We are now officially one day away from the renewal of the historic Backyard Brawl between West Virginia and Pitt.
Last week, we went through the first installment of WVU’s best wins over the Panthers throughout the years, highlighting the games from 2010, 2002, 2003, 2006, and 1895.
As we inch closer to the game by the hour, let’s take one last preseason trip down memory lane by discussing West Virginia’s top five wins over Pitt.
5. 1983 (24-21 WVU)
As Pitt rolled into Morgantown in 1983, they were tasked with taking on a West Virginia team that got off to a 4-0 start to the season.
WVU was led by Penn State transfer quarterback Jeff Hostetler, who would go on to start and win a Super Bowl for the New York Giants.
At halftime, Pitt controlled the lead by recovering a Hostetler fumble that was returned for a 75-yard touchdown. The Panthers led 21-14 at the break.
After a WVU field goal cut the Pitt lead to 21-17, the game was coming down to the wire in the back end of the fourth quarter.
Starting at its own 10-yard line, WVU ran the ball down the field on one of the best run-stopping defenses in the nation.
The drive was capped off by one of the most memorable plays in WVU football history, when Hostetler faked a handoff and ran in a touchdown from the six-yard line with 6:22 left in the game. Hostetler fell to one knee in celebration as Mountaineer Field erupted.
The Mountaineers held on to win the game by the score of 24-21.
4. 1994 (47-41 WVU)
Midway through the 1994 season, both Pitt and West Virginia were struggling mightily, as the Panthers held a 1-5 record, while the Mountaineers were 2-4.
Had the records been better, this game may have been at the number one spot, but what happened in the final moments of this game was nothing short of stunning.
West Virginia dominated throughout the early parts of the game, as the Mountaineers held a 31-6 lead at one point in the second quarter.
West Virginia collapsed in the second half, but still held a 40-33 lead heading into the final minute of the game.
With 32 seconds left, Pitt connected on a touchdown strike from the red zone to cut the lead to one point. With the game seemingly on the line, the Panthers went for a two-point conversion.
On the two-point conversion, Pitt quarterback John Ryan faked a pitch to the running back and dove into the end zone to take a 41-40 lead in the final seconds.
With almost no time on the clock, WVU quarterback Chad Johnston stepped up to be the hero for the Mountaineers. After the kickoff, Johnston dropped back, and after not finding an open receiver, ran the ball to the WVU 40-yard line and got out of bounds.
With 24 seconds left, Johnston took the snap and dropped back. Johnston took a few seconds and then stepped up in the pocket and delivered a deep pass to wide receiver Zach Abraham, who had two steps on the Pitt defender.
Abraham hauled in the deep ball and took it in for a backbreaking 60-yard touchdown with just 15 seconds remaining to give WVU a 46-41 lead. The Mountaineers would add the extra point and win the game in dramatic fashion by the score of 47-41.
After the Backyard Brawl win, WVU went on to win four of its next five games en route to a 7-5 season.
3. 2011 (21-20)
In the last edition of the Backyard Brawl, a lot was on the line for the 7-3 Mountaineers. After a home loss to Louisville in game nine of the season, WVU would need to win out to reach a BCS Bowl game.
In the week before the Backyard Brawl, WVU went to Paul Brown Stadium and narrowly defeated No. 23 Cincinnati in the final seconds on a blocked field goal.
In the first quarter of the 104th edition of the Backyard Brawl, Pitt jumped out to a 14-0 lead with two rushing touchdowns.
The Mountaineers couldn’t get much done against a Pitt defense that featured Aaron Donald on the defensive line, but midway through the second quarter, the offense finally found a spark when Geno Smith found Stedman Bailey on a deep ball.
Bailey hauled the pass in and put a hard stiff arm in the face of a Pitt defender to excite the packed Mountaineer Field crowd. Bailey used the stiff arm to change field and outrun the defense for a 63-yard touchdown.
In the third quarter, Pitt connected on a field goal to extend the lead to 20-7, but the WVU defense would not give up another point after that.
Halfway through the third quarter, WVU running back Shawne Alston found the end zone from eight yards out to cut the Pitt lead to 20-13.
With 6:10 left in the game, Alston punched in another touchdown from a yard out to give the Mountaineers a late 21-20 lead.
