Instant Analysis: West Virginia-Pittsburgh

This game might not have had quite the impact of last year’s 13-9 win in Morgantown, but the Pittsburgh Panthers once again beat the West Virginia Mountaineers by four points in a nail-biting Backyard Brawl made messy by multiple mistakes.

It wasn’t a pretty sight in Pittsburgh’s Heinz Field, but Panther coach Dave Wannstedt beat West Virginia for the second straight season while giving his program a chance to win nine games and share second place in the Big East Conference. Wannstedt might also get a thank-you note from Cincinnati boss Brian Kelly, since this result officially clinches the Big East title and an Orange Bowl bid for the Bearcats.

Last year’s “13-9” became this year’s “19-15” not just because of missed PATs and two-point conversions (a technically correct and numerically specific explanation), but because Pitt once again found a finishing kick in the fourth quarter. Just like last year’s stunning upset that knocked the Mountaineers out of the BCS title game, the Panthers Brawled a little bit better against their rival because of running back LeSean McCoy and a front four that contained WVU superstar Pat White.

McCoy put his stamp on this contest in the home stretch, as the main stud in Wannstedt’s stable ran for 83 yards in the final quarter, including the two touchdowns that turned a 15-7 deficit into a four-point triumph. McCoy’s relentless running—even when Pitt quarterback Bill Stull struggled mightily—proved how resolute the 2008 Panthers have been in close games that, in prior years, had not satisfied the citizens of the Steel City. The ability to run to paydirt against a Mountaineer defense that didn’t play too poorly indicated the newfound toughness that has helped McCoy remake Pittsburgh into a winner.

As well as McCoy played at crunch time, however, this comeback victory wouldn’t have happened without a step-up performance from Pitt’s defense. For the second straight year, Pitt allowed only one touchdown from West Virginia’s offense, as the Panthers’ front seven contained Noel Devine and the other running backs who need to succeed between the tackles in order for White, the blazing-fast quarterback, to enjoy that much more success as a scrambler. Yet, as impressive as they were in defending the run, the Panthers displayed an even fuller measure of resourcefulness by getting turnovers from White’s erratic left arm.

When trailing by eight early in the fourth quarter, and distinctly on the ropes, Pitt’s secondary surged to the forefront of this tense tussle. Jovani Chappel intercepted White on a third-and-9 play to not only enable a struggling Pitt offense to start in the WVU red zone, but to score a touchdown without needing a forward pass. After Stull threw a horrible interception in the end zone at the end of the first half, and later coughed up another turnover early in the fourth quarter, Pitt needed to be able to win while relying on McCoy. Chappel’s game-changing pick enabled that very scenario to emerge.

While McCoy—the game’s most dependable player—took care of business on his end, the contours of this collision were shaped when West Virginia had the ball in the fourth quarter. Following his damaging interception, which enabled Pitt to trim its eight-point deficit to just two (15-13), White and his offensive teammates couldn’t reverse the negative momentum that had begun to work against them. A holding penalty on a third-and-3 run wiped out a first down and ultimately forced the Mountaineers to punt, leading to Pittsburgh’s go-ahead score. When White got his hands on the ball in the game’s final minute with his team trailing, the Mountaineers moved to the Pitt 27 with 28 seconds left, only to stall when White overthrew receiver Bradley Starks on two straight plays, one of them inside the Panther 10. When West Virginia’s Wes Lyons could not get out of bounds with roughly 13 seconds left—despite catching a nine-yard pass near the left sideline at the Panther 18—White could only hurry his team to the line and throw a desperation pass on the game’s final—and most disorganized—play. An offensive pass interference penalty on the Mountaineers would have wiped out a touchdown even if the play had succeeded, but when the pass sailed past the end line, the game was over, and Pitt had once again ruled the Backyard Brawl by a total of four points.

In 2007, West Virginia could rebound from a loss to Pittsburgh, because the Fiesta Bowl still remained in the Mountaineers’ sights. This year, however, there’s nothing to look forward to for WVU, as a four-point setback against the Panthers officially knocked coach Bill Stewart’s bunch out of the chase for a conference crown. Pittsburgh might not have been able to win the Big East in 2008, but the Panthers can know that they once again held White, a great college quarterback, in check on the road to a satisfying and redeeming victory. On the other side of the divide, it’s going to be a cold and long winter in West Virginia, as a program that fell short of its goals will have to figure out a way to make more plays in the passing game, get production from the fullback position, and generally remake itself now that Pat White’s career won’t witness another BCS bowl game.