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MORGANTOWN - West Virginia University football coach Bill Stewart believes starters Jarrett Brown and Noel Devine will be able to play Friday when the Mountaineers travel to Big East Conference leader and top-5 Cincinnati, but he is preparing his troops as if they won't.

"Both should be capable of playing if treatment goes well," Stewart said Sunday. "I can't make that call right now with ankles. Jarrett should be ready quicker than Noel.

I don't know if Noel will play or not. He should, if treatments go well. We will spend this week practicing as if Noel can't

play.

I hope he does, and think he will."Brown stepped out briefly during Saturday's win over Louisville, while Devine was rested much of the second half in favor of Jock Sanders

moving back to running back. Stewart said if Devine is not medically cleared to play, it will be a running backs by committee approach.

"Jock will be back there at running back, and maybe a little bit more of Ryan Clarke," he said. "Tavon Austin brings a little electricity to the game, too.

That reverse he ran (Saturday), he knocked that linebacker back when he hit him on the goal line. He is stronger than I thought."

Stewart said he was happy with the win, but not overjoyed as the Mountaineers improved to 7-2 overall and 3-1 in the Big East Conference.

He credited the defense for keeping WVU in the game while the offense was struggling to find its rhythm.

"We did not give up a touchdown to a Big East opponent, and that's really good," he said. "I looked at (Louisville's) scores prior to the game, and they had scored a touchdown against everyone, but they did not get a touchdown against us. It came at a time when our defense might have been reeling from the loss to South Florida.

"Our punter, Scott Kozlowski, kept us in the game with tremendous field position."Stewart also said he snuck a peek at the Bearcats' game with Connecticut on television late Saturday night, something he said he doesn't normally do.

"I would be a liar if I said I didn't watch the game," he said. "I watched because I wanted to get a flow of the game. Cincinnati is powerful. I don't know what we are going to do. They are just potent. I look at their scores they are averaging 40 points a game. We can't cancel that, so we are going to have to do the best we can."