By Ray Porter Jr. for Urban Media Today
MORGANTOWN, WV–The 108th edition of the Backyard Brawl football game between the Pitt Panthers and the West Virginia Mountaineers was truly power packed with action and drama in front of a sold-out Milan Puskar Stadium and ESPN. Several lead changes with both teams rebounding from deficits and as a bonus, the game was decided in Overtime. All in all, this game was not disappointing.
Unless you were a Pitt fan as they saw their team on the losing end of a 31-24 overtime thriller.
“Heck of a ball game for the fans to watch. I don’t think we played our best game by any means,” said Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi. “We left a lot of plays on the field. Starts with me, I guess I didn’t have them ready to go. I don’t think we tackled well on defense.”
The Panthers (2-1) overcame a sluggish start in which they scored only 3 points in the first half to score 21 unanswered points in the second half and lead the Mountaineers by 10 points, only to give 10 points back in a matter of minutes to force overtime. The Panthers did win the toss but elected to defer and the Mountaineers scored the winning points on a Tye Edwards (25 carries, 141 yards) 1 Yd Run, his 3rd of the game.
“They had a different back out there who ran the ball hard. Just little details that I don’t think we did a great job on defense,” said Narduzzi.
Panthers QB Eli Holstein Completed 22-of-37 passes for 303 yards and two total touchdowns (one passing, one rushing). He connected with Raphael Williams Jr. (6 rec, 119 yards) on a 14-yard touchdown pass for his ninth passing touchdown of the season and scored his first rushing touchdown of the year in the third quarter, giving him 10 total touchdowns this season.
But the Panthers QB had his struggles, especially in the first half that included missing wide-open receivers and throwing a costly interception in the 2nd quarter. Plus, the offensive line committed several penalties.
“I thought he started off slow. Obviously, he made some big plays during the game, but we have to be better,” Narduzzi said of Holstein. But again, that’s protection, its receivers being in the right spot, the whole deal. “Quarterbacks are always going to get the blame. It’s on us as a staff number one. We have to put him in a better position to make plays, and we didn’t make those today.”
What also hurt the Panthers was the lack of a running game as they lost All-ACC RB Desmond Reid (6 carries, 30 yards) in the first half due to injury. The rest of the RBs were only able to manage 37 yards)
“Not really. I mean, we didn’t run the ball like we needed to. When you don’t run the ball, I think we didn’t run the ball for 46 yards, you got a problem,” said Narduzzi. “They outrushed us. They won the rushing war, and we didn’t. We didn’t run the ball. It didn’t help that (Pitt junior running back) Des Reid wasn’t out there. We hope we get him back here quickly and turn around to get into ACC play.”
Still the Panthers had a chance to put this game away in the fourth quarter, but they couldn’t stop a rejuvenated Mountaineer team, led by QB Nicco Marchiol (19/25, 192 yards, TD) who made the right decisions at the right time.
“We didn’t stop them. Now, obviously, look at the tape and figure it out, but they did a good job running the ball. They have a good scheme. (WVU head coach) Rich Rodriguez does a great job. Give them credit for making plays and keeping us off balance a little bit on defense. We have to make tackles, and we have to get a stop somehow, some way.”
So now the Panthers will enter a bye week hoping to learn from this and prepare for ACC play, they will not face the Mountaineers again until 2029 as the series will run until 2036, but the rest of their schedule promises to be a challenging one.
“So, plenty of blame to pass around in that locker room with our coaches’ number one, and then our players number two. I mean, we did it together, we win together, we lose together, and we didn’t get it done,” said Narduzzi.
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