West Virginia beats Pittsburgh 31-24 in the Backyard Brawl
West Virginia claimed the 108th edition of the Backyard Brawl 31-24 in overtime beating Pittsburgh inside Milan Puskar Stadium Saturday evening in front of 62,108 fans.
Redshirt junior quarterback Nicco Marchiol started the game and completed 9-12 passes for 76 yards in the first half while true freshman Scotty Fox would take over in the third quarter and threw two interceptions before giving way to redshirt senior Jaylen Henderson in the fourth.
Marchiol would return in the fourth and finished the game leading a ten point fourth quarter comeback to send the game into overtime completing 19-25 passes for 192 yards and a touchdown.
Redshirt senior running back Tye Edwards rushed for 141 yards and three touchdowns in his most extensive playing time. Junior wide receiver Rodney Gallagher led the Mountaineers with 7 catches for 61 yards.
West Virginia won the coin toss for the third consecutive game and followed suit by deferring until the second half putting the Pittsburgh offense on the field first to open the game. On the first play from scrimmage, Curtis Jones recorded a sack on Eli Holstein which caused the football to come loose for an 11-yard loss. The Panthers would then punt the ball after gaining only a yard on their next two plays.
The Mountaineers would take over at midfield and move the football into Pitt territory where the drive would stall and Hensley would misfire on a 44-yard field goal attempt to keep the score at 0-0.
On the ensuing possession the Panthers would have some success moving the football into West Virginia territory but a penalty on third and three negated a first down and Holstein would misfire on third and long to give the football back to the Mountaineers at their own 10. After a first down, the Mountaineers offense would lose 15-yards on three plays and be forced to kick the ball back to the Panthers.
Pittsburgh would take over just short of midfield and quickly moved the football into West Virginia territory and would roll the dice to convert on fourth down to set the Panthers up inside the ten. However, a penalty would back up the offense and 43-yard field goal attempt would misfire to keep it at 0-0.
West Virginia would then respond with a 9-play, 75-yard drive that was capped off by a 12-yard touchdown run by Edwards to give the Mountaineers the first points of the ball-game and a 7-0 lead.
The defense would force a three and out on the ensuing possession to give the football back to the West Virginia offense at their own 30 with 10:29 left in the half. But the Mountaineers would return the favor with a three and out of their own giving the Panthers the football back at their own 39.
The Panthers would then put together their best drive of the game moving the ball quickly to the Mountaineers 11-yard line. After a five-yard gain on first down, Holstein attempted to throw the ball into the end zone but it was picked off by Darrian Lewis to keep the score at 7-0.
West Virginia would then go three and out with the Panthers taking back over at their own 42-yard line. But a false start set the offense back and it would be a three and out once again but the punt pinned the Mountaineers offense down at their own three.
The Mountaineers offense would record some first downs to flip the field but it ended in a punt back to the Panthers who took over at their own 20 with 2:32 in the half. And on third and fourth Holstein would find Bryce Yates for a 68-yard catch and run to put the Panthers at the West Virginia six-yard line. On the next play Holstein left due to an injury for a play but would come back on third down to misfire a pass. The Panthers would boot through a 23-yard field goal to make it 7-3 with 1:37 remaining in the half.
West Virginia would pick up one first down, but were forced to punt from their own 44 with 53 seconds remaining in the half and the boot pinned the Panthers at their own 10 with 43 seconds left and no timeouts. After a sack, the Mountaineers would force one more punt with 25 seconds left and moved the ball to the Panthers 42-yard line with a personal foul penalty but the officials declared the half over by rule.
West Virginia would start with the football but after a penalty would take over at their own nine-yard line. Scotty Fox would start at quarterback but the Mountaineers would quickly go three and out. The Mountaineers then were able to force the Panthers to punt the football back after holding on third and ten to give the offense the ball at their own 20.
On his second possession, Fox would connect on a short throw for Justin Smith-Brown who would take the football down 57-yards down to the three-yard line to set the Mountaineers up in scoring position. Edwards would plunge into the end zone on third and goal to give West Virginia a 14-3 lead with 8:27 left in the third.
Holstein would then connect with Raphael Williams for a 67-yard gain to set the Panthers up inside the Mountaineers five-yard line and Pittsburgh would score three plays later to cut the deficit to 14-11 after a successful two-point attempt with 6:16 remaining in the third.
Fox would then throw an interception on the next series to set the Panthers up at the Mountaineers 14 yard line with a chance to take the lead. However, the defense would hold and force a 46-yard field goal to make the game 14-all with 3:30 remaining in the third.
Fox would throw his second interception in as many drives on the ensuing possession to again give the Panthers plus field position deep in the Mountaineers end in a tie game. Pittsburgh would turn that into another field goal to take a 17-14 lead with 14:56 left in the game.
Henderson would then take over at quarterback and move the football to the Panthers 43-yard line before getting sacked on fourth down and giving the football back to Pittsburgh at the Mountaineers 47-yard line. The Panthers would tack on another touchdown to take a 24-14 lead with 9:23 left on a score to Williams from 14-yards out.
Marchiol would return to the game and led the offense on a field goal drive to cut the score to 24-17 with 5:02 remaining in the game. The West Virginia defense would then hold to get the football back to the offense trailing by 7 with 2:47 left at their own 13-yard line.
But the Mountaineers would move the football to the Pittsburgh two yard line with 18 seconds remaining. Marchiol would then connect with Grayson Barnes from two-yards out to tie the game at 24-all with 11 seconds left.
On the first possession of overtime, West Virginia would score on a one-yard run by Edwards to give the Mountaineers a 31-24 lead. On the Panthers possession, they would move backwards facing a 4th and 20 from the 35 yard line and the Mountaineers would win the ball game.
The Mountaineers will open Big 12 Conference play next weekend on the road at Kansas Saturday with kickoff set for 6 p.m.
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