MORGANTOWN — Through all the struggles of West Virginia University’s 2024 football season – the tough home losses, the injuries, the midseason change at defensive coordinator – the Mountaineers can hang onto the fact that they’re still mathematically in the hunt for a berth in the Big 12 Conference Championship game. The vast majority of the league’s 16 teams can say that.

“This league is wide open,” WVU coach Neal Brown said this week. “You know, BYU is the only undefeated team left and I would not be surprised at all if there wasn’t a two-loss team playing in Dallas when it’s all said and done.”

Both WVU and its Saturday opponent Cincinnati are among the eight Big 12 teams that own two or fewer conference losses. The stakes are high in that noon contest between the Mountaineers (4-4, 3-2 Big 12) and Bearcats (5-3, 3-2 Big 12). Both teams need the win to stay in the mix for a title game berth.

Teams sitting at .500 after eight games don’t often have that goal in front of them. Offensive lineman Tomas Rimac understands it’s unusual. He also isn’t about to take it for granted.

“It’s pretty wild to think about,” Rimac said. “And just with that in mind, we know these next four games are going to be really competitive, because (other teams) are thinking the same thing.

“Everyone thinks they have a shot,” he added. “So anything can happen.”

Just about anything has happened to the Mountaineers through the first eight games. Several winnable games slipped through WVU’s fingers, often thanks to defensive miscues. That led to defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley being dismissed during the Mountaineers’ bye week and inside linebackers coach Jeff Koonz stepping into the role.

On top of that, several key players are either doubtful or out for Saturday’s contest. WVU’s defense, already ranked near the bottom of the Football Bowl Subdivision in several categories, will be without starting corner Ayden Garnes and starting spear Aubrey Burks. Usual starting quarterback Garrett Greene, out since the second half of the Kansas State game while recovering from a head injury, remains doubtful for this week, meaning redshirt sophomore Nicco Marchiol likely will make his second straight start.

Marchiol performed well in his first start of the season, a win at Arizona where he completed 18 of 22 passes for 198 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. His 81.8% completion percentage was the best for a WVU starter since Skyler Howard completed 83.3% of his passes in WVU’s 2015 win over Texas.

The Bearcats hope to play better against WVU’s quarterback, no matter who it is, than they did in their last game, a 34-23 loss to Colorado where Shedeur Sanders completed 25 of 30 passes for 323 yards and two touchdowns. Pass defense has been one of Cincinnati’s weaknesses this year.

UC ranks 101st in the FBS allowing 240.5 passing yards per game, 107th in opponent’s passer rating (143.42), and tied for 109th in allowing 8.0 yards per attempt.

WVU’s pass defense has been its Achilles heel as well. It ranks 115th in allowing 256.6 passing yards per game, 129th in opponent’s passer rating (161.99) and tied for 132nd in allowing 9.3 yards per attempt. That’s a tantalizing combination for Cincinnati quarterback Brendan Sorsby, who has thrown for 2,108 yards and 15 touchdowns against four interceptions through eight games.

Cincinnati coach Scott Satterfield said his team is looking at the home stretch of the regular season much as WVU is.

“I think, more than anything for our guys, is the fact that, you go win this game, you are sitting there at 4-2,” he said. “You are still in the race in the Big 12. There’s a lot of football left. We just saw what happened this past weekend.”

Satterfield was referencing the upset losses for both Iowa State and Kansas State, which helped open up the race for the Big 12 title game. There is some precedent for teams with multiple conference losses to make the championship. Last season, Oklahoma State reached the game at 9-3.

“There’s still a lot of ball left to be played in this league,” he said. “I think, more than anything, you go out and handle your business now you are just one more notch closer to potentially playing a Big 12 Championship. We are still not out of it yet.”

Neither is WVU, Brown said, and he’s banking on a strong finish to help the Mountaineers qualify for their first Big 12 championship. West Virginia has some precedent in that regard, going 3-1 last November.

“Traditionally, we’ve played our best football in the month of November,” Brown said, and we need to live up to that bill this year.”