West Virginia quarterback Garrett Greene and the Mountaineers fell short against Pitt on Saturday in the 107th edition of the Backyard Brawl.
After Greene found Justin Robinson for a 28-yard touchdown pass which Robinson hauled in with one hand at the front corner of the end zone, it seemed as though West Virginia was in full control. That was until they weren’t as Pitt scored a touchdown in just 1:49, before the Mountaineers went three and out on the ensuing possession.
The next time Greene touched the ball there were 32 seconds remaining and his team trailed by four.
“It sucks losing to Pitt no matter which way it is. Disappointed in how we finished in all phases. We were up with five minutes to go, we shouldn’t lose games like that,” Greene said.
Greene’s and the offense had an up-and-down showing on Saturday against the Panthers. WVU had 12 drives, punting four times, scoring four touchdowns, and kicking two field goals.
“I think offense was in rhythm at some points and other points we had some costly three-and-outs that we make one more individual play they go our way but that’s the game,” Greene said.
Greene passed for 210 yards, two touchdowns, and threw two interceptions, adding 49 yards on the ground as well. Completion percentage was once again a sore spot for Greene as he completed only 53 percent of his passes going 16-for-30 on pass attempts.
Offensive coordinator Chad Scott said his focus for Greene is trying not to overcomplicate things and just to let him be himself and not try to be a player he's not.
"I don't know if it's anything holding him back, he's just got to let it loose. Don't overthink it, I told him today, don't flinch, don't think. We try to do a phenomenal job as a coaching staff and put onus on all us coaches to make sure we're clear and concise so there's no thought process behind it and those guys can go out there and don't flinch, don't think, with him being the main one, just go out there and go play ball," Scott said.
"He's so competitive with himself he wants to be so perfect, so right all the time, and sometimes he's his own worst enemy and overthinking some things sometimes instead of trusting himself and just letting it go. I talked to him about don't flinch, don't think, just go play ball. Everybody rallies around you, you make us better. the other 10 guys are better when he's on it and I just kept reiterating that to him today, so just go out there and play ball. We got his back" Scott added.
Greene emphasized that no loss is easy but they are teaching moments. He added these are the types of games WVU will find themselves in during Big 12 play as well.
“A lot of hard lessons. Coach Brown always talks about some lessons are hard and we just have to finish better. To be a contender in this league, we’re going to be in a lot of those games where it’s tight, one possession with a short amount of time to go. We just have to be better,” Greene said.
Scott said part of the process to get Greene to play better is to just trust his abilities and instinct rather than try to overthink everything.
"Just want to be perfect all the time, just overthinking it. Everything isn't always ideal. Not always going to be ideal, not always going to be drawn up like you draw it up on the board or even look the way it will look on film. Just go out there and trust your instincts, trust your coaching, and trust your ability. He's smart, coach beyond the game, watches a lot of flim, studies a lot of football, just got to go play ball. Then guys got to go make plays around him. He hadn't played bad and some of the guys, we got to do a better job, we got to make some plays for him," Scott said.
Greene and the Mountaineers get their first crack at Big 12 competition next week when they host Kansas. Greene’s message to the fans is to not give up on them just yet as there is still a lot of football left to be played.
“Just stick with us, we still got nine conference games and the path to Dallas is still right in front of us. We’re going to go back to work on Monday and fix everything that we messed up tonight,” Greene said.
Scott still has full faith in his quarterback saying that he believes Greene will return to the level he expects him to play at.
"I told the guys today, just because it hadn't happened yet doesn't mean it's not going to happen and it will happen. I think we'll get him back to doing that. He gave us a chance in that game last week. He did a little bit of that last week, actually did a lot of that last week where he improvised a little bit and made some things happen and extended plays. We just got to finish it. He did do that, he gave us a chance to be in that game and to win that football game. We just got to finish it. That last drive he had the opportunity to help us finish it but he'll get back to that. Fully confident that he can do that, he will do that," Scott said.
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