West Virginia coach Neal Brown chose to make a defensive change during the idle week, and it paid off handsomely this afternoon at Nippert Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Defensive coordinator Jeff Koonz's unit generated three turnovers, two going for touchdowns, in the Mountaineers' 31-24 victory over Cincinnati in a battle of three-win Big 12 football teams. WVU is now 4-2 and remains in the conference race, thanks to some good, old-fashioned defense and opportunistic special teams play.
 
The Bearcats outgained the Mountaineers 423 to 248, had a 24 to 9 edge in first downs, a 79 to 43 margin in total plays and possessed the ball for nine minutes longer, but the final figure on the scoreboard is all that counts.
 
Backup quarterback Nicco Marchiol, making his second straight start in place of injured starter Garrett Greene, completed 9 of 15 passes for 156 yards and a touchdown, but he missed on some open passes down field, was sacked twice and threw a red zone pick.
 
Cincinnati sophomore quarterback Brendan Sorsby's passing figures were much fancier, completing 25 of his 36 attempts for 279 yards and a touchdown. He also ran 14 times for 48 yards, second to Corey Kiner's game-high 91 yards, but his three critical turnovers were the difference in the outcome of today's game.
 
West Virginia's best offense was specialist Preston Fox, who returned three kickoffs for 84 yards and three punts for 46 yards.
 
Jahiem White was WVU's leading rusher with 64 yards on 13 attempts.
 
Cincinnati deferred the opening kickoff, stopped West Virginia on its initial possession and then marched 68 yards into the end zone on Kiner's 2-yard touchdown run.
 
Another Bearcat defensive stop and a drive from its 24 to the Mountaineer 20 had UC set up for a two-possession lead. But instead of kicking a field goal, Bearcat coach Scott Satterfield opted to go for it on fourth and 1.
 
Sorsby, pressured by Kekoura Tarnue, tried to flip a pass to Evan Pryor to the near side of the field, but it went right into the arms of safety Anthony Wilson Jr., who returned the gift 79 yards for a touchdown.
 
It was West Virginia's first defensive score since Malachi Ruffin scored on a 43-yard, pick six against Kansas State in 2022. On Cincinnati's next possession, Sorsby coughed up the ball at the Bearcat 33 and Tarnue recovered the ball at the 37. Linebacker Reid Carrico was credited with the forced fumble, just WVU's fourth in eight games this season.
 
A Marchiol 28-yard pass to White down the far sideline moved the ball to the UC 9, but Marchiol's third-down pass to Traylon Ray in the end zone fell incomplete, requiring Michael Hayes II to kick a 24-yard field goal.
 
West Virginia's defense, which had three straight three-and-out possessions, gave the ball back to the offense, which got help from Fox's 29-yard punt return to the Bearcat 41.
 
A White 15-yard run, aided by guard Tomas Rimac pushing him from behind, and then another 16-yard White rush got the ball to the UC 10, where Marchiol fired a bullet over the middle to Justin Robinson in the end zone. That gave West Virginia a 17-7 lead following Hayes' conversion kick with 3:37 left in the first half.
 
The Mountaineers got the ball again at their 48 but couldn't move the sticks and punted the ball back to the Bearcats with 29 seconds left in the half.
 
The defense held there and also on Cincinnati's opening drive of the third quarter, setting up the offense with the ball at its 49 following a 15-yard face mask penalty on Fox's punt return.
 
West Virginia, facing a third and 11 at the 48 following an illegal procedure penalty, got a 38-yard Marchiol pass to Ray down the far sideline to the Bearcat 14. Two plays later, Marchiol called his own number and scooted untouched 8 yards to pay dirt.
 
Hayes' conversion kick made it 24-7 with 8:2 9 left in the third quarter.
 
West Virginia could have delivered a knockout punch on its next possession after Marchiol's  50-yard pass to Robinson down the far sideline took the ball to the UC 29, but his next throw to Rodney Gallagher III in the end zone was picked off by Logan Wilson.
 
Then, Cincinnati (5-4) caught the defense napping and Sorsby hit a wide-open Pryor in stride coming out of the backfield for an 80-yard touchdown. So, instead of at least a 20-point Mountaineer lead with a Hayes field goal, the Bearcats got themselves right back into the game.
 
Cincinnati got seven points closer following an empty Mountaineer possession after Sorsby marched the Bearcats 71 yards in 11 plays. The quarterback gained 29 yards on scrambles before taking off from the 12 to reach the end zone with 9:42 remaining.
 
Nathan Hawks' conversion kick reduced West Virginia's lead to 24-21. 
 
Fox returned the ensuing kickoff 43 yards to the UC 49, but the Mountaineer offense couldn't capitalize, as three plays netted just 2 yards, and Oliver Straw's punt was downed at the UC 6 with 7:16 left.

UC moved out to its  27, but on first down, Sorsby, under duress, delivered the gift of the season when he tried to throw a pass that ended up going backwards. Tyrin Bradley Jr. picked up the loose ball at the 14 and took into the end zone. Replay review confirmed the call on the field, and Hayes' conversion kick gave WVU a 31-21 lead with 3:30 to go.
 
For a turnover-starved WVU defense, it was the first time West Virginia has scored two defensive touchdowns in the same game since 2013 when the Mountaineers did it at Baylor. That day, Karl Joseph recovered a fumble into the end zone and Darwin Cook returned an interception 32 yards for another score.
 
Cincinnati added a Hawks 29-yard field goal with 36 seconds to keep the Bearcats in the game, but Ray ended any comeback hopes by recovering the onside kick, and WVU ran out the clock.
 
Senior Fatorma Mulbah led the defense with 13 total tackles, an eye-opening total for a nose tackle.

It was the Mountaineers' third conference road victory this season.
 
Today was West Virginia's first visit to Cincinnati since 2011 when the Mountaineers and Bearcats were members of the Big East Conference.
 
WVU, now 5-4 overall, returns to Milan Puskar Stadium to play Baylor next Saturday at 4 p.m. The Bears are idle this weekend.