The Mountaineer defense held that lead backed by defensive lineman Julian Miller, who recorded four sacks against Pitt quarterback Tino Sunseri.
West Virginia held on to win 21-20 and eventually clinched the Discover Orange Bowl, in which the Mountaineers walloped No. 15 Clemson 70-33.
2. 2009 (19-16 WVU)
After feeling the heartbreak against Pitt in both 2007 and 2008, the Mountaineer faithful were longing for a win over the Panthers.
In 2009, the roles from the 2007 game would be reversed, as West Virginia came in unranked, while the Panthers were a top 10 team in the nation, sitting at No. 9 with a 9-1 record.
This game would be a defensive slugfest, as the two teams combined for just two touchdowns.
Neither team could find the scoreboard in the first quarter, and after the teams exchanged field goals in the second quarter, the score was tied at 3-3 heading into halftime.
After adding another field goal to take a 6-3 lead, WVU’s star running back Noel Devine would find daylight towards the end of the third quarter.
Devine took a handoff from WVU’s own 12-yard line and turned on the jets to outrun the entire Pitt defense for an 88-yard touchdown.
Leading 16-9 with under three minutes to play, Pitt would finally find the end zone in clutch time when Pitt quarterback Bill Stull found Jonathan Baldwin downfield for a 50-yard touchdown.
With one drive left, WVU quarterback Jarrett Brown led the team down to Pitt territory. With 45 seconds left, WVU went for it on fourth and one to try to get into field goal range.
Fullback Ryan Clarke took the handoff and converted the first down by a matter of inches. After the conversion, WVU ran into field goal range for redshirt freshman kicker Tyler Bitancurt.
Bitancurt lined up for a 43-yard field goal with the 102nd Backyard Brawl on the line. Bitancurt’s kick had plenty of leg, and the ball snuck inside the left upright to win the game for the Mountaineers in walk off fashion.
1. 1975 (17-14 WVU)
Much like today, in the year 1975, the Backyard Brawl between West Virginia and Pitt would be sold out weeks before the ball was kicked off. This made for a packed house at old Mountaineer Field on the downtown campus with a crowd of 36,000 people.
Pitt came into the game with a 6-2 record and was ranked No. 20 in the country, led by one of college football’s best backs, Tony Dorsett. In 1974, Dorsett broke Pitt’s season rushing record with 1,686 yards as a freshman, which made him must see entertainment.
Dorsett did not have his way with Bobby Bowden’s defense in the first half, as it was said that WVU’s coaches figured out Pitt’s signals, which led to the Panthers’ offensive struggles.
At halftime, the score was 0-0, but WVU would break the scoreless tie late in the third quarter when fullback Ron Lee ran in a one-yard touchdown on fourth and goal.
Pitt tied the game early in the fourth quarter when Gordon Jones caught a 28-yard touchdown pass in the back of the end zone. On the next WVU possession, running back Artie Owens ran for a 23-yard touchdown to give the Mountaineers a 14-7 lead.
With 7:55 left, Dorsett caught a touchdown pass from nine yards away to tie the game at 14-14.
With under a minute remaining, the Mountaineers had a golden opportunity to win the game as they moved the ball deep into Pitt territory, but the opportunity was squandered when Pitt recovered a WVU fumble.
WVU quickly forced a Pitt punt and regained possession near midfield. With ten seconds left, quarterback Dan Kendra completed a pass to Randy Swinson at the Pitt 22-yard line and was pushed out of bounds with four seconds on the clock.
This completion set the stage for WVU kicker Bill McKenzie to try to win the game.
McKenzie, a Warwood, West Virginia native, came to the WVU program in 1974 as a walk-on that didn’t even line up for a kick in a football game until his senior year of high school.
Though McKenzie was reliable on PATs, he hadn’t kicked a field goal until the seventh game of the season in 1975, and was only 2-for-5 on the season.
McKenzie lined up for the 38-yard attempt and put it right through the uprights to give West Virginia the 17-14 victory.
This field goal made for one of WVU’s most iconic plays, along with one of Jack Fleming’s most iconic calls as a broadcaster. “McKenzie kicks it, it is good! The ballgame is over!”
Photo by Brian Persinger/WVU Football
