Pitt Preview
November 27, 2008 12:54 PM | General
November 27, 2008
GAME NOTES
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| Bill Stewart |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - West Virginia University football fans have been waiting a long time for this one. Almost a year ago at this time the Mountaineers were making plans for a BCS title game against Ohio State.
All that stood in the way of West Virginia was 4-7 Pitt and the Panthers didn’t budge. Pitt’s 13-9 upset victory over 28-point favorite West Virginia is considered the biggest upset victory in Pittsburgh history. It’s a game that propelled the Panthers toward a stellar recruiting year and put them into the national rankings at the beginning of the 2008 campaign.
“Last year was a tough one for the Mountaineers and I give the University of Pittsburgh and that coaching staff, most importantly the Pitt players, all due respect,” said West Virginia coach Bill Stewart. “We got hit right on the chin - they played a great football game and beat us here in our own backyard.”
That game is the Backyard Brawl in a nutshell. Expect one thing to happen and something else happens.
West Virginia Associate Head Coach Doc Holliday was involved in the game for 25 straight years as a player and coach from 1975-99 and makes his return to the game after an eight-year hiatus. He understands well what this rivalry is all about.
“It’s a player-driven game,” Holliday said. “The most invested team is going to win. It’s our job as coaches to make sure they are the most prepared and most invested and hopefully on Friday that will occur.”
Pitt, like West Virginia, comes into Friday’s game at Heinz Field with a 7-3 record. After opening the year with a 27-17 loss to Bowling Green, the Panthers have won five straight against Buffalo, Iowa, Syracuse, USF and Navy. Then Pitt lost 54-34 at home to Rutgers and dropped a 28-21 decision at Cincinnati after consecutive wins over Notre Dame and Louisville.
“Pitt is very good,” said Stewart. “They had a heartbreaking loss last week and we’ve had those ourselves.”
The Panthers have one of the best running backs in the country in sophomore LeSean McCoy. In less than two seasons McCoy already has 12 100-yard rushing performances including a 38-carry, 148-yard effort in Pitt’s win at West Virginia last year in Morgantown.
McCoy ran for a career-high 172 yards against Michigan State last season and he shows five 100-yard games in 2008. His 1,125 yards rushing so far this year makes him just the third back in Pitt history to run 1,000 yards in consecutive seasons. McCoy had 1,328 yards rushing during his freshman season in 2007.
“He ran through us last year,” Stewart said. “He is tough. He’s a competitor and he’ll be tough to contain. He has balance and all the great ones have balance. They never seem to take a frontal shot.”
Junior Bill Stull has assumed command of the Pitt offense and has passed for 2,007 yards and six touchdowns in nine games this season. Stull has completed 60 percent of his pass attempts and is averaging 223 yards per game through the air.
“I think he’s done a tremendous job,” Stewart said. “He is a great leader and he has taken care of the ball.”
Backup Pat Bostick has played in four games and led Pitt to a come-from-behind 36-33 win at Notre Dame in four overtimes. Bostick also quarterbacked Pitt’s win at West Virginia last year.
Derek Kinder has made a successful return after missing all of 2007 with an injury. The senior leads the Panthers with 30 receptions for 293 yards and a touchdown. True freshman Jonathan Baldwin is Pitt’s big-play receiver, catching 16 passes for 382 yards and three touchdowns. Baldwin is averaging 23.9 yards per catch and expect Pitt offensive coordinator Matt Cavanaugh to try and go up top to Baldwin against West Virginia’s secondary.
Pitt is averaging 29.9 points and 370 yards per game.
Defensively, Pitt has one of the nation’s most productive tacklers in senior linebacker Scott McKillop, who shows 13 career double-figure tackle games. McKillop had a season-high 18 tackles last year against South Florida and he led the country in stops in 2007 with an average of 12.6 per game.
McKillop is 12th in Panther history with 313 career stops.
“Scott McKillop is a special guy,” Stewart said. “The reason I say that is because I like his leadership.”
Sophomore defensive end Greg Romeus has produced 15 ½ negative yardage plays in 10 games - 10 tackles for losses and 5 ½ sacks. He has also broke up three passes and accumulated 39 tackles.
Dom DeCicco leads Pitt with a pair of interceptions and is one of six Panther players to intercept a pass this year.
Weakside linebacker Austin Ransom has had a productive year with 65 tackles, 5 ½ tackles for losses and 1 ½ sacks.
Pitt is giving up 25.1 points and 324.5 yards per game.
“They are tough,” Stewart said of Phil Bennett’s Panther defense. “Phil Bennett is a great coach. I see the same guys up front as last year. They schemed us very well last year and I see that same type of scheme and same type of coaching on film this year that we saw last year.”
West Virginia rebounded from its overtime loss to Cincinnati to defeat Louisville 35-13 last Saturday. Pat White became the all-time NCAA leader in rushing yards by a quarterback with his 200-yard performance against the Cardinals and he now shows 4,292 yards for his career.
White has run for 786 yards and seven touchdowns this year to go with 1,226 yards passing and 17 touchdowns. White has completed 65.4 percent of his pass attempts while throwing just four interceptions.
Noel Devine became the most recent WVU back to crack the 1,000-yard mark in rushing and now shows 1,121 yards and three touchdowns on just 164 attempts. Devine has a stellar 6.8 yards-per-carry average.
Jock Sanders leads West Virginia with 41 catches for 340 yards and seven touchdowns. Dorrell Jalloh has caught 22 passes for 284 yards and five touchdowns.
Mortty Ivy paces West Virginia’s defense with 72 tackles, four tackles for losses and three interceptions. Ivy also shows four pass breakups.
Fourteen different players have recorded sacks for the Mountaineer defense led by Julian Miller’s 3 ½. West Virginia is allowing just 16.5 points and 320.4 yards per game.
Both teams are bowl eligible and West Virginia is still alive to win the Big East outright provided the Mountaineers win their last two games and Cincinnati loses at home against Syracuse. Otherwise, WVU loses all tiebreakers.
One issue both teams have to contend with is a new turf installed at Heinz Field. In addition to the Pittsburgh Steelers, the facility is also used for high school football games and Heinz Field has become notorious for its poor field conditions.
“I don’t have one worry,” said Stewart. “If they are playing on the same turf that we’re playing on that’s all that matters. The weather is supposed to be alright up there.”
Game time is set for noon and the contest will be televised on ABC.
