With 3:41 to play, West Virginia had the chance to win the Backyard Brawl.
After giving up a touchdown, the Mountaineers took over in a tie game at their own 25 yard line. A CJ Donaldson rush went for 14 yards on the first play, and the Mountaineers seemed to be in business. On the very next play things flipped.
West Virginia quarterback JT Daniels dropped back and threw to a wide open Bryce Ford-Wheaton. Ford-Wheaton would then drop the ball, falling into M.J. Devonshire’s hands. Devonshire would return the ball for a touchdown, giving Pitt a 38-31 lead.
“If I throw Bryce 1,000 side routes, that might happen once,” Daniels said of the interception. “It’s a fluke and it happened. To me as soon as that plays over it’s like next play.”
West Virginia head coach Neal Brown shared Daniels’ sentiment, giving praise to his senior receiver. Ford-Wheaton finished with nine catches on 16 targets, finishing with 97 yards and two touchdowns. But it is the drop that will remain in the minds of Mountaineer fans forever.
“What about the kid who made two touchdowns too,” Brown said of Ford-Wheaton. “I think we had two drops tonight One of them was inopportune.”
That next play is just the opportunity Daniels would get. With 27 seconds to play, Daniels would drop back on 4th and 16, throwing a pass right near the goal line. Wide receiver Reese Smith would dive and it would be ruled a catch at the one yard line. Then, after a review, it was ruled Smith did not catch it, sealing Pitt’s 38-31 victory.
“I think Reese made a hell of a play,” Daniels said. “We just came up that little bit short.”
Daniels and the Mountaineers went toe to toe with No. 17 Pitt. The 105th Backyard Brawl did not disappoint.
One other key moment for the Mountaineers was with 6:10 left in the fourth quarter. The Mountaineers led Pitt 31-24, and had 4th and inches on their own 47 yard line.
Brown elected to punt the ball and flip the field.
Pitt would start on their eight yard line before driving 92 yards in 2:29 to tie the game up.
“It was a little over six minutes to go in the game. It was fourth and about a foot,” Brown said. “If you go for it there and you don’t get it, then they have a short field and they have three timeouts.”
Brown said he had no regrets and would do the same thing again.
“If I had to do it again, I would do that same decision,” Brown said.
On the evening, the Mountaineers had many bright spots. True freshman CJ Donaldson rushed for 125 yards on seven carries. Add in a punt block to set up a five-yard touchdown of his own, which gave the Mountaineers momentum early in the second half.
“I kind of zoned out. I just knew full go call,” Donaldson said of the punt block.
Daniels would finish the day with 23 completions for 214 yards and two touchdowns. Moving forward, Daniels said there are some smaller things this group can clean up, but he loves the fight this group has.
“There’s a lot I’m very optimistic about,” Daniels said. “You can clean up execution… the things you can’t fix you don’t have to fix. This team will fight, they’ll go to war. That’s a team I’m proud of them, that’s a team I’m proud to be on.”
Photo by Dale Sparks, All-Pro Photography
