West Virginia @ Cincinnati preview

Last Meeting ( Nov 13, 2010 ) Cincinnati 10, West Virginia 37

THE STORY: Picked to finish fifth in the Big East, No. 18 Cincinnati has stayed in the driver's seat for the league title after surviving a couple of dangerous road trips. The surprising Bearcats overcame 10-point second-half deficits at South Florida and Pittsburgh to remain the only team without a Big East loss. Now they're home against preseason favorite West Virginia, whose BCS hopes took a serious blow Saturday when the Mountaineers stumbled against visiting Louisville.

TV: ABC, ESPN3. Line: Cincinnati -3.5.

ABOUT WEST VIRGINIA (6-3, 2-2 Big East): The Mountaineers stubbed their toe time after time in a 38-35 loss against Louisville, in which they outgained the Cardinals 533-351. Tied at halftime, West Virginia's first five possessions of the second half ended in two fumbles, a turnover on downs and two missed field goals – the second of which Louisville blocked and returned 82 yards for a score. One fumble came as quarterback Geno Smith simply lost handle of the ball as he began to pass. Smith did finish with 410 yards, his third 400-plus game this season. WVU has yielded 39.3 points its last three games, including a 41-31 win at Rutgers and 49-23 loss at Syracuse.

ABOUT CINCINNATI (7-1, 3-0 Big East): Contrary to West Virginia, the Bearcats were beneficiaries of second-half turnovers in their 26-23 comeback win at Pitt, turning a fumble and interception into 10 points that erased a 23-13 margin. Senior Isaiah Pead ran for 118 yards in the victory, and his 6.0 yards per carry leads the league among backs with 100-plus carries (136 for 821 yards). The opportunistic Bearcats have relied heavily on defense and field position, ranking among the top 10 nationally in turnover margin (third/1.63), tackles for a loss (fifth/8.13), rushing defense (sixth/87.6), sacks (eighth/3.13) and net punting (ninth/40.1).

EXTRA POINTS

1. West Virginia has dominated the series all-time, leading 15-3-1, but Cincinnati has taken two of the last three.

2. Smith threw four touchdown passes in the first half of the Mountaineers' 37-10 romp over the Bearcats last season. He has 23 this year (against just five picks), eight from tying Marc Bulger's school-best 31 in 1998.

3. Cincinnati senior lineman Derek Wolfe leads the Big East with seven sacks and is second with 12 negative-yardage tackles.

PREDICTION: Cincinnati 34, West Virginia 30 – The teams are 12th (39.1) and 13th (38.2) in points, respectively, and the Mountaineers have been lit up lately by opposition that ordinarily struggles to score.