West Virginia coach Bobby Bowden confers with his coaches on a play call. (WVU photo)

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (November 8, 1975) -- It is unlikely that West Virginia University will have a hero quite like Bill McKenzie again.

He was Rudy before anyone else even knew there was a Rudy.

McKenzie, a Warwood native, had never kicked in a game situation until he played in a West Virginia All-Star game following his senior season of high school.

After enrolling at West Virginia, he decided to walk on to the Mountaineer football team as a freshman in 1974 and he made good on four PATs and three-of-four field goals before being called up to the varsity for the final two games of the year.

Emil Ross, a sidewinder from Steubenville, Ohio, and James "Rocky" Gianola, a straight-on kicker from Morgantown, both had trouble finding the center of the uprights. With even extra-point attempts becoming an adventure, Mountaineer Coach Bobby Bowden turned to McKenzie.

The blond freshman successfully converted all three PATs against Temple and two versus Virginia Tech to close out the '74 season.

In 1975, McKenzie proved reliable on PATs, converting 39-of-39 at one point. However, he didn't attempt his first field goal until the seventh game of the season against Virginia Tech.

At the time, West Virginia was the only school in the country that had not kicked a field goal. McKenzie's 20-yard boot against VPI sailed through the uprights to help West Virginia to a 10-7 homecoming win.

Two weeks later against the much hated Panthers, McKenzie's right foot would decide one of the most exciting games in West Virginia University history.

Pitt had rebuilt its football program behind Tennessee All-American Johnny Majors who, in the eyes of Pittsburgh faithful, was the best thing to come out of Tennessee since Jack Daniels.

The Lynchburg, Tenn., native's first mission when he arrived on the Oakland campus in 1973 was to sign high school All-American running back Tony Dorsett of nearby Aliquippa.

Once that was accomplished, he then inked standout quarterback Matt Cavanaugh, middle guards Gary Burley and Al Romano, tackle Randy Holloway, safety Bob Jury, and center Tom Broza.

Each would earn All-America honors in the coming years.

Pitt's 1-10 mark in 1972 under Carl DePasqua turned into a 6-5-1 record in 1973 under Majors. The Panthers were on their way.

The following year in 1974, Majors led Pittsburgh to a 7-4 record and five straight wins over West Virginia, Boston College, Navy, Syracuse and Temple.

By 1975, Johnny had the Panthers on the cusp of national prominence.

Behind the running of Dorsett and the passing of Cavanaugh, Pitt had rolled up a 6-2 record by the time they met West Virginia in Morgantown on Nov. 8, 1975. The Panthers owned notable wins over Georgia and Syracuse leading into the West Virginia game, and were positioned at No. 20 in the national rankings.

Dorsett ran for 268 yards against Army in a previous game, and was on course to tie the Panther regular season rushing record he set as a freshman in 1973 with 1,686 yards.

West Virginia, meanwhile, had made its own resurrection under sixth-year coach Bobby Bowden.

Bowden suffered through a miserable 1974 season in which he was practically run out of town. Rabid fans weren't interested in the injuries and inconsistent quarterback play that led to his team's 4-7 record.

Bowden's 1975 squad was very young, but he was determined to make amends for the 1974 season, if for any other reason than to attract interest from other schools so that he could get out of West Virginia.

WVU counted wins over California and SMU leading into the Pitt contest.

A threatening sky and a light wind greeted the two football teams as they met at old Mountaineer Field for a mid-afternoon kickoff.

Keith Jackson, along with former Oklahoma coach Bud Wilkinson and Jim Lampley, were calling the game before a regional television audience on ABC.

The game had been a sellout for nearly three weeks and fans were anticipating another classic football game between these two old rivals. Almost 36,000 showed up for the game and several hundred more resorted to watching the game from the rooftops of nearby buildings.

Bowden had previously coached in five West Virginia-Pitt games, winning 20-9 in 1971 and 38-20 in 1972. He also lost 35-7 to the Panthers in 1973 and 31-14 in 1974.

