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Cincy holds on, remains perfect

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The Associated Press

The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 14, 2009

CINCINNATI - Far from perfect, No. 5 Cincinnati was good enough to stay unbeaten.

Tony Pike threw two touchdown passes in a cameo appearance Friday night, and the Bearcats overcame a self-destructive first half to beat West Virginia 24-21 for the best start in school history.

Cincinnati (10-0, 6-0 Big East) struggled offensively because of uncharacteristic mistakes - a fumble, a dropped touchdown pass, a missed field goal and an interception - all in the first half.
Isaiah Pead ran for a career-high 175 yards, and sophomore Zach Collaros threw for 205 yards in his fourth start for Pike, who is recovering from an injury to his non-throwing arm.

West Virginia (7-3, 3-2) took advantage of the mistakes to keep it close.

The Mountaineers wasted a chance with 5:23 left, going for it on fourth-and-8 from the Cincinnati 24-yard line. Jarrett Brown's pass into the end zone while under pressure fell incomplete.

Pead cut across the field on a 43-yard run on the next play that put Cincinnati in position to take control. Jake Rogers' 38-yard field goal made it 24-14 with 2:08 left. Brown's touchdown pass against a soft defense cut it to 24-21 with 39 seconds left and West Virginia out of timeouts.

Cincinnati's Armon Binns recovered the onside kick to finish it off.

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