WVU crowd, coach Rodriguez revel in Mountaineers' victory in Backyard Brawl

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia’s disdain for Pitt was evident at virtually every corner before, during and after Saturday’s Backyard Brawl, where an overflow crowd of mainly WVU fans crammed into Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium to witness a classic comeback victory by the Mountaineers.

Think Pitt’s home at Acrisure Stadium in reverse.

“This state is full of hard-working, gritty, tough people that support this university and support this football program,” WVU coach Rich Rodriguez said after the Mountaineers pulled out a 31-24 overtime decision. “Winning is important to them. I know beating Pitt is really, really important to them.”

Messages, mainly disparaging in nature, appeared on buildings, billboards and T-shirts in and around this college town of 30,500. A massive sea of old gold and blue covered a parking lot hours before kickoff near the stadium as music blared and nobody cared.

“It was electric,” said 20-year-old Jonas Halaja of Coraopolis. The Montour High School grad claimed he already had been to “a number” of these affairs.

And while an overwhelming number of fans’ apparel included scornful remarks toward Pitt, there were some Panthers faithful dotting the landscape, perhaps hoping to be noticed in the crowd.

Or maybe not.

“When a Pitt fan would walk by, there’d be some jawing,” Halaja said.

“Me? “I’m neutral.”

Halaja by design wore a yellow shirt devoid of a reference to either school. The scene, he said, resembled one outside Acrisure Stadium when the Panthers have hosted the Mountaineers.

“I just think the Backyard Brawl brings out the fans’ pride in their schools. It’s a close rivalry,” Halaja said.

The storied series will pause until 2029 with Pitt holding a 63-42-3 edge despite letting a 10-point fourth-quarter lead slip away in what ended in just the second overtime game in the 108-year history of the Backyard Brawl.

Rodriguez, who returned this season to WVU, where he previously coached the Mountaineers from 2001-07, was met by cheers from a large group of family and friends upon entering his postgame news conference.

He waved to those who came to celebrate the victory with him.

“Thank you for that family,” Rodriguez said with a nod. “I’m happy for our players, happy for our fans that hung in there. I know at times it looked bleak, but man, our defense just played their tail off the entire game, kept us in the game.

“Our quarterback (Nicco Marchiol) has got a lot of heart. Right at the end, he played some great football, made some great passes.”

Marchiol, who briefly was relieved by Scotty Fox Jr. and Jaylen Henderson at various intervals, finished 19 for 25 for 192 yards and completed a tying, 2-yard pass to Grayson Barnes with 11 seconds left in regulation to force overtime.

The victory seemed to soften the hurt Rodriguez felt for his players following a 17-10 loss at Ohio in the previous week.

It was an extra sweet victory to beat arch-rival Pitt, he said.

“To come back after a tough week and to focus and to beat your rival, when it looked like we weren’t going to beat them, I’m just really, really proud of them,” Rodriguez said. “I’m blessed to be here and to be their coach.”

WVU (2-1) opens Big 12 play Saturday at Kansas.

The Mountaineers trailed Pitt 24-14 with precious little time left. But they found a way to come back, scoring 17 unanswered points in the final 5 minutes, 3 seconds of regulation and on their only possession in overtime.

With a vocal crowd on its feet, Tye Edwards, who led WVU with 141 yards rushing, scored the go-ahead touchdown on a 1-yard run in the extra period. The WVU defense then smothered Pitt’s attempt to match the score, and the Mountaineers came away on top to claim their fifth victory in the past seven meetings with the Panthers.

“I don’t know if you saw how the crowd was into it today, even when we weren’t playing well at times,” Rodriguez said. “They made a big difference in overtime. They made a big difference in certain third and fourth downs, and they played a part in us winning.”

Rodriguez left West Virginia for Michigan after guiding the Mountaineers for seven seasons during his first go-round, then went on to coach at Arizona and Jacksonville State.

He also spent one season each as offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach at Mississippi and Louisiana.

Rodriguez is 62-27 with WVU and 192-130-2 in 28 seasons overall.

When the WVU crowd got behind the Mountaineers during their comeback Saturday, it shook the stadium and rattled the visiting Panthers.

“I don’t know if I had forgotten about it,” Rodriguez said of the Morgantown vibe. “I was gone for 17 years. But you could tell when we pulled in, you could tell during the week, you could tell during the offseason that this game is very, very important.”

He paused for a moment, looked in the direction of his assembled family before continuing.

“You could tell when there were people starting to tailgate on Tuesday, that it was really, really important,” he joked.

A moment of laughter pierced the air. Rodriguez was back home.

“This win was for everybody that supports our program, that follows our team.” he said. “It does count just once, but maybe a little bit more. I’ve got to tell the team now that we start league play next week, so we’ve got to get right back at it. But we’re going to enjoy the hell out of this one for 24 hours.

“No, 24-and-a-half.”