Box Score MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Jahiem White ran for a career-high 204 yards and quarterback Garrett Greene added 154 yards and three touchdowns on the ground to lead West Virginia to a 42-21 victory over Cincinnati Saturday afternoon at Milan Puskar Stadium.
 
On a day Hall of Fame coach Don Nehlen was immortalized with the placement of his name on the Diversified Energy Terrace façade, the Mountaineers used a Nehlen-style, old-school rushing attack to churn out a season-high 424 yards on the ground.
 
"We've finished well at home winning our last two games convincingly and finishing 5-1 overall," West Virginia coach Neal Brown said. "This is becoming a hard place to play."
 
In a personal matchup of NFL prospects Dontay Corleone and Zach Frazier, the latter clearly had the advantage today. Overall, West Virginia finished with 634 yards of offense, the most since WVU had 635 yards in a 56-34 victory over Kansas in 2017.
 
White becomes the first Mountaineer ball carrier to reach 200 yards since Justin Crawford did it against Baylor in 2016, and Greene becomes the first WVU quarterback with multiple three-touchdown rushing games since Pat White did it in 2006.
 
It's the second time in three weeks WVU has had multiple 100-yard rushers and just the 11^th time in school history two players have rushed for more than 150 yards in the same game. The last time that happened was in 2008 when Pat White and Noel Devine did it at Louisville.
 
"The game was won in the trenches," Greene explained. "I thought our O-line played phenomenal; it's the best in America."
 
Greene completed 12-of-19 passes for 210 yards and a touchdown before giving way to backup Nicco Marchiol in the fourth quarter.
 
"Garrett bounced back, and he's the ultimate competitor," Brown said. "Last week (against Oklahoma) was the first time he didn't have success this year. The best trait he has is his competitiveness. That ate at him and he took that personal and came back and performed."
 
Greene's running and passing helped the Mountaineers to a commanding 28-7 halftime lead. Following an exchange of possessions to begin the game, WVU took over at its own 9 and marched the length of the field in 14 plays.
 
Two White runs of 18 and 10 yards got things going, and then a pass interference penalty called on cornerback Kalen Carroll gave the Mountaineers a first down at midfield.
 
Two Greene scrambles got the ball to the 8, and he eventually took it in from the 3 on fourth and goal.
 
West Virginia's second touchdown took just four plays to accomplish, the big one being Greene's 75-yard pass to White coming out of the backfield. It was WVU's longest play from scrimmage this year and the longest touchdown pass thrown by a Mountaineer quarterback since Austin Kendall's 83-yard pass to George Campbell against Baylor in 2019.

"Jahiem ran a corner route off a play we usually hand the ball off to Rodney Gallagher on a reverse, and he made a difficult catch," Brown said.
 
The Mountaineers tacked on another score with 6:07 left in the second quarter when CJ Donaldson Jr. broke loose off left tackle and ran 13 yards for his 11^th rushing touchdown of the season. He has now scored at least one rushing touchdown in nine straight games.
 
Cincinnati, alternating quarterbacks Emory Jones and Brady Lichtenberg, generated just 38 yards of offense on its first four possessions. Lichtenberg started the game and returned to the field to lead the Bearcats' only productive drive of the half. He picked up a bad snap and flipped a 22-yard pass to Evan Prater and later ran 17 yards to the WVU 1. Jones came back into the game to score the touchdown.
 
WVU, without any timeouts and just 1:32 remaining on the clock, took over at its 25 and was immediately in business when Greene scrambled 30 yards to the Bearcat 45. Greene passes of 15 and 4 yards set up the quarterback's second touchdown run, a 26-yard jaunt down the near sideline.
 
"Sometimes they dropped eight and the best play was a scramble," Greene said.
 
"Most of Garrett's chunk plays were read plays that he made," Brown added.
 
The Mountaineers took control of the game in the third quarter after forcing another Cincinnati punt. Taking over at its own 12, West Virginia agaim marched the length of the field in 12 plays – eight of those coming on the ground, including Greene's 18-yard keeper for his third rushing touchdown of the afternoon. Michael Hayes' conversion kick made the score 35-7 with 4:39 left in the third quarter.
 
Another quick Cincinnati possession led to more Mountaineer points.
 
Greene, operating from his 26, evaded pressure and found Kole Taylor for 20 yards to the WVU 45. Another Greene pass to Carter got the ball to UC 34, and from here, White took it the rest of the way on runs of 14, 16 and then 4 yards to pay dirt. 
 
Cincinnati went to the air to score its second touchdown of the game. On third and 15, Jones found Xzavier Henderson along the far sideline, and he slipped through Beanie Bishop Jr.'s tackle and ran down to the WVU 30 for a 55-yard hookup. On the next play, Cincinnati called a double reverse pass, the ball going back to Jones who threw a 30-yard touchdown to a wide-open Chamon Metayer.
 
The Bearcats scored again following Ken Willis' goal-line interception and return to the 16 of Greene's overthrown pass intended for Gallagher. Jones scrambled for 25 yards on fourth down to the WVU 37, and then four plays later, found Metayer wide open in the end zone for a 7-yard touchdown. The score came with 5:11 remaining in the game.
 
Prior to Metayer's second touchdown, White's 47-yard run got the ball to the UC 7, and Greene completed a touchdown pass in the back of the end zone to Taylor, but White was called for tripping on the play. That moved the ball back to the 23 where Greene threw his interception.
 
Cincinnati, which came into today's game having rushed for more than 200 yards in four straight games, was held to 153 yards on 31 attempts.
 
"For three quarters, I thought our defensive line was really dominant," Brown said. "We felt like the game would be won up front, and I thought we did that overwhelmingly this afternoon."
 
Jones completed 14-of-24 passes for 166 yards and two touchdowns for the Bearcats, now 3-8, 1-7 in coach Scott Satterfield's first season. UC finishes the regular season at home against Kansas next week.
 
Cincinnati, an old Big East rival, was making its first appearance at Milan Puskar Stadium since 2010. The Bearcats have won only twice here, in 2008 and 2003, and now trail 3-17-1 in a sporadic series that dates to 1921.
 
With today's win, West Virginia (7-4, 5-3) assures itself of a winning season for the second time under Brown and its most wins in a season since 2018.
 
Before the game, West Virginia recognized its 12 seniors: Jared Bartlett, Beanie Bishop Jr., Devin Carter, Marcis Floyd, Zach Frazier, Luke Hamilton, Davoan Hawkins, Lee Kpogba, Noah Massey, Doug Nester, Malachi Ruffin and Jalen Thornton.
 
The Mountaineers will wrap up the regular season next Saturday at Baylor. A game time will be announced later tonight.