Cassidy's Kick Downs Cincinnati

Saturday, October 17

Morgantown, W.Va.

12:00 p.m.

West Virginia University

4-3 , 1-3

Cincinnati

4-2 , 1-2

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
Cincinnati	7	14	7	14	42
West Virginia	0	14	7	24	45

Jack Cassidy celebrates his game-winning field goal to defeat Cincinnati 45-42 at Milan Puskar Stadium on Saturday, October 17, 2026.

Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks

October 17, 2026 04:43 PM | Football

Box Score WVU 45, Cincinnati 42 - Game Statistics WVU-Cincinnati Postgame Notes WVU-Cincinnati-PostgameQuotes DJ Epps Postgame Press Conference Jack Cassidy Postgame Press Conference Michael Hawkins Jr. Postgame Press Conference Cam Torbor Postgame Press Conference Rich Rodriguez Postgame Press Conference Photo Gallery

By: John Antonik

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Jack Cassidy's 35-yard field goal on the game's final play lifted West Virginia to a dramatic, 45-42 come-from-behind victory over Cincinnati Saturday afternoon at sunny Milan Puskar Stadium.

It was the Mountaineers' only lead of the game, and it was WVU's first walk-off game winner since Casey Legg's 25-yarder to defeat Oklahoma 23-20 in 2022.

The game-winning drive began at the West Virginia half yard-line after freshman Matt Sieg was unable to field Max Fletcher's rugby punt, and it rolled before stopping 66 yards later right in front of WVU's goal line.

With the game clock showing 2:05 and Cincinnati owning one timeout, West Virginia was in a bad spot that turned dire when the Mountaineers faced a third and 9 at their 2 with 1:48 remaining.

Here, Michael Hawkins Jr. lofted a deep pass down the near sideline to Prince Strachan, who used his 6-foot-5 frame to come up with a contested 41-yard reception.

Now with West Virginia's entire playbook available, Hawkins went to the air once more to Strachan for 39 yards to Cincinnati's 18.

Coach Rich Rodriguez chose to let the clock run down to get Cassidy in position to kick the field goal. A Cam Cook run up the middle, followed by a West Virginia timeout, and another Hawkins short gainer moved the football to the right hash where Cassidy kicked the game winner.

Considering West Virginia's year-long defensive struggles, the coach was reluctant to give Cincinnati's offense a crack at winning in regulation.

The Bearcats finished the game with 622 yards, 28 first downs and averaged 9 yards on their 70 total plays.

The losing quarterback, JC French IV, completed 22 of his 30 pass attempts for 389 yards and three touchdowns, but the winning quarterback was much better.

Hawkins connected on 25 of 33 passes for a career-high 464 yards and three touchdowns as West Virginia was forced to go to the air with Cincinnati selling out to stop the run. The 464 yards passing by Hawkins was the most by a Mountaineer quarterback since Will Grier's 539 posted against Oklahoma in 2018.

The Mountaineers (4-3 and 1-3 in Big 12 play) came into this afternoon averaging 295.5 yards per game on the ground, and the Bearcats used the extra week of preparation to come up with a plan to slow down Cook, the nation's fourth-leading rusher.

Cook was held to just 40 yards on 15 carries, but Hawkins chipped in with 77 yards on 26 attempts to account for 541 all-purpose yards.

DJ Epps was the big beneficiary of Hawkins' downfield passing with eight catches for 163 yards and a touchdown.

An announced crowd of 48,106 was treated to a combined 87 points, 1,220 yards and 56 first downs in a back-and-forth affair reminiscent of West Virginia's 70-63 win over Baylor in the first-ever Big 12 game in Morgantown 14 years ago.

In the first half, the Bearcats got 14 points in a span of 2:57 to take a 21-14 lead into the locker room at the break.

The first came on a jet sweep when Isaiah Johnson took French's short flip and simply outran the West Virginia defense to the near side of the field for a 51-yard touchdown. The other took just three plays and 57 seconds when Cole Tabb ran through arm tackles down the far sideline for a 28-yard score.

UC's first score of the game came on its opening possession when it marched 75 yards in 13 plays, consuming 6:07, before French hit JV Gibson on a 4-yard touchdown pass.

Hawkins was responsible for West Virginia's two first-half touchdowns. The first answered Gibson's score and capped a 10-play, 81-yard drive when Hawkins scored from the 12. His second occurred with 2:19 left in the second quarter when he slipped in from the 2. That completed a seven-play, 78-yard march.

The Mountaineers had an opportunity for three points near the end of the second quarter, but Cassidy's was unsuccessful on his 49-yard field goal try into the wind with 20 seconds remaining.

West Virginia knotted the score at 21 on its initial possession of the third quarter, and Hawkins was again the catalyst. A 16-yard Hawkins run got the ball to the 41, and two Hawkins passes, the second for 22 yards to running back Amari Latimer, got the ball to the UC 23.

Hawkins then ran for 16 yards to the 7, and two plays later, flipped a touchdown pass to tight end Josh Sapp behind a drawn-up defense from the 4.

Following an exchange of possessions, Cincinnati reclaimed the lead with 1:34 left in the third quarter when French scored a 1-yard touchdown on fourth and goal. The big play was French's 19-yard completion to Gibson on third and 14, moving the ball to West Virginia's 24.

The 13-play drive covered 78 yards in 6:44.

It took West Virginia just six plays to answer, with Hawkins using his right arm to move the football.

Completions to Epps for 6 yards and to John Neider for 19 yards got the ball into Cincinnati territory, and then Hawkins found Epps along the far sideline and the wide receiver used a convoy of blockers to cover the 37-yard distance for the touchdown.

Cassidy's conversion kick tied the score at 28 just nine seconds into the fourth quarter.

Four minutes after that, the Mountaineers were again chasing the Bearcats. Cincinnati took over at its 35 when Cassidy's kick went out of bounds, and UC was also the beneficiary of an unnecessary roughness penalty on Andrew Powdrell when he tackled Gibson into the sideline heater, tacking on an additional 11 yards to Gibson's 9-yard third down catch.

Two plays later, French completed a pass in the flat to Tabb, who escaped the grasp of linebacker Ashton Woods for an 11-yard touchdown.

The equalizer happened four minutes later when Latimer bulled in from the 3 with 7:29 remaining, capping a nine-play, 75-yard drive. The big play was a scrambling Hawkins passing to Epps down the far sideline for 32 yards to the Bearcat 31. The quarterback completed his four pass tries for 49 yards on the drive.

Chunk plays, which have victimized West Virginia's defense all season long, showed up again on Cincinnati's next possession.

Facing a third and 7 at its own 28, Malachi Henry got behind Sieg for a 59-yard gainer to the Mountaineer 13. Two plays later, Tabb took it in from the 6 for his second rushing score of the afternoon.

Five plays, 75 yards and 1:51 later, Cook made his first visit to the end zone when he took a Hawkins swing pass and raced 40 yards to pay dirt. Three plays prior, Hawkins had completed a 36-yard pass to tight end Ryan Ward.

Today's victory snapped West Virginia's three-game losing streak and also its seven-game losing streak on Homecoming.

WVU's last Homecoming win was in 2018 against Kansas. Cincinnati drops to 3-19-1 overall and 2-10-1 in games played in Morgantown.

The Mountaineers return to the road to face TCU next Saturday in Fort Worth, Texas.