Nicco Marchiol Gets the Starting Nod for WVU vs. Cincinnati

West Virginia will turn to the lefty once again this weekend.

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Redshirt sophomore Nicco Marchiol will get the start at quarterback Saturday afternoon for West Virginia at Cincinnati, according to Pete Thamel of ESPN.

Sources: Nicco Marchiol will start for West Virginia against Cincinnati on Saturday. Garrett Greene is only expected to be available as WVU’s emergency quarterback. It will be Marchiol’s second start this year and third in his career. pic.twitter.com/K8mWPWJeGr

— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) November 9, 2024

Marchiol led the Mountaineers to a 31-26 road win over Arizona a couple of weeks ago, having an extremely efficient day throwing the football. He completed 18-of-22 pass attempts for 198 yards and a pair of touchdowns, including a beautiful 55-yard long ball to Traylon Ray.

“I think first of all he was really efficient in the game and he didn’t turn it over," Brown said of Marchiol earlier in the week. "What does he need to sustain? He needs to sustain taking care of the football. He needs to sustain being efficient and moving the chains on third downs. Now, what do we need to improve on? We need to hit some big balls. We’ve to take some shots down the field, which he did. He hit the big one to Traylon (Ray). Missed a couple, but we have to continue to grow in that area. There was some decision-making in the run game that we need to clean up.

"I think for us, it’s about putting him in the best situation possible from a game-planning perspective and how we’re calling it. If we continue to do that, then I believe he’ll play well.”

If history says anything, the Mountaineers have a pretty good chance of winning today's game. Whenever Marchiol plays a significant amount of time, West Virginia has fared well. He helped them beat Oklahoma State as a true freshman, led WVU to wins over Pitt and Texas Tech last year, and then had the win over Arizona. The only true poor outing he had came in the second half against Kansas State last month.

West Virginia and Cincinnati will kick things off at 12 p.m. EST and will be televised on FS1.

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