West Virginia ties score late, shocks Pitt with OT win in Backyard Brawl

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — More than enough Backyard Brawls (108 after Saturday’s contest at Milan Puskar Stadium, to be exact) have been played to confidently make some generalizations about Pitt and West Virginia’s historic rivalry.

A good rule of thumb for when the Panthers and Mountaineers meet is to expect the unexpected. Anticipate momentum swings, plan for nail-biting finishes and prepare to be entertained.

That would be a fitting description of West Virginia’s stunning 31-24 overtime win against the Panthers in front of 62,108 fans, as the Mountaineers rallied from a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit, tied the score with 11 seconds remaining in regulation and prevailed via an extra-period touchdown.

“Plenty of blame to pass around in that locker room with our coaches, No. 1, and our players, No. 2,” coach Pat Narduzzi said postgame. “We did it together. We win together, and we lose together and we didn’t get it done.”

Pitt (2-1) started slowly offensively and found itself in a 14-3 hole about midway through the third quarter.

Around that time, Mountaineers coach Rich Rodriguez had opted to remove starting quarterback Nicco Marchiol, with Scotty Fox entering and leading WVU (2-1) to a touchdown that put the home team up by 11.

But Fox’s play dropped off considerably following one solid drive, as he threw back-to-back interceptions before the quarter had ended, leading to a pair of Pitt field goals, which, combined with a Eli Holstein rushing touchdown, allowed the Panthers to go up 17-14 a few seconds into the fourth.

With 9:23 to play, Holstein hit Poppi Williams for a 14-yard score to go up 24-14, seemingly putting Pitt in command.

But Rodriguez, following an ineffective few series with Jaylen Henderson at quarterback, turned to Marchiol again, who led the Mountaineers to a field goal with about five minutes left.

Down 24-17, WVU got the ball back after Pitt’s final drive of regulation stalled at the Mountaineers’ 42-yard line.

Thirteen plays and 87 yards later, West Virginia had tied it before using its only overtime possession to score a touchdown, which Pitt failed to match, completing the Panthers’ collapse.

“We lost that game,” Holstein said. “Credit to them — they played a great game, and they’re a good football team — but I feel like we lost that game. Didn’t do what we needed to do, didn’t execute, didn’t do the little things right that we’d been doing the first two weeks, couldn’t really get into a rhythm. Credit to them, but it’s just plain and simple like that.”

Holstein missed a number of throws throughout the game, many of them early, including first-quarter looks down the sideline to tailback Desmond Reid and tight end Justin Holmes.

In the second quarter, on second-and-5 from WVU’s 6, Holstein threw his third pick of the year, as he was intercepted in the end zone by Darrian Lewis.

Holstein finished 22 of 37 (59%) for 303 yards, two touchdowns and a pick.

Marchiol also had a bumpy day but completed 19 of 25 passes for 192 yards and a score, contributing mightily to an unforgettable game that is the final Backyard Brawl until 2029.

Holstein also had completions of 68 and 67 yards to Bryce Yates and Poppi Williams.

“I thought he started off slow,” Narduzzi said. “Obviously, made some big plays during the game but we’ve got to be better. That’s protection, receivers being in the right spot — the whole deal.

“Quarterback’s always going to get the blame, but it’s on us as a staff, No. 1. We’ve got to put him in better position to make plays, and we didn’t make enough plays to win the football game. Had a chance.”

Pitt’s rushing attack suffered mightily without the services of Reid, who took his final handoff with about four minutes remaining in the opening quarter.

After that, Reid spent the rest of the game as an observer with his helmet off on the sideline after suffering an undisclosed injury.

By the end of the day, Pitt had rushed 34 times for 46 yards, and Holstein was sacked six times and took a beating, showing up to his postgame news conference with a nostril plug/nose bandage, claiming to have been punched in the face in the second quarter.

By contrast, despite being without their own bellcow tailback in Jaheim White, who tore his ACL last weekend at Ohio, Tye Edwards proved more than capable with the ball in his hands, rushing for 141 yards and three scores.

In total, West Virginia outgained Pitt, 434-349.

The Panthers, who let up a key 34-yard pass on WVU’s game-tying fourth-quarter drive, also played without starting cornerbacks Tamon Lynum and Rashad Battle because undisclosed injuries.

“They were going tempo and playing fast,” linebacker Braylan Lovelace said of West Virginia’s last drive in the fourth quarter. “We’ve just got to get back and set on the ball. We’ve got to stop the run, and we can’t let them have a couple big passes.”

Lovelace, along with fellow linebacker Kyle Louis, recorded Pitt’s first two interceptions of the year, both in quick succession off Fox.

After those takeaways, Pitt began drives at WVU’s 14- and 24-yard line.

But both drives, in a recurring theme Saturday, were derailed by penalties, as Pitt was flagged for 14 infractions, losing 118 total yards.

West Virginia logged six penalties for 60 yards.

“We’ll look at the video tape but not happy with that at all,” Narduzzi said. “Fourteen penalties, little lopsided there. … Wasn’t happy. Eli had his helmet ripped off, punched in the face and no call there. Somebody got spit in the face, too. But things didn’t go our way. We’ve got to buckle up and be ready to go.”

The lack of discipline with penalties led to field goals instead of touchdowns for Pitt, with Trey Butkowski hitting three on the day from 23, 46 (career long) and 36 yards. In the scoreless first quarter, he missed one from 43 yards.

Edwards’ 12-yard touchdown about three minutes into the second quarter opened up the scoring, with Pitt countering via a Butkowski field goal to make things 7-3 WVU, a score that held until halftime.’

Edwards struck again in the third quarter, capping a five-play, 75-yard touchdown drive by the Mountaineers, who went up 14-3 with 8:27 on the clock.

However, three plays later, Holstein hit Williams for a gain of nearly 70 yards before scoring on a keeper. The Panthers’ ensuing 2-point conversion try, with Holstein finding Blue Hicks, made it 14-11 with 6:16 left in the third quarter.

Pitt kept up the pressure from there, taking a 17-14 lead early in the fourth after Butkowski hit two more field goals.

Then came the Holstein-Williams yard score, making it 24-14 Pitt.

The Panthers had a chance to put the game away after West Virginia made it 24-17, driving into Mountaineers territory with under three minutes to play in regulation.

But Pitt elected to punt from WVU’s 42-yard line after a delay of game penalty on fourth-and-4.

Caleb Junko’s punt traveled 29 yards, with Marchiol and the West Virginia offense taking things from there, aided by a pass interference call on Rashan Murray.

After tying things up at 24, Pitt won the overtime coin toss and elected to begin on defense.

On the Mountaineers’ winning drive, Edwards took the ball four times, gaining 17 yards, before punching it in from the 1-yard line.

Needing a touchdown to force double-overtime, Holstein was sacked on third-and-9, creating a fourth-and-20 try from the West Virginia 35, with the game ending on an incomplete pass.

“It’s a big rivalry, it’s obviously a game that we want to win, but it’s not an ACC game,” Holstein said as his team prepares for a bye week. “We still have our whole ACC schedule ahead of us. Got to win out — there’s no option now. Got to win out to win the ACC, but all the goals we have in front of us are still there.”