quarter with a lower leg injury. His status for this Saturday is unknown.
 
Donaldson leads the Mountaineers with 755 yards rushing and 10 touchdowns. 
 
Devin Carter and tight end Kole Taylor share the team lead with 26 catches each. Carter has amassed 481 yards and two touchdowns, while Taylor has produced 308 yards and four scores.
 
Cincinnati, meanwhile, is coming off a 24-14 road win at Houston – the same team that defeated West Virginia 41-39 on a Hail Mary pass on the game's final play. UC got 129 yards rushing and two touchdowns from junior running Corey Kiner, and the Bearcat defense limited the Cougars to just 12 first downs and 241 yards of total offense.
 
First-year Cincinnati coach Scott Satterfield also serves as offensive coordinator and calls the plays.
 
"He's done a really good job for a long time at Louisville and (Appalachian State)," Brown said. "They are a team that really relies on the outside zone. They run it as good as anybody, and they have all the play actions and nakeds off it."
 
Quarterback Emory Jones is a dual-threat player who is completing 62% of his pass attempts for 1,949 yards and 15 touchdowns while running 132 times for 455 yards and three scores.  
 
Kiner is one of the top running backs in the Big 12, averaging 88.5 yards per game on the ground with five touchdowns. His long run from scrimmage is 68 yards against Pitt.
 
"Their running back is special," Brown said. "He's one of the top running backs in the Big 12 and among the best in the country at breaking tackles. We are going to have to really get to him."
 
Xzavier Henderson, a 6-foot-3, 200-pound senior wide receiver from Miami, leads the Bearcats with 48 catches for 648 yards and three touchdowns. His best game is a seven-catch, 149-yard performance in Cincinnati's season-opening win over Eastern Kentucky.
 
Defensively, the Bearcats revolve around a defensive line that features NFL prospect Jowon Briggs at defensive end. He teams with defensive end Eric Phillips and nose tackle Dontay Corleone to give Cincinnati one of the better run-stopping units in the Big 12.
 
Overall, UC is allowing 363.7 yards and 26.9 points per game.
 
"You look at them defensively, they play a three-man front, and they like to slant and pressure," Brown said. "Teams have struggled to run the ball against them so it's going to be a big challenge for us."
 
Statistically, the Bearcats are strongest in rushing offense (223.3 yards per game), time of possession (32:35), net punting (41.63 yards per punt) and total offense (443.9 yards per game).
 
Their weakest areas are red-zone offense (74.4% success rate), fourth-down defense (39.3%), punt returns (3.47), fourth-down conversions (39.6%) and red-zone defense (89.2% success rate).
 
Cincinnati's three wins have come against Eastern Kentucky, Pitt and Houston, while its seven losses have been to Miami (Ohio), Oklahoma, BYU, Iowa State, Baylor, Oklahoma State and UCF.
 
West Virginia and Cincinnati were once frequent opponents when the two were Eastern independents and later Big East Conference members. The two played 20 times from 1921 until 2010 with West Virginia holding a 16-3-1 advantage in series play.
 
The last time these two teams met in Morgantown in 2010, West Virginia defeated the Bearcats 37-10. UC does have two wins at WVU, 26-23 in 2008 and 15-13 in 2003.
 
Saturday's game will kick off at 2:30 p.m. and will be televised on ESPN+ (Jorge Dedano, Orlando Franklin and Marilyn Payne). Mountaineer Sports Network radio coverage with Tony Caridi, Dwight Wallace and Jed Drenning begins at 1:30 p.m., two hours after the GoMart Mountaineer Tailgate Show gets things kicked off at 11:30 a.m.
 
The broadcast can be heard on stations throughout West Virginia, online via WVUsports.com and the Varsity Network and WVU Gameday apps.
 
At the end of the first quarter, legendary coach Don Nehlen will be immortalized with the unveiling of his name on the Diversified Energy Terrace façade, joining the retired numbers of Mountaineer players Ira Errett Rodgers, Sam Huff, Bruce Bosley, Darryl Talley, Major Harris and Chuck Howley.
 
Nehlen's first coaching job was at Cincinnati in 1963 and his first game coaching at West Virginia came against the Bearcats in the first game at new Mountaineer Field on Sept. 6, 1980, a 41-27 Mountaineer victory. His last home game at WVU was on Nov. 18, 2000, a 42-24 win over East Carolina.
 
"Here is a guy who did it the right way for a super-long time, and he should be memorialized in that stadium," Brown said. "He coached his first game here against Cincinnati and had his first (college) career opportunity at Cincinnati, so it's only fitting that his name gets put in the stadium versus Cincinnati, and he deserves for us to come out and play well, and I hope the fan base shows up to celebrate him on Saturday as well."
 
Tickets remain on sale and can be purchased by logging on to WVUGAME.com. The WVU athletics marketing department is offering special $88 and $93 prices for a pair of tickets, based on seat location. This commemorates Nehlen's two undefeated, untied regular seasons in 1988 and 1993.