Cincinnati, far from perfect, holds on to defeat Big East rival West Virginia

CINCINNATI (AP) — 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) kept 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.

Pike damaged the plate in his left forearm a month ago, forcing the inexperienced Collaros to run the offense for the last four games. With a protective brace on his left arm, Pike got back on the field Friday and made an instant impact.

He completed Cincinnati’s opening drive with a 10-yard touchdown pass to Binns on his first snap. He also came off the bench and finished the Bearcats’ opening drive of the second half with a 6-yard scoring pass to D.J. Woods, a throw zipped between defenders that made it 21-14.

Noel Devine, the Big East’s second-leading rusher, played with a sore ankle and ran for 88 yards. He was on the sideline getting his left ankle retaped during the Mountaineers’ decisive drive that came up empty.