Mountaineers Fall Late at Pitt
November 28, 2008 05:00 PM | General
“We just couldn’t get a stop there at the end when we needed to in order to preserve the win,” said West Virginia coach Bill Stewart.
As he did last year when he ran 38 times for 148 yards in Pitt’s 13-9 upset win over West Virginia in Morgantown, McCoy once again riddled the Mountaineer defense to the tune of a career-high 183 yards on 33 carries. In two career games against West Virginia McCoy shows 331 yards rushing and more importantly, a pair of victories.
“LeSean McCoy is a great back,” Stewart said. “He runs so hard and I was really impressed with the balance he showed.”
Despite recording just four first downs in the first half and being out-gained two-to-one by Pitt’s offense, West Virginia appeared to take control of the game with a nine-point third quarter behind the play of Pat White. Yet some critical second-half miscues proved ominous for the Mountaineers.
First, West Virginia was poised to take a 10-3 lead at the start of the third quarter when White made a perfect third-down pass from the nine to Dorrell Jalloh, but the senior could not secure the certain touchdown catch in the back of the end zone.
Then after White made a fantastic 54-yard TD run, changing direction and out-running the entire Pitt defense down the far sideline, West Virginia holder Carmen Connolly was unable to handle the snap for the PAT and was tackled at the Pitt three, leaving WVU ahead by a score of 12-7.
An exchange of interceptions left the football in West Virginia’s possession at the Panther 44 yard line with 13:25 remaining in the game. A pass interference penalty on Pitt’s Ricky Gary gave West Virginia the ball at the Panther 29, but the Mountaineers could only get to the Pitt 23 where Pat McAfee made a 40-yard field goal – his third of the game.
After West Virginia forced Pitt to punt, the Mountaineers made the game’s biggest error when White threw his second pick of the half - this one returned 14 yards by Jovani Chappel to the WVU 16. Four LeSean McCoy runs got Pitt the 16 yards needed to get into the end zone to reduce West Virginia's lead to two points.
Stull’s two-point conversion try failed, leaving the score 15-13, in West Virginia’s favor.
With clock reading 8:07 and the Mountaineers regaining possession at their own 23, WVU got a nice nine-yard gain on first down by back up running back Mark Rodgers. Then Noel Devine was stopped for no gain, giving West Virginia a third and one at the Pitt 32. Devine had enough yardage on third down to move the sticks but tackle Ryan Stanchek was flagged for a holding penalty, wiping out the first down run and making it third and nine from the 24. Another Devine run netted no yardage and West Virginia was forced to punt the football back to Pitt with 5:10 remaining on the clock and needing a field goal to take the lead.
Starting at the Pitt 41, McCoy ran for three, then nine, and then 14 more yards to move the ball to the WVU 33. After a two-yard LaRod Stephens-Howling run, McCoy came returned to rip off 16 more yards to the West Virginia 19. Two short McCoy runs and a WVU facemask penalty placed the football at the WVU five with 2:21 remaining. Three more cracks by McCoy finally got the football across the goal line with 52 seconds left, giving Pitt a 19-15 advantage.
Stull’s two-point conversion pass once again fell incomplete.
After Mark Rodgers’ kickoff return placed the ball at the WVU 36, White completed passes of 24 yards to Brad Starks and 13 yards to Alric Arnett to give the Mountaineers a first and 10 at the Pitt 27. A pair of incomplete passes and a nine-yard completion to Wes Lyons presented WVU with a fourth and one at the Pitt 18.
West Virginia again tried to go to Lyons, but the junior was flagged for an offensive pass interference penalty (West Virginia’s second of the game) which Pitt declined.
At the game’s outset Pitt scored on its opening possession, driving 64 yards in five plays. Panther quarterback Bill Stull connected on a 30-yard TD pass to Derek Kinder, who beat WVU defensive back Brandon Hogan on a double move.
Pitt had a chance to make it 10-0 its next possession by getting all the way to the WVU nine. But a second down holding call on tight end Nate Bynum moved the football back to the WVU 24. A short completion to LaRod Stephens-Howling forced a 40-yard Connor Lee field goal try, which he badly missed to the left.
After an exchange of possessions, West Virginia got a big break when John Holmes sacked Bill Stull and forced a fumble which Scooter Berry recovered at the Pitt 39. Jock Sanders ran 29 yards to the Panther nine 10 before taking a screen pass nine yards to the goal line.
But as was the case in close losses to Colorado and Cincinnati, West Virginia couldn’t get the tough yards when it needed them most. A run wide by White lost two yards to the three making it third and goal. After a timeout, West Virginia put backup quarterback Jarrett Brown into the game and tried a reverse pass that White completed to Wes Lyons in the back of the end zone.
However, the official ruled Lyons did not get his first foot down and the replay official confirmed the call on the field, forcing WVU to settle for a 20-yard Pat McAfee field goal.
After the McAfee kick, Pitt took over at its own 36 following a 21-yard kickoff return by Aundre Wright and Pitt used a pair of McCoy runs, and a 14-yard swing pass to McCoy on third and four, to move the ball to the WVU 33. Another McCoy 16-yard run on second and seven got the ball to the Pitt three to make it first and goal with just over a minute remaining and the Panthers possessing two timeouts. Instead of running McCoy the final two yards, Pitt inexplicably tried a poorly thrown fade pass that was intercepted by West Virginia’s Quinton Andrews in the end zone.
West Virginia took over at its own two and ran out the remaining 1:19 to go into the locker room at halftime trailing 7-3.
As it did in last year’s victory, Pitt out-rushed West Virginia (192-157) and also out-gained the Mountaineers (346-300). The Mountaineers were 3 of 14 on third-down conversion attempts and had a three-minute deficit in time of possession.
Stull finished the afternoon completing 12 of 23 passes for 156 yards and a touchdown. Tight end Nate Bynum was Pitt’s leading receiver with four catches for 69 yards.
Pat White, coming off a 200-yard, five-TD performance in last weekend’s win at Louisville, ran 12 times for 93 yards and a touchdown. He attempted 16 more passes than runs, completing 15, for 143 yards with two interceptions.
“Pat White played a heck of a game,” said Stewart. “He ran well and I thought he did a really good job throwing the ball, too. The mistakes in the passing game can be attributed to bad reads. The interception in the fourth quarter was a mental error and no one feels worse about it than Pat. I have a very disappointed quarterback right now.”
Brad Starks led West Virginia with four catches for 38 yards. Noel Devine was held to just 17 yards on 12 carries by the Panther defense.
Pitt improves to 8-3 overall with the victory with one game remaining at Connecticut next Saturday. With West Virginia’s loss, Cincinnati locks up the Big East’s BCS bowl berth despite the Bearcats having two regular season games remaining against Syracuse and Hawaii.
Three of West Virginia’s four losses this year have come by margins of three (Colorado), three (Cincinnati) and four (Pitt) points.
The loss drops West Virginia’s record to 7-4 with its final regular season game coming up next Saturday, Dec. 6, in Morgantown against South Florida. The game time is likely to be announced on Sunday.
