No. 13: Pitt, 1989
June 21, 2010 03:24 PM | General
July 18, 2010
If only West Virginia’s lead had been 23 points instead of just 22 heading into the fourth quarter. That was the amount of unanswered points Pitt scored to come back and tie West Virginia 31-31 before nearly 69,000 stunned fans at Mountaineer Field on Sept. 30, 1989.
Ed Frazier’s 42-yard field goal at the end of the game was a cause for celebration on the Pitt sidelines and a cause for consternation on West Virginia’s
“Unbelievable,” said West Virginia coach Don Nehlen. “We had so many chances to win this game. Our players are not jumping up and down, hanging from the rafters, singing.”
But they were in Pitt’s locker room.
“This game is seen as a victory in our hearts and minds for the way we came back,” said Pitt quarterback Alex Van Pelt.
Things looked good for West Virginia after the Mountaineers went up 31-9 with 4:06 left in the third quarter.
But Van Pelt, who spent part of his childhood living in Grafton, W.Va., rallied the Panthers. Pitt started its comeback with Adam Walker’s 2-yard touchdown run. Then Van Pelt hooked up with Henry Tuten for a 9-yard score.
A Pitt onside kick couldn’t be handled by WVU’s Preston Waters and shortly thereafter, Curvin Richards found the end zone on a 6-yard touchdown run with 2:55 remaining. Richards’ TD was set up by a roughing the kicker penalty called on Waters during Ed Frazier’s successful 29-yard field goal, giving Pitt a first down at the 10 yard line.
Before those two mistakes Waters played near flawlessly, picking off two passes and recovering a Pitt fumble.
“The mistakes I made turned the game around,” Waters said.
After Richards’ score pulled Pitt to within three, 31-28, West Virginia could not move the sticks on its next possession (a Major Harris-to-Aaron Evans pass for a first down was called back when WVU was caught having an ineligible man downfield) and punted the ball back to Pitt.
“They said (Adrian) Moss ran downfield,” said Harris. "He’s the tight end. I don’t understand.”
Pitt took over at its own 40 with 49 seconds left on the clock and moved the ball to the Mountaineer 33 despite West Virginia dropping two sure interceptions (Van Pelt had already thrown four). Pitt appeared to be close enough to kick a field goal but Van Pelt tried one more pass with seven seconds left to tight end Tom Huebner that moved the ball eight yards closer for Frazier’s game-tying kick.
A day after the game, a disappointed Nehlen said a victory could have been preserved on any one “of about 15 plays offensively and defensively” in the fourth quarter.
“If just one of those goes our way, we win the game,” he said. “But none did. It’s sad.
“We had four interceptions in the game but we dropped seven,” Nehlen added. “We should have had or could have had 11 interceptions. Unbelievable!”
