West Virginia got 198 yards and two touchdowns through the air from quarterback Nicco Marchiol to defeat Arizona 31-26 at Arizona Stadium in Tuscon, Arizona, on Saturday night.
 
In a game pitting two 3-4 teams with depleted rosters, the Mountaineers jumped out to a 24-7 lead before the Wildcats rallied by scoring 19 of the game's final 26 points.
 
But two backups, Marchiol and running back Jaylen Anderson, made the play of the game when they converted a third and 7 at the WVU 39 just ahead of the two-minute timeout. Anderson was in the game because CJ Donaldson Jr. left the game in the second half with what was termed an upper-body injury by Mountaineer Sports Network sideline reporter Jed Drenning.

"Huge win coming on the road," West Virginia coach Neal Brown said. "We've had a really tough stretch with those four games we've played – 2-2 is not what we wanted, but we're here, 4-4 with a chance to finish strong in November.

"I'm proud of our staff, proud of our players how we handled the trip and had a bunch of guys out," Brown added. "You think about this, three out of our four captains didn't make the trip."
 
Marchiol completed 18-of-22 passes and also ran 11 times for 39 yards.
 
Nine different Mountaineer players caught passes, including three each from Justin Robinson, Kole Taylor and Jahiem White, who led all rushers for 92 yards on 12 attempts.

WVU was playing without starting quarterback Garrett Greene, All-Big 12 left tackle Wyatt Milum and starting safety Aubrey Burks, who remained in Morgantown with injuries sustained either in last weekend's loss to Kansas State or earlier this year.

"I'm really proud of Nicco stepping up," Brown said. "I've been saying he's ready, and he made a bunch of big plays on third and fourth down in the second half that were huge.
 
"We've had some disappointing halves, not necessarily some disappointing games, but we've got good players, and I'm happy with (Marchiol)," Brown added. "He's been patient, and he's a winner. He plays and he wins."

Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita completed 21-of-32 passes for 294 yards and two touchdowns, 10 of those going to Tetairoa McMillan for 202 yards.
 
West Virginia (4-4 overall and 3-2 in Big 12 play) outgained Arizona 401-to-386, scored all three times it got into the red zone and was four-of-four on fourth down.
 
WVU possessed the ball nearly nine minutes longer than Arizona and got the game's lone turnover.
 
West Virginia scored on three of its four first-half offensive possessions, including a pair of fourth-down touchdowns.
 
The first came as Michael Hayes II lined up to try a 32-yard field goal. Holder Leighton Bechdel took the snap from Macguire Moss, another backup who was in for an injured Austin Brinkman, and took off to the far side of the field and ran 14 yards to pay dirt.
 
The play was like last year's Duke's Mayo Bowl when Bechdel faked a field goal against North Carolina but was tackled at the Tar Heel 4-yard line.
 
The Mountaineers' other first-half score also came on fourth down when Hudson Clement came up with Marchiol's 3-yard bullet in heavy traffic in the back of the end zone. 
 
The drive was keyed by White's 55-yard jet sweep run down the far side of the field.
 
Arizona's lone first-half score was the result of a 14-play, 75-yard drive culminated by Quali Conley's 1-yard touchdown run. A good portion of the yardage came from Fifita throws to McMillan on gains of 19, 14 and 10 yards.
 
Hayes began the scoring with a 45-yard field goal on the game's opening possession.
 
At the beginning of the third quarter, the WVU defense came up with a stop on Arizona's opening possession, and the punt return unit forced a short Wildcat punt to give the Mountaineers possession of the ball at Arizona's 44.
 
West Virginia converted two fourth downs, the first a Marchiol 8-yard screen pass to Robinson to the Wildcat 29, and then next one a Donaldson 20-yard touchdown run that was made possible by tight end Treylan Davis' great kickout block.
 
Hayes' conversion kick gave the Mountaineers a 24-7 lead with 7:59 left in the third quarter.
 
Following an exchange of possessions, Arizona scored its second touchdown when Fifita completed a 23-yard pass to tight end Sam Olson, left uncovered running down the middle of the field. Conley started the drive with an 18-yard run to the WVU 47.
 
However, Tyler Loop hooked the conversion kick, his first miss in 120 career conversion tries, to make the score 24-13 West Virginia.
 
Arizona, seeking to regain momentum, had West Virginia third and 9 at its own 26, but Marchiol got a pass over linebacker Dalton Johnson and into the arms of Clement for 19 yards to the WVU 43.
 
Marchiol's next pass was even better, a 54-yard bomb to Traylon Ray for a touchdown. Ray had Johnson trailing and defensive back Jack Luttrell in front of him, but Luttrell fell down, allowing Ray to take it into the end zone.
 
It was Marchiol's longest touchdown pass of his young career.
 
The 18-point lead lasted just 4:39, however, when Fifita eluded pressure and flipped a 34-yard touchdown pass to McMillan. That capped a 13-play, 75-yard march that included two fourth-down conversions, the second coming with 7 yards to go at WVU's 46.
 
Fifita's two-point conversion pass fell incomplete making the score 31-19, WVU, with 8:52 to go.
 
A quick Mountaineer possession gave Arizona the ball back with 6:02 left and the ball at its own 29. A Fifita 16-yard pass to Chris Hunter preceded his 49-yard pass down the middle of the field to McMillan, who was being covered by linebacker Trey Lathan.
 
A defensive holding penalty on Garnett Hollis Jr. in the end zone on third down gave Arizona a first and goal at the 3. From there, Fifita barreled in for the touchdown. Loop's conversion kick reduced West Virginia's lead to 31-26 with 4:35 and the Wildcats possessing two timeouts and the two-minute stoppage.
 
Then came Marchiol's completion to Anderson coming out of the backfield to the far side of the field. With the Wildcats out of timeouts, West Virginia was able to take a knee to run out the clock.

"Those are the moments we practice for each week, and it's tough to (simulate) those looks during the week, third and long with the game on the line, but in the end, my job is to get the ball to the play makers and let them be special," Marchiol said. "My guys showed up big-time tonight. I'm so proud and this is a good road win for us to get us back on track."

Today's game was West Virginia's first meeting against Arizona and snapped a two-game losing streak for the Mountaineers ,while Arizona, predicted to finish fifth in the Big 12, has now dropped four in a row after beating No. 10 Utah 23-10 on Sept. 28.

"We've got a bye week coming up and we're going to hit pause and then get ready for Cincinnati," Brown said.
 
The Mountaineers are idle next Saturday and then will remain on the road to play at Cincinnati on Saturday, Nov. 9. The Bearcats are playing at Colorado tonight.