The 107th edition of the Backyard Brawl did not disappoint. In a thriller, West Virginia was defeated by Pittsburgh 38-34.
The Mountaineers led by 10 in the fourth but were unable to produce in crunch time. Pitt scored 14 unanswered points, and they left the 2024 Backyard Brawl victorious.
WVU ended with more total yards 401-379, but ran 16 more plays. Garrett Greene was 16-for-30 passing for 210 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. While Eli Holstein was 21-for-30 for 301 yards and three touchdowns.
West Virginia picked up a first down on their first drive before punting it away after failing to move the chains during the next set of downs. Pitt went three-and-out during their first drive.
On their second offensive drive, the Mountaineers started around midfield and struck first blood with a touchdown. To set them up in the red zone, Rodney Gallagher had a big reception of 33 yards. The drive was capped with a 10-yard CJ Donaldson receiving touchdown.
Looking to answer the Mountaineers’ score, Pitt drove 62 yards down the field in seven plays on their second drive. A big 42-yard reception by Kenny Johnson set the Panthers up in the red zone. On the next play, Holstein had a man in the end zone, but he caught the ball out of bounds, as confirmed by review. They settled for a 31-yard field goal to get on the board just under midway in the first quarter.
With under a minute left in the first quarter, the Panthers took the lead as Holstein hit running back Desmond Reid wide-open in the front of the endzone for a nine-yard touchdown. The drive consisted of eight plays for 72 yards as Pitt went up 10-7.
After the Pitt touchdown, West Virginia answered with a 75-yard scoring drive. In the end, a five-yard rushing touchdown by Jahiem White put them back up, 14-10.
In a drive filled with penalties on both sides, Pitt took the lead right back. Holstein hit Reid again for his second receiving touchdown. Midway through the second quarter, the Panthers led 17-14, after the 11-play, 65-yard drive.
Nearing the end of the first half, Michael Hayes tied it up for WVU with a 44-yard field goal. In the first half, West Virginia out-rushed Pitt, but the Panthers had 100 more yards in the air.
To begin the second half, Pitt went three-and-out. WVU was set to punt it but pulled off a fake punt, with Oli Straw taking it himself for a first. Following that, Greene had Clement for a long touchdown, but it was negated by a holding call. After failing to move the chains after the penalty, the Mountaineers were going to actually punt it away, but it was blocked and returned by the Panthers for a touchdown to break the tie.
Looking to recoup and answer the blocked punt, West Virginia put together a scoring drive. It was a seven-play, 81-yard drive that finished with Donaldson’s second touchdown of the game, this time on the ground, 24-24 with just under five minutes left to play in the third.
After a Pitt three-and-out, WVU got the ball and looked to take the lead. Their drive began in the third quarter and led into the fourth. In the end, they took their points as Hayes knocked through his second field goal of the game, making the game 27-24.
Following the Mountaineer field goal, Pitt went three-and-out again, punting the ball back to WVU. A roughing the passer and targeting call set up WVU in Pitt territory as they continued driving and looking to run down the clock. On third down, Greene hit Justin Robinson for a touchdown after Robinson made a spectacular catch. The Mountaineers led by two possessions 34-24, with under five minutes left to go, the largest lead by either team up to this point.
Responding to WVU’s scoring drive, Pitt was driving before two consecutive holding calls set them back at first and 30 in Mountaineer territory. However, on second and 30, Holstein lofted a ball to the endzone which was caught by Daejon Reynolds despite defensive pass interference. It was a 34-31 West Virginia advantage with just over three minutes left to play.
WVU looked to respond and chew the clock but was ultimately unable to. Greene was sacked on third down, and they went three-and-out. Pitt called a timeout and still had the two-minute warning, which gave them time to readjust after the punt return.
It did not take Pitt long to reach the red zone. After four plays they had driven 64 yards before West Virginia called timeout with under a minute to play. With just over 30 seconds left to go, the Panthers capped off the drive with a one-yard rushing touchdown by Derrick Davis. It was a six-play, 77-yard drive in 1:27.
Looking for anything, West Virginia couldn’t find any outlets as Greene was intercepted late on fourth down.
WVU drops to 1-2 on the season, they’ll take on Big 12 opponent Kansas at home next week. Pittsburgh improves to 3-0 and will host Youngstown State next week.