However, Bowden's 1970 team suffered an unspeakable 36-35 loss after leading 35-8 at halftime. To this day, Bowden calls it his worst defeat as a college football coach.

"It was the most embarrassing game I have ever been associated with in my life," Bowden later remarked. "I embarrassed the whole state of West Virginia."

Soime of those memories were undoubtedly with him as he stalked the sidelines on that mild November afternoon in 1975.

West Virginia, with its blue jerseys, white numerals and gold pants, were joined on the Mountaineer Field Astro-turf by a Pitt team clad in white jerseys, gold pants and blue numerals.

The emotion and excitement of the two bitter rivals resulted in a scoreless first half. WVU had six first downs and 138 total yards while the Panthers had just three first downs and 114 total yards.

Dorsett managed 51 yards on 12 carries.

A big reason for West Virginia’s defensive dominance was the fact that the Mountaineer coaching staff figured out Pitt’s offensive signaling system. Bobby Bowden may be a Southern gentleman but as his son Tommy (now a coach at Clemson) is fond of saying, he is also “as cold-blooded as the come.”

Perhaps the most fitting play of the first half came on Dorsett's very first carry when West Virginia defensive end Andrew Peters nailed the All-American tailback for no gain.

On the other hand, West Virginia's running gem, Artie Owens of Stroudsburg, Pa., showed 37 yards on six carries.

After exchanging fumbles to start the second half, West Virginia finally found paydirt on its second possession of the third quarter.

With the football resting on the Pitt 16 yard line after Ray Marshall recovered a Dorsett miscue, West Virginia ran the ball seven straight times to acquire the precious real estate.

Fullback Ron Lee took a Dan Kendra handoff on a fourth-and-goal play and wedged his way past a Panther defender for the game's first touchdown with 4:12 left in the third quarter.

The score remained that way until the start of the fourth period when Cavanaugh found split end Gordon Jones for 28 yards in the back of the end zone.

West Virginia answered on its very next possession, marching 73 yards in six plays.

After a four-yard Lee run up the middle, Kendra found Randy Swinson for 16 yards to the West Virginia 47.

Lee added 12 more up the middle and then Owens broke loose for 13 to take the ball to the Pitt 28. After a five-yard Lee gain up the middle, Owens took a handoff from Kendra, juked a Pitt linebacker right out of his shoes, and raced 23 yards untouched to the end zone to give West Virginia the lead again.

McKenzie's successful PAT made it 14-7 in favor of West Virginia.

But Pitt answered.

	Pitt running back Tony Dorsett is stopped at the line of scrimmage by West Virginia linebacker Ray Marshall. West Virginia won this game 17-14 on a last-second field goal by Bill McKenzie. (WVU Sports Communications)

The Panthers took the football at its 30 and moved the ball down field behind the passing of Cavanaugh and the running of Dorsett.

On third and eight at the West Virginia nine, the two hooked up on a swing pass for a touchdown to close the gap to one point. The successful conversion knotted the score at 14 with 7:55 left in the game.

After an exchange of possession, West Virginia got a big break when linebacker Steve Dunlap intercepted a tipped pass at the West Virginia 35.

The Mountaineers moved the football down to the Panther 20, but Ron Lee fumbled and Tom Perko recovered the ball at the Pitt 17 with just 57 seconds left in the game.

Three short gains and a Panther unsportsmanlike conduct penalty called on one of the Panther coaches for walking onto the field led to West Virginia gaining possession on the Panther side of the 50 for one final chance to win the game.

Mark Burke fielded Larry Swider's punt at the West Virginia 47 with just 10 seconds left on the clock.

On WVU's first play, Kendra faked a draw to Owens, and fired a pass down the far sideline in the direction of Swinson.

The Washington, D.C., native somehow hauled the pass in and got out of bounds at the Pitt 22-yard line with four seconds left on the clock.

"If he doesn't get knocked out of bounds, I don't know if we can stop the clock," Bowden admitted.

