February 13, 2025

CPS

Travel Adventure

Notebook: Mountaineers will bus to Cincinnati, break up trip in two parts

Notebook: Mountaineers will bus to Cincinnati, break up trip in two parts

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia makes its first trip to Cincinnati in 13 seasons for Saturday’s noon matchup at Nippert Stadium to restore an old Big East rivalry in a series that was dormant from 2012 up until last season.

The Mountaineers will depart Morgantown by bus on Friday following team meetings, and split the trip into two by stopping in the Columbus, Ohio area for a walkthrough on their way to the Queen City.

“We’ll go about two-and-a-half hours at practice, eat lunch, and then finish up the trip and it’ll be a normal Friday,” WVU head coach Neal Brown said.

Cincinnati is the only possible Big 12 bus trip for West Virginia, which has won both of its road league games this season at Oklahoma State and most recently Arizona — the team’s furthest trip this season.

“We have the buses where everybody will have their own seats. On a charter flight, those guys are pretty crunched in there,” Brown said. “They’ll have more room on the bus, ride to Columbus, practice and finish the trip.”

Milan Puskar Stadium and UC’s home venue are separated by 307 miles and nearly 5 hours. 

Normally, when flying to away games, West Virginia has a 40-minute bus trip from Morgantown to North Central West Virginia Airport, though it flew from Pittsburgh for the matchup with the Wildcats.

“We did this a lot at Troy — right, wrong or indifferent,” Brown said. “You save money and then you break up the trip a little bit.” 

The Mountaineers will fly back from Cincinnati into North Central West Virginia Airport.

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Both West Virginia (4-4, 3-2) and Cincinnati (5-3, 3-2) need significant help to factor into the equation as potential participants in a Big 12 title game, and the loser of Saturday’s game will essentially be eliminated from that discussion.

As it stands, the Mountaineers and Bearcats are part of a three-way tie for sixth place in the league with Arizona State and make up two of the five teams with a pair of Big 12 setbacks.

BYU, at 5-0, is the only team without a league loss, while Iowa State and Colorado follow at 4-1. 

Kansas State and Texas Tech are in a two-way tie for fourth at 4-2.

Last weekend, the Cyclones suffered their first league loss against the Red Raiders, while K-State was knocked off at Houston, which moved to 3-3 in the conference following an 0-2 start.

Oct 19, 2024; Morgantown, West Virginia, USA; Kansas State Wildcats players celebrate with fans after defeating the West Virginia Mountaineers at Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ben Queen-Imagn Images

“I would not be surprised if a two-loss team plays in Dallas when it’s all said and done,” Brown said. “Us and Cincinnati are still right in the mix. Looking forward to getting back to it on Saturday.”

WVU’s two league losses are against teams with a combined mark of 8-3 in Big 12 play. The Mountaineers’ three league victories are over teams with a combined conference record of 2-15, including one against Oklahoma State, which at 0-6, is the only team winless in conference play.

“Traditionally, we’ve played our best football in November and we need to live up to that bill this year, too,” said Brown, who has a 10-8 mark in that month at WVU. “I’m not surprised that we’re in thick of it. A couple weeks ago, I said I would not be surprised if a two-loss team has a chance to play in Dallas. It’s going to be complicated. I don’t know if anybody is smart enough to figure out these tiebreakers. Good luck with that. But I would not be surprised at all. 

“That speaks to this is a tough league. There’s a lot of similar teams in the league. Houston is a really good example of that. Really well-coached with Willie Fritz. You can see them getting better and then they have a huge win. That proves that anybody can beat anybody in our league.”

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While West Virginia enters its ninth game off its second and final bye this season, so, too, does Cincinnati, which was idle the first weekend of October as well.

This marks the Mountaineers’ first of three straight games against teams off a bye week as Baylor is off next weekend ahead of its November 16 contest at WVU, and UCF is off in two weeks before playing November 23 in Morgantown.

“The Big 12 did us some favors — right? This one is fair, but then we play two more in a row in November. I would say we’re the only team in the league that’s doing that,” Brown said. “This game was supposed to be on Thursday, which would’ve given us a little leeway, but that didn’t come through. It is what it is at this point. We’ll play them and then worry about it. This one, both of us are coming off a bye week, so it’s equal for this game.”

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