Ohio used a suffocating defense to overcome three Parker Navarro interceptions and defeat West Virginia 17-10 Saturday afternoon at sold-out Frank Solich Field at Peden Stadium in Athens, Ohio.

Many of those in attendance today were West Virginia fans who watched their team's offense get stonewalled by a Bobcat defense that controlled the line of scrimmage and pressured Mountaineer quarterbacks Nicco Marchiol and Jaylen Henderson all afternoon.

With starting running back Jahiem White out with an injury, the Mountaineers (1-1) couldn't muster enough of a rushing attack to keep OU defenders off Marchiol, who was sacked four times and had Bobcat defenders in his face nearly every time he dropped back to pass.

"Obviously, (White) is a great player and so you lose some of his explosiveness, but we weren't executing even before (the injury)," West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez said. "That's my job. I take responsibility for the lack of execution. I thought we had two really good practices on Tuesday and Wednesday, but it didn't show up today for sure."

WVU netted just 77 yards on 27 rushing attempts, which meant Ohio could pin its ears back and come after Marchiol, who finished the day completing 15 of 26 passes for 178 yards and an interception.

Navarro's individual stats were much better, the senior completing 22 of his 31 aerials for 247 yards and running 18 times for 87 yards, but his three interceptions in the second half kept WVU in the game.

However, the Mountaineers' final seven offensive possessions netted just 54 yards as the offensive line struggled to establish the line of scrimmage.

"The biggest thing with losses is you've got to learn as much as you can with them, players, coaches and everybody in the program." Rodriguez said.

Things started better for West Virginia (1-1), who got on the scoreboard first on its second possession of the game, driving 89 yards in just six plays, the big ones a Marchiol 31-yard pass down the middle to Cam Vaughn and White's 32-yard touchdown run.

That came with 3:22 left in the first quarter.

After that, the Mountaineer offense was stuck in neutral. West Virginia's final four possessions of the half consisted of three plays for 4 yards, three plays for 6 yards, three plays for 15 yards and a five-play, 19-yard possession that included a 15-yard face mask penalty on Jalen Thomeson that led to the end of White's afternoon.

He was seen being transported off the field in a cart with 50 seconds left in the half. Starting linebacker Reid Carrico and starting wide receiver Jaden Bray also sustained injuries and did not return.

"We got banged up a little bit," Rodriguez said.

Meanwhile, the Bobcats spent nearly the entire second quarter running plays in West Virginia territory.

After getting a Brack Peacock 37-yard field goal, OU's two second-quarter touchdowns came in a flurry, spanning just 77 seconds.

Sieh Bangura bulled in from the 1 on third and goal to give OU its first lead of the game, 10-7 with 2:36 left in the second quarter, and then a quick West Virginia offensive possession gave the Bobcats the football back at their 26 with 1:44 left.

It took Navarro just three plays to get Ohio back into the end zone. 

A pass interference penalty on Darrian Lewis gave the Bobcats a first down at the WVU 36. Then, Navarro followed with completions of 11 yards to Caleb Gossett and 17 yards to Max Rodarte that gave OU a first down at the WVU 31.

Here, Navarro hooked up with Chase Hendricks for a 31-yard scoring strike.

The Bobcats got the football once more with 21 seconds left, but coach Brian Smith opted to take a knee and run out the clock to end the first half.

The third quarter began with West Virginia getting a 38-yard Kade Hensley field goal, the key play being Marchiol's 45-yard pass down the far sideline to Bray to the OU 30.

Hensley's kick reduced Ohio's lead to 17-10.

Then came the three Navarro interceptions and three empty offensive possessions for the Mountaineers.

A Lewis interception and 31-yard return to midfield gave WVU great field position on its second possession of the third quarter, but an unsuccessful Vaughn end-around and two Marchiol misfires forced a punt.  

Another Navarro miscue, this one a Ben Cutter pick on fourth and 3, gave West Virginia the football at its 41 with 1:49 remaining in the third quarter.

Rodriguez opted to go with backup quarterback Jaylen Henderson on this possession and his first down run netted 6 yards to the WVU 47, but the next two carries couldn't move the sticks and WVU punted the football back to Ohio.

A Bangura 1-yard run ended the third quarter.

Navarro's third interception, this one by Chase Wilson, set up West Virginia at the 49. Henderson's two passes fell incomplete, and his third, following a holding penalty on Nick Krahe, never got airborne because he was sacked for a 4-yard loss.

Oliver Straw's 40-yard punt was downed at the OU 23.

"Just trying to get a spark, particularly with the quarterback run stuff, but it wasn't Jaylen or Nicco's fault, it was more mine," Rodriguez said of his decision to put Henderson into the game at quarterback. "We'll evaluate the film to see what went wrong and what we need to fix to get better."

Marchiol re-entered the game with 10:08 left and completed passes of 12 yards to Vaughn and 20 yards to Preston Fox. A third to a sliding Vaughn down the far sideline for 34 yards was ruled out of bounds and confirmed by replay, although it appeared Vaughn drug his foot in bounds with possession of the football.

"I didn't see it and I couldn't tell," Rodriguez said. "I didn't know it was close enough to review, but obviously it was a big play."

Had that play been overturned, WVU would have had the football at the OU 3, but instead, Marchiol's next two passes netted just 3 yards and the Mountaineers turned the ball over on downs.

A fifth Mountaineer possession ended 13 yards later when Marchiol's pass was picked off by Cam Hollobaugh and returned 21 yards to the WVU 47.

WVU's final foray from its 34 with 17 seconds left ended at the 41 when the clock expired. Afterward, Ohio U. students and fans poured onto the field to celebrate a second home victory against a power conference opponent in three seasons (OU beat Iowa State 10-7 in 2023).

Ohio had a 429-to-250 advantage in total yardage and a 79-to-56 edge in total plays.

West Virginia was 2 of 13 on third down, failed to convert its only fourth down attempt, and got into the red zone just once for the entire game.

The Mountaineers were penalized eight times for 86 yards, two fewer than Ohio's 10 for 68 yards.

Safety Fred Perry led the West Virginia defense with 10 tackles, two tackles for loss, two pass breakups and a sack.

"I will do a better job and we'll get better from this," Rodriguez said. "I want it to hurt, and I think it will hurt all of us for the next 20 hours or so and then we know who's next, so we've got to get to work and we've got to get these guys ready to go."

Next for WVU is rival Pitt next Saturday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. at Milan Puskar Stadium in a game that will be televised nationally on ESPN.

This will be the final game of the current Backyard Brawl series until it resumes in 2029.