"I saw the cornerback bite on the curl route. What I was taught -- when the cornerback bites -- look behind him," added Kendra, whose son, Dan Jr., later played for Bowden at Florida State.

That left just enough time for unproven McKenzie to kick a 38-yard field goal. After a Pitt timeout to ice the sophomore, McKenzie lined up for the winning try.

"Can you believe this?" asked Fleming to his radio sidekick Woody O'Hara.

McKenzie, head down and arms swinging, set his body in motion toward the football. His right leg swung cleanly through the ball and it arched toward the goal post.

"McKenzie kicks it, it is long enough, it is good!" cried Fleming to a statewide radio audience. "The ballgame is over! There's a mob scene out on the field -- you haven't seen anything like it!"

Fans and teammates raced onto the field from all directions to greet West Virginia's unlikely hero.

"When I think about it now, it kind of scares me," McKenzie later recalled. "I don't know how I did it. I guess I was too pumped up by the excitement of the moment to worry about missing."

McKenzie successfully kicked just four of 11 field goals that season, but he will always be remembered for the one that beat Pitt in 1975.

"I think this was as good of win as I have ever had here," said Bowden, who celebrated his 46th birthday that day. "I never coached a team in a tie game in 22 years, but I sure thought I had one."

"It was an outstanding ballgame," Majors remarked after the game. "It was a very shocking loss for us, but the congratulations have to go out to WVU."

Dorsett finished the game with 107 yards on 22 carries, while Owens gained 101 on 17 tries for the Mountaineers.

Cavanaugh completed eight of 14 passes for 93 yards and two touchdowns.

Kendra successfully hooked up seven times for 95 yards.

Wrote Pittsburgh Press Sports Editor Pat Livingston, "All in all Pitt-West Virginia was a game worth seeing. The only negative aspect was that there had to be a loser. Even Pitt, by the quality of its play, deserved a better fate than that."

On a closing footnote, the following week Pitt upset No. 9-ranked Notre Dame, 34-20 behind a school-record 303 rushing yards from Dorsett.

The Panthers went on to defeat Kansas, 33-19 in the Sun Bowl. The very next season Pitt posted a perfect 12-0 record on the way to the 1976 national championship.

Meanwhile, West Virginia delivered a 13-10 victory over Lou Holtz's North Carolina State team to win the 1975 Peach Bowl.

WVU's 9-3 record was good enough for a No. 20 national ranking. Bowden's triumph over Pitt was his last at Mountaineer Field. The coach accepted the Florida State job and left for Tallahassee following the 1975 season.

"A lot of times the Florida writers will ask me to tell them what my favorite games of my life have been and I always mention the West Virginia-Pitt game of 1975," Bowden remarked. "That was one of the most exciting games. Number one, it was my birthday, number two, my son Tommy caught several key passes in that game. And then McKenzie kicked that field goal as time ran out. That was always one of the most exciting games I've ever been around."

Scoring Summary

WV -- Lee 1 run (McKenzie kick)
UP -- Jones 28 pass from Cavanaugh (Long kick)
WV -- Owens 23 run (McKenzie kick)
UP -- Dorsett 9 pass from Cavanaugh (Long kick)
WV -- McKenzie 38 FG

Individual Statistics

Rushing: Pitt - Dorsett 22-107, Walker 12-45, Cavanaugh 9-36, Total 43-188; WV - Owens 17-101, Lee 17-65, Woods 7-37, Williams 10-31, Smith 4-14, Kendra 6-minus 8, Fette 1-7, Jordan 1-3, Total 63-250

Passing: Pitt - Cavanaugh 8-14-2-92-2; WV - Kendra 7-12-0-96-0; Williams 2-5-0-39-0, Total 9-17-0-135-0

Receiving: Pitt - Corbett 3-37, Jones 2-32, Dorsett 2-10, Clark 1-14, Total 8-93; WV - Swinson 3-54, Bowden 3-51, Coker 1-26, Owens 2-4, Total 9-135

Attendance: 35,298