West Virginia 45-42 Cincinnati: six leads for the Bearcats, one for the Mountaineers

Twelve touchdowns. One field goal. Eighty-seven combined points. And a scoreboard quirk that defines the whole game: Cincinnati held the lead six times, West Virginia once — and the Mountaineers' lone lead came on the game's final scoring play, Jack Cassidy's field goal that sealed a 45-42 win.

Cincinnati struck first, JaVonnie Gibson's touchdown making it 7-0 after one quarter. Michael Hawkins tied it in the second, Isaiah Johnson nudged the Bearcats back in front, Hawkins leveled it again, and Cole Tabb's score sent Cincinnati into halftime ahead 21-14. The third quarter kept the pattern: Josh Sapp tied it at 21, JC French restored the Bearcats' lead, and West Virginia entered the fourth down 28-21.

The fourth quarter produced 38 points and six scoring plays. DJ Epps tied it at 28. Tabb answered, 35-28. Amari Latimer leveled it at 35. Tabb struck again, 42-35, his third touchdown of the day. Cameron Cook forced the sixth tie at 42-42, and Cassidy's field goal finally broke the pattern: 45-42, West Virginia's first lead of the game, and the last.

Tabb carried Cincinnati with three touchdowns, two of them in a fourth quarter that twice put the Bearcats back in front; JaVonnie Gibson, Isaiah Johnson and JC French added one score apiece. Hawkins supplied both of his touchdowns in the first half, but the decisive moment belonged to Cassidy, whose only points of the afternoon were the three that decided it.

Six ties, one lead, one winner. In a game where every answer merely tied the score, the last answer won it.