Pitt uses late rally to stun Mountaineers in ‘Backyard Brawl’
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MORGANTOWN -- Before attempting to chronicle what well may have been the most difficult to swallow of 63 West Virginia losses in the Backyard Brawl on Saturday, I punched up the Cambridge English Dictionary on the laptop but as I began thinking of what do say I realized I might as well delete that from the screen.
As many words as that dictionary contained, there weren't enough to describe what 66,087 fans in attendance and a national television audience had witnessed, and that was only part of it.
What words could you use to describe the feelings of those players wearing West Virginia uniforms and those fans who had ventured up I-79 to Acrisure Stadium. They came expecting a close game, an exciting game, for it was the Backyard Brawl, but they didn't know it would hit them like a bad case of Montezuema's Revenge.
"It sucks losing to Pitt," quarterback Garrett Greene admitted.
Where this 38-34 Pitt victory fits in the history of the rivalry I don't know. I'll leave that to the WVU historian John Antonik, for after all, he wrote the book "The Backyard Brawl."
This one, though, isn't just a chapter to add to it. This one is a book unto itself, a tear jerker for anyone from West Virginia on one hand, a mystery on the other as it is going to take a long time to figure out how WVU let a 34-24 lead with all the momentum in their corner disappear in the final five minutes.
But then again it really wasn't mysterious at all, for WVU fans had seen it all season. There is no defense for West Virginia's pass defense. It's been diarized with each of the first two games of the year, receivers running unchallenged in the secondary.
"We did not make plays on the ball," Brown said. "We didn't play the deep ball well. When that happens three weeks in a row, it is what it is. We have to make corrections and changes."
And goodness knows that quarterback Eli Holstein. starting just his third game ever, appreciated the 301 yards on 21 of 30 passing with 3 touchdowns. It was obvious when Drew Allar of Penn State picked WVU apart in the opener there was a deficiency there and when UAlbany, a team playing up a level, passed for 305 yards last week it was equally as obvious.
But even with all the passing accomplishments that Holstein put together it wasn't really the stake that was driven through the Mountaineers' collective heart.
Just as Allar did in the opening game, Holstein created the real damage with his legs, especially on the final two drives.
Yes, he hit passes of 11 and 40 yards — on a second and 30 play — on the first TD drive and 17 and 23 yards on the winning TD drive, but you expect a quarterback to do that … especially with the Mountaineer pass defense.
But Holstein ran like he was a combination of Bo Jackson and Earl Campbell.
"We have not covered the pass well," Brown said, for what, the 200th time in three games. "He ran around. We got pressure on him, but he slipped out."
It wasn't like WVU wasn't pressuring him. The Mountaineers sacked him five times. T.J. Jackson was on like his jersey, having an amazing job replacing Eddie Vesterenin, out with a serious leg injury.
But they couldn't get him down on the final two drives. They got to him. They hit him. What they didn't do was tackle him. In those final two drives he gained 67 yards with runs of 10, 24 and 17 yards.
"The disappointing thing is we had him on our hands several different times and didn't get him down," Brown said.
Here's the thing, though. There was so much more to this game than just that.
You talk about emotional swings. How about WVU unter Oliver Straw. His parents were in from Australia to see him play American football. And he pulled off what seemed destined to be his play of the year, running 12 yards on a fake punt for a first down.
He left the field without his feet touching the ground, the same ground that next possession he buried in as Pitt broke through, blocked a punt and ran it in for a touchdown.
That was one touchdown they shouldn't have had.
Then there was a pass Garrett Greene threw to Hudson Clement for a long, crucial touchdown. Once again the emotions went from the penthouse to the outhouse when they saw the officials had dropped a flag for holding on left tackle Wyatt Milum.
It was a key play, a turning point and also a boiling point for Neal Brown, who was livid about the call.
"I 100% disagree with that holding call," Brown said. "That was a good block. I had a chance to see it on the Ipad. I've got to have that explained to me. I'm extremely disappointed in it."
Brown wasn't laying the loss at the feet of officials, which is where the flag landed.
"You never hear me blame the officials [for a loss]. I disagree with calls, but this is a hard game to officiate," Brown said.
He knows that the officials didn't commit any of the penalties that were called. He knows they didn't get beat for deep pass completions. He knows they didn't miss blocks or tackles or let the punt be blocked
For example, Brown singled out one play where he felt WVU would have had an easy touchdown run, except one of his players missed a crackback block.
"We had a good play but we missed a crackback block that you should make 10 out of 10 times," Brown said.
The thing was there was so much good that went on for West Virginia. TJ Jackson was magnificent. Trey Lathan made some great plays from linebacker.
Pitt's running back Desmond Reid, who led the nation in total yardage coming in, was stuffed on the ground, rushing 11 times for 26 yards.
"We played the run well," Brown said. "Unfortunately, they threw more than they ran. I wish they had run more."
The fact is, they better get used to seeing the ball in the air because that's where the problem lies.
"You don't cover three weeks in a row, it's an issue," Brown concluded.