West Virginia beat rival Pitt 17-6 in the 106th Backyard Brawl on Saturday.
After the game head coach Neal Brown discussed his teams’ performance against the Panthers as well as what stood out to him in the victory.
Atmosphere
There were 61,106 fans packed inside Milan Puskar Stadium, the largest crowd at a home football game since 2019 for the Mountaineers. Brown recognized the atmosphere and the role they played in the win.
“I want to recognize the crowd first of all. I thought they played a huge factor in the game. Definitely the most intense, biggest crowd we’ve had at a mantrip in five years. I thought they were into it from the start. They made a difference. I think Pitt had nine penalties in the game, several procedure penalties. I think noise had a factor in that, I think guys fed off of it, fed off the energy.”
Losing Garrett Greene
West Virginia lost starting quarterback Garrett Greene on their second offensive series. The Mountaineers were without Greene for the remainder of the game who was seen in a boot on the sidelines.
“We had some bad things happen to us in that football game. You lose your starting quarterback who’s really not only your starting quarterback but he’s really kind of the heart and soul of the football team. He’s the high-energy guy, he’s the leader, he’s a guy that’s easy to follow and he goes down on the second drive.”
Brown said he will know more on Greene’s injury status on Monday, as they are going to have to wait and see how he heals.
Winner Winner
Brown said they have had this game on their minds since Sept. 1 of last year when they lost a 38-31 heartbreaker to Pitt. Brown said this win shows the growth of his football team.
“Huge win. I thought it was a team win. They call it a Brawl for the reason… Regardless of what it was it was a win for West Virginia.”
“It’s been something that’s stuck with us for 54 weeks. We had a lead in the fourth quarter 54 weeks ago and we did not finish. I think the evolution of a program, I think a lot of it has to do with our offseason, a lot of it has to do with the leadership we have. The fact that our best players are on both fronts, I think that’s really helped us and we’re a tough football team. We’re a mentally tough football team, we’re a physically tough football team and I thought that showed. It was ugly and we can play ugly ball. I’m proud of our guys, I’m proud of our staff.”
“It had been since November 25th of 2011 when the state of West Virginia and our fanbase experienced a win and been able to celebrate a win over Pittsburgh on the gridiron. Our state needed this, our university needed this, our football program needed this. This is a huge win on a bunch of different levels and that’s not lost on us.”
Defensive Domination
West Virginia’s defense showed up in a big way against Pitt on Saturday. The Mountaineers had three interceptions and on the final four drives of the game, they forced a punt, two turnover on downs, and an interception.
Things didn’t look good early as Pitt didn’t throw the ball on their first drive and got all the way down to the WVU three yard line, before the Mountaineers held them to a field goal.
“Not necessarily an uh-oh because we were able to hold them to a field goal… I thought the two drives defensively that were huge; we get the stop in the red zone and they kick a field goal and then right after Nicco’s fumble we get a pick. And that was a huge momentum swing because we scored on the next play.”
“I think it’s the sign of a good football team. We’ve had confidence in that group. I don’t think they played as well as they could up until this game. This was a game that was going to be won running the football and stop the run.”
