WVSPORTS.COM Observations: West Virginia football vs. Pittsburgh
- The Blue Lot
- 10 Replies
--Listen, I don't care if Pitt doesn't win another football game all season you never apologize for winning an ugly football game especially when your starting quarterback basically missed the entire game with an injury. West Virginia fans desperately needed this game and the atmosphere was telling of that the entire night. That was the most juice that I've seen at Mountaineer Field in a long time and it was to that football game which speaks to just how incredible it truly was. I'm not going to sit here and tell you this was a good Pitt team that West Virginia just beat or that this means anything for the rest of the season, but this was a game that the fanbase desperately needed just to out tough and out physical your primary rival in front of a raucous home crowd. I said earlier this week that this game was probably more important for Neal Brown than West Virginia, but seeing the atmosphere and just how much everybody in that stadium on and off the field wanted this game I can admit that I was wrong. Beating your rival is important and it always will be no matter what the finished product looks like.
--It had been 12 years since West Virginia was able to get a win over Pittsburgh. Soak it up.
--You can tell that this game meant a lot to the players. They were fired up from the start and you can tell they recognized how important this win was for the fanbase. West Virginia out physicaled Pittsburgh and just big boyed them at times. That hasn't happened in a while.
--But even with that being said, West Virginia made this game harder than it needed to be. Pittsburgh never wanted to take it but had multiple chances to cut into the lead in the fourth quarter trailing just 11 points but the defense continued to rise up. Still, there has to be a killer instinct here and this one was there to take and it still had to come down to late in the contest. It seemed like when something good would happen, there would be something that would be a step back as well. That must improve.
--It was like a bad dream at first with a three and out and then Pittsburgh driving basically the length of the field to take an early 3-0 lead. Followed by Garrett Greene getting injured, but credit to Nicco Marchiol in this game. He wasn't asked to do a lot but really settled in and did what he was asked to do completing 6-9 passes for 60 yards and a touchdown. He started 0-3, but completed his final 6 passes and did what he was asked to move the football in critical situations. Obviously this offense is going to need to expand if he's asked to take on a bigger role moving forward but this is the second time he's been called upon to fill in for Greene after an injury and has won them both. That zone read pull he had for a first down and the throws to Devin Carter and Preston Fox were throws that he wouldn't have been able to make earlier in the game but he settled in and got comfortable.
--CJ Donaldson, who was injured late and is a necessity for this offense, rushed for 102 yards and a touchdown and was the best player on the field. I really liked what the Mountaineers did with their tight ends in the run game as well and Kole Taylor did what he could do with the limited throwing with 3 catches for 21 yards and a touchdown. I went back to 1980 and couldn't find a game where West Virginia won with only 211 yards.
--Some of it was the game plan after Greene went down, but the wide receivers simply have to play better. They struggled to get open at times and also wasn't effective, especially early, in the run game and even basically tackled Jaylen Anderson when he broke off a big run. There's no excuses here, it simply has to get better and 3 catches for 39 yards doesn't cut it.
--The 6 points allowed by West Virginia is the fewest they've given up to Pittsburgh since 1996 when the Mountaineers shut them out. Yes, Pittsburgh's quarterback Phil Jurkovec was bad. Really, bad. But credit West Virginia for responding and holding the Panthers to 211 yards while recording 3 interceptions. West Virginia held the Panthers to 4-15 on third and fourth down and the program really kept them in check over and over outside that first drive which spanned 67 yards and netted 3 points but they only mustered 144 yards and 3 points the rest of the way on 10 more drives. Jurkovec completed just 8 passes in this game and the Panthers were held to 3.6 per carry. Credit to West Virginia for affecting Jurkovec with pressure, too.
--Sign me up for Mike Lockhart. Guy just plays so hard and makes at least one massive effort play every single game. Lee Kpogba finished with 7 tackles and Tray Lathan finished with 8. Those two have really answered some questions at the linebacker spot.
--The crowd, which was 61,106, definitely affected this game. Pittsburgh had multiple procedure penalties and finished with 9 for 65, while the Mountaineers had only 4-41 and some of those while not smart were emotionally charged. The Mountaineers also won the turnover battle 3-1 and that resulted in 10 points which was basically the difference in the game. The botched exchange was the only knock in this game but for the third straight contest West Virginia didn't beat themselves. The Sweet Caroline rendition in the third quarter break was legendary.
