It’s truly a shame we can’t do this every year.
In the final edition of the Backyard Brawl for another four years, Pitt and West Virginia certainly saved some fireworks for their meeting on Saturday.
This game truly had it all — multiple hard hits, a double-digit comeback by Pitt and a last-second, game-tying drive with seconds left by West Virginia that forced overtime. But it was the Mountaineers who ultimately pulled off the comeback and stunned the Panthers for a home win, by a final score of 31-24.
Give them their flowers
Sixth-year senior defensive end Blaine Spires put up 1.5 sacks in the first half and totaled five tackles in this game. That work included a huge third-down tackle of West Virginia redshirt junior quarterback Nicco Marchiol that stopped a potential huge gain and a first down. It halted any momentum that WVU could have generated in their first drive after redshirt senior safety Darrian Lewis picked off redshirt sophomore quarterback Eli Holstein in the end zone.
Game-changing play
After a first half where Pitt’s offense and Holstein spun their tires to no avail, they finally came alive in the second half. On their second drive of the third quarter, Holstein and the offense started to pull their own weight.
Holstein lobbed a moon ball to redshirt senior wide receiver Raphael “Poppi” Williams for a 67-yard completion, setting Pitt up in the red zone. It was not the first time that the Panthers had tried a deep ball pass, but it was the first time that Holstein was able to connect with a receiver down the field like that.
That play caused a huge momentum shift on all sides of the ball. Three plays later, Holstein was able to sneak into the end zone for Pitt’s first touchdown of the game. He found Catarius Hicks for a two-point conversion that needed review to confirm.
On West Virginia’s next drive, Fox was intercepted by linebacker Kyle Louis, who returned it 21 yards and set up shop deep in Mountaineer territory. First-year kicker Trey Butkowski — who missed a 43-yarder earlier in this game — drilled one from 46 to tie the game at 14-14.
Pitt wouldn’t stop there, however, intercepting Fox a second time and setting up another Butkowski to take the lead, something they would hold on to until 11 seconds were left on the clock.
By the numbers
Following a performance against Central Michigan where he recorded five catches for a team-leading 81 yards and two touchdowns, Williams once again led the Panthers with six catches, 119 yards through the air and a touchdown catch that made it a two-score game.
He was a huge part of Pitt’s offense, especially when they found a way to take the lead in the second half.
What about the other side?
This is a pretty rousing, perhaps season-changing win for West Virginia.
As if the chance to avenge its Backyard Brawl defeat last year wasn’t enough to fire up West Virginia and its fans, the team had an extra amount of motivation after its surprising loss last week.
The Mountaineers went to Ohio last week as 3.5-point favorites, but were upset by the Bobcats 17-10 on the road. That, plus the Backyard Brawl slated to take a four-year hiatus following this matchup, gave the team and the 62,108 in attendance all the energy they needed for this one.
And man, did they come alive late in the game.
The roar of the crowd as Marchiol found senior tight end Grayson Barnes in the endzone was only matched when Holstein’s fourth and 24 pass flew over the head of everyone and ended the game.
The Mountaineers now move to 2-1 and have a ton of momentum when they go on the road to play a 2-1 Kansas squad.
Quotables
In his post-game press conference, Narduzzi credited how hard the Mountaineers played in this one.
“I told you we’re going to see the best version of West Virginia,” Narduzzi said. “Ohio [last week] saw the worst version — we saw the best version.”
When asked about the absence of Hicks for multiple drives in the first half, Narduzzi didn’t have a clear answer. “I was asking the same question, like, ‘where’s Blue? Where’s Blue again?’”
Holstein admitted this is a tough loss to swallow, especially the way the final few minutes and overtime unfolded, but he had his focus set on conference play.
“It’s a rivalry game, obviously. Again, we want to win,” Holstein said after the game. “But it’s not an ACC game. We still have our own ACC schedule ahead of us. [We’ve] got to win out, obviously. There’s no option now.”
What’s next for the Panthers
Unfortunately for the Panthers, they’ll have to sit in the misery of this loss for two weeks. Next week marks their first of two bye weeks of the year.
The Panthers are back in action Saturday, Sept. 27, against Louisville at Acrisure Stadium.
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