The 104th edition of the Backyard Brawl lived up to the hype – kind of. In what was looked at as a game that featured two high-tempo, spread offenses, the anticipated shootout didn’t happen. What did take place was another memorable game in the 116-year old rivalry. Thanks to a defense that held Pitt to 80 yards in the second half and sacked quarterback Tino Sunseri 10 times, the most by a Mountaineer team since 2000, the West Virginia Mountaineers (8-3) overcame a 17-7 halftime deficit to defeat the Pitt Panthers (5-6) 21-20.
This game really was a tale of two halves. All of Pitt’s 20 points in the game came off of special teams miscues by the Mountaineers. All of this year, the special teams of West Virginia has been the Achilles Heel of the team. Tonight, the unit had two muffed punts, two shanked punts and an illegal block on a missed field goal. The illegal block on Jorge Wright led to a Zach Brown touchdown from a yard out to give Pitt an early 7-0 lead on their first possession of the game.
Later in the first quarter, a shanked Mike Molinari punt gave the Panthers the ball their own 48 and Pitt was able to capitalize on the opportunity with an Isaac Bennett 6-yard touchdown run and to make it a 14-0 Panther lead.
The Mountaineers, finding themselves in a two-possession deficit, were able to break into the scoring column after Geno Smith found leading receiver Stedman Bailey across the middle for a 63-yard touchdown after an exciting catch, stiff arm and run. Unfortunately, a third special teams mistake, gave Pitt a two-score lead with 2:14 remaining in the first half. The usually sure-handed Tavon Austin failed to catch Matt Yoklic’s punt and the ball hit blocker Ishmael Banks in the back at the WVU 33, where it was recovered by Pitt’s Andrew Taglianetti and led to a Kevin Harper 30-yard field goal.
Going into halftime, Pitt’s had out-gained West Virginia, 216-141. While it looked like Pitt was on its way to adding more points before the half, Darwin Cook picked off Sunseri at the WVU 32 and returned the ball 21 yards to the Panther 47.
After Pitt tacked on another three points in the third quarter when Austin again muffed a punt, West Virginia cut the lead to a one-possession game as Shawne Alston was able to score from eight yards out. After exchanging the ball back and forth, West Virginia took over with 9:27 left in the game. After driving the ball down the field to the Pitt 24-yard line, West Virginia Coach Dana Holgorsen was faced with a crucial decision on fourth-and-six. Holgorsen took a timeout and drew up a play for his playmaker Austin that went for nine-yards and a first down.
“We talked about it, and we just felt we needed to roll the dice and score,” said Holgorsen. “It was one of those calls that can go either way.”
After converting the first down, West Virginia was able to take the lead when Alston scored another touchdown, this time from the 1-yard line.
With Pitt relying on Sunseri to drive the offense down the field for a potential go-ahead score, the young Mountaineer defense came through in a big way. On Pitt’s final two possessions, the defense sacked Sunseri five out of the last eight snaps the quarterback took. Four of the 10 sacks in the game came from senior Julian Miller who improved his Big East career leading sacks total to 27 1/2. Fan favorite Bruce Irvin, who was also celebrating senior night, added 1 1/2 of his own, including the strip sack of Sunseri which sealed the game for the Mountaineers.
Leading the way for the West Virginia offense was Geno Smith who finished the game 22-31 for 244 yards and a touchdown. Smith is now the single-season leader in attempts (448), completions (291) and passing yards (3,741) for Mountaineer quarterbacks. Freshman Dustin Garrison led the rushing attack for the Mountaineers with 55 yards, but Alston, who contributed 34 yards, was the difference maker with his two scores. Austin added 102 receiving yards for the Mountaineers and Bailey added 80 yards receiving on three catches to break the West Virginia single season receiving mark with 1,117 yards.
“The theme has been play with as much energy as you can possibly muster and get excited when good things happen, and when bad things don’t go the way you want them to go, you don’t give up,” said Holgorsen. “They did a tremendous job, especially after turnovers, going right back out after they’d stopped them and holding them to field goals,” said Holgorsen of WVU’s defense.
Both coaches were in their first Backyard Brawl this season and possibly their last. With the conference realignments that have been taking place, Pitt is going to the ACC and West Virginia is going to the Big 12 as soon as next July, no one knows if this rivalry will see a 105th edition. West Virginia has now won the past three rivalry games between the two schools. Coach Holgorsen enjoyed the experience though.
“It was fun,” said Holgorsen of his first Backyard Brawl. “We fed off the crowd tonight.”
Former West Virginia cornerback Larry Williams shared his thoughts with me after the game about the possibility of continuing the rivalry.
“I hope this isn’t the last time we see the Backyard Brawl. With teams moving conferences though, I don’t see it happening,” Williams said. “Even if it does continue, it won’t have the same feel as it does now since it won’t decide the conference and isn’t for all the marbles. I’m proud that I was able to come back and watch the last official Backyard Brawl.”
With the loss last night, Pitt is officially eliminated from the Big East title hunt. The Panthers take on the Syracuse Orange next Saturday in what is a must win in order to become bowl eligible. As for the Mountaineers, with the win against Pitt, they are still in the hunt for the conference title. With Louisville defeating South Florida Friday, the Mountaineers need to defeat the same South Florida team next Thursday night and pull for Cincinnati to defeat Louisville next week in order to win the championship.
Photo Credits: All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks Photo
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