--Special teams was solid yet again even with the blocked punt. The punt that was pinned to the one, holding them to 2 yards in punt returns and allowing just 23 yards per kick return continued the strong play on that side.
--West Virginia has now won three straight in Morgantown in the Backyard Brawl and has gone 17-9-1 in the last 27 games in the series.
--West Virginia will now get ready for Texas Tech and there are some key injuries that will need to work their way out in the coming days. Still, 2-1 is a solid start to this football season and the Mountaineers have a chance to do something they haven't done since Brown has been here. Win three games in a row.
--It had been 12 years since West Virginia was able to get a win over Pittsburgh. Soak it up.
--You can tell that this game meant a lot to the players. They were fired up from the start and you can tell they recognized how important this win was for the fanbase. West Virginia out physicaled Pittsburgh and just big boyed them at times. That hasn't happened in a while.
--But even with that being said, West Virginia made this game harder than it needed to be. Pittsburgh never wanted to take it but had multiple chances to cut into the lead in the fourth quarter trailing just 11 points but the defense continued to rise up. Still, there has to be a killer instinct here and this one was there to take and it still had to come down to late in the contest. It seemed like when something good would happen, there would be something that would be a step back as well. That must improve.
--It was like a bad dream at first with a three and out and then Pittsburgh driving basically the length of the field to take an early 3-0 lead. Followed by Garrett Greene getting injured, but credit to Nicco Marchiol in this game. He wasn't asked to do a lot but really settled in and did what he was asked to do completing 6-9 passes for 60 yards and a touchdown. He started 0-3, but completed his final 6 passes and did what he was asked to move the football in critical situations. Obviously this offense is going to need to expand if he's asked to take on a bigger role moving forward but this is the second time he's been called upon to fill in for Greene after an injury and has won them both. That zone read pull he had for a first down and the throws to Devin Carter and Preston Fox were throws that he wouldn't have been able to make earlier in the game but he settled in and got comfortable.
--CJ Donaldson, who was injured late and is a necessity for this offense, rushed for 102 yards and a touchdown and was the best player on the field. I really liked what the Mountaineers did with their tight ends in the run game as well and Kole Taylor did what he could do with the limited throwing with 3 catches for 21 yards and a touchdown. I went back to 1980 and couldn't find a game where West Virginia won with only 211 yards.
--Some of it was the game plan after Greene went down, but the wide receivers simply have to play better. They struggled to get open at times and also wasn't effective, especially early, in the run game and even basically tackled Jaylen Anderson when he broke off a big run. There's no excuses here, it simply has to get better and 3 catches for 39 yards doesn't cut it.
--The 6 points allowed by West Virginia is the fewest they've given up to Pittsburgh since 1996 when the Mountaineers shut them out. Yes, Pittsburgh's quarterback Phil Jurkovec was bad. Really, bad. But credit West Virginia for responding and holding the Panthers to 211 yards while recording 3 interceptions. West Virginia held the Panthers to 4-15 on third and fourth down and the program really kept them in check over and over outside that first drive which spanned 67 yards and netted 3 points but they only mustered 144 yards and 3 points the rest of the way on 10 more drives. Jurkovec completed just 8 passes in this game and the Panthers were held to 3.6 per carry. Credit to West Virginia for affecting Jurkovec with pressure, too.
--Sign me up for Mike Lockhart. Guy just plays so hard and makes at least one massive effort play every single game. Lee Kpogba finished with 7 tackles and Tray Lathan finished with 8. Those two have really answered some questions at the linebacker spot.
--The crowd, which was 61,106, definitely affected this game. Pittsburgh had multiple procedure penalties and finished with 9 for 65, while the Mountaineers had only 4-41 and some of those while not smart were emotionally charged. The Mountaineers also won the turnover battle 3-1 and that resulted in 10 points which was basically the difference in the game. The botched exchange was the only knock in this game but for the third straight contest West Virginia didn't beat themselves. The Sweet Caroline rendition in the third quarter break was legendary.
--Special teams was solid yet again even with the blocked punt. The punt that was pinned to the one, holding them to 2 yards in punt returns and allowing just 23 yards per kick return continued the strong play on that side.
--West Virginia has now won three straight in Morgantown in the Backyard Brawl and has gone 17-9-1 in the last 27 games in the series.
--West Virginia will now get ready for Texas Tech and there are some key injuries that will need to work their way out in the coming days. Still, 2-1 is a solid start to this football season and the Mountaineers have a chance to do something they haven't done since Brown has been here. Win three games in a row.
