After an upcoming bye weekend, the Cincinnati Bearcats football team will be back in action Oct. 17 in Morgantown with a noon kickoff against the West Virginia Mountaineers.
The game will be televised on TruTV/TNT/HBO Max.
It will be West Virginia's second straight noon start, as they host Arizona this weekend at Milan Puskar Stadium. The Wildcats just dismantled the Bearcats in Tucson 34-7 on Oct. 3 to go to 4-1. UC, with their first loss, is likewise 4-1.
West Virginia is currently 3-2 after winning their first three games, then falling at home to Oklahoma State and losing at Iowa State this past weekend, 45-42. Their game against Arizona is being billed as the "Rich Rod Bowl," as WVU's Rich Rodriguez
coached at both schools.
West Virginia has dominated series vs. UC Bearcats
The Mountaineers lead 18-3-1, with UC winning only in 2008 and 2009, when Brian Kelly coached and James P. Kelly, UC Athletic Hall of Famer Tony Pike, was quarterback. In his previous stay in Morgantown, Rich Rodriguez lost only once to the Bearcats. That came in 2003 in Rick Minter's final season, 15-13. His last WVU team beat Brian Kelly's Bearcats 28-23 on Nov. 17, 2007, at Nippert Stadium.
"We had a great rivalry with them," Rodriguez said of UC. "Both at their place and our place it was always a great crowd. We had some really good teams. That was the time we were in the heyday of our program."
UC Bearcats doubleheader will be difficult
UC Bearcats football and basketball play Oct. 17. With football at noon, a UC fan would have to leave Morgantown before the end of the game to make it to Fifth Third Arena for a reported 7 p.m. tip-off for the basketball exhibition with 2026 national semifinalist Illinois. UC's website does list that tipoff as "subject to change".
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: UC Bearcats get noon kickoff in Morgantown at West Virginia Oct. 17
