CINCINNATI - Replay was not good to West Virginia Friday night.

In fact, perhaps the key play in the Mountaineers' 24-21 loss to Cincinnati was a result of video review.

And it didn't go WVU's way.

"I don't want to be disrespectful, but I'm going to save that for the Big East,'' West Virginia coach Bill Stewart said when asked about the play afterward. "They called it the way they saw it.''

The play, though, was huge. It came in the second quarter and instead of leading by a touchdown and having the ball, West Virginia was tied with the Bearcats.

It came after Mardy Gilyard returned a kickoff to the WVU 42. Six plays later the Bearcats had a first-and-goal at the 2 and handed the ball to Isaiah Pead, who leaped into the middle and, after the initial contact, tried to stretch the ball forward.

When he did, he lost the ball and, after a scramble, West Virginia nose tackle Chris Neild emerged from the pile with the ball. The officials marked it at the 1 and gave the ball to the Mountaineers with that 14-7 lead.

But then came the review. And although no angle seemed to clearly indicate what happened, a combination of them led the replay official upstairs to reverse the call on the field. He said Pead's stretch put the ball over the goal line before he lost control of it, giving Cincinnati a touchdown and a 14-14 tie at halftime.

Had the call not been overturned, it also would have been UC's second lost fumble of the half after going the first nine games without losing a single one.

"It got reviewed and that's how they saw it,'' said WVU defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel. "Of course, our guys saw it differently.''

CINCINNATI - Replay was not good to West Virginia Friday night.

In fact, perhaps the key play in the Mountaineers' 24-21 loss to Cincinnati was a result of video review.

And it didn't go WVU's way.

"I don't want to be disrespectful, but I'm going to save that for the Big East,'' West Virginia coach Bill Stewart said when asked about the play afterward. "They called it the way they saw it.''

The play, though, was huge. It came in the second quarter and instead of leading by a touchdown and having the ball, West Virginia was tied with the Bearcats.

It came after Mardy Gilyard returned a kickoff to the WVU 42. Six plays later the Bearcats had a first-and-goal at the 2 and handed the ball to Isaiah Pead, who leaped into the middle and, after the initial contact, tried to stretch the ball forward.

When he did, he lost the ball and, after a scramble, West Virginia nose tackle Chris Neild emerged from the pile with the ball. The officials marked it at the 1 and gave the ball to the Mountaineers with that 14-7 lead.

But then came the review. And although no angle seemed to clearly indicate what happened, a combination of them led the replay official upstairs to reverse the call on the field. He said Pead's stretch put the ball over the goal line before he lost control of it, giving Cincinnati a touchdown and a 14-14 tie at halftime.

Had the call not been overturned, it also would have been UC's second lost fumble of the half after going the first nine games without losing a single one.

"It got reviewed and that's how they saw it,'' said WVU defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel. "Of course, our guys saw it differently.''

West Virginia's kickoff coverage unit got another black eye Friday night, doing its best Keystone Kops impression on a kickoff in the first quarter.

After Jarrett Brown tied the score at 7-7 with an 8-yard run late in the period, West Virginia kicked off for the first time. On the kick, the Mountaineers were called for both offsides and an illegal formation when only three players wound up on one side of kicker Tyler Bitancurt. Cincinnati had returned the kick near the 25 and elected to have WVU re-kick.

Bitancurt's second kickoff went only to the 25-yard line, where Gilyard caught it and ran it out to the 44. And once again West Virginia was penalized for only having three players on one side of the kicker. This time the Bearcats took the penalty from the end of the run and started possession near midfield.

The problem wasn't with the formation. On each one WVU put a player in motion, which is legal. But in both instances the player passed behind the kicker before the ball was kicked, leaving only three men on the side from which the motion man came.

After West Virginia had taken a 14-7 lead in the second quarter, the normal kickoff coverage problems returned. That kickoff went to 10 and Gilyard, who last season returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown in Morgantown, ran it back to the WVU 42 to set up the tying score.

Briefly

The crowd of 35,105 was the biggest in Nippert Stadium history. ... West Virginia now has an extra week off before playing its final home game of the season, a day after Thanksgiving against Pitt.

Reach Dave Hickman at 304-348-1734 or dphickm...@aol.com.