West Virginia suffered a 38-34 loss to rival Pitt in the Backyard Brawl on Saturday.
Staff writer Wesley Shoemaker picks out five things from the game yesterday that stood out and dives into each.
That should never happen
If a team is up 10 with 4:55 to play, they should never lose the game. Plain and simple, the collapse late by West Virginia cannot happen.
Pitt held the ball for 3:20 of the final 4:55 of the game and scored 14 points during that span. Pitt moved the ball with ease not once but twice in the closing minutes, including doing anything and everything they wanted on the game-winning touchdown drive.
The final drive lasted six plays and on that drive, Pitt had three plays for 17 yards or more, as they drove down the field in 1:27. The drive prior might be even more of an issue as a play that started as 2nd and 30 ended with Pitt celebrating a 40-yard touchdown.
It was ugly late for WVU and there's no way around that fact. They collapsed defensively and the last offensive possession didn't do them any favors either. What happened should never happen in a game, especially not in that type of game against your biggest rival.
Changes Coming?
Head coach Neal Brown somewhat eluded to it postgame that changes are coming.
"Our personnel is our personnel. We got to play them better, we got to play better, we got to coach them better. It's not [like] we got people waiting in the bullpen," Brown said after the game.
Brown also added during his postgame press conference that there will need to be changes and corrections made after this game.
Bodies have been rotating throughout the first three weeks of the season, but the issues remain the same. What those changes exactly look like is to be determined, but there has to be a level of accountability somewhere for what happened late in the game on Saturday.
14-Point Swing
One of the big turning points in the game happened in the third quarter. With the game tied at 17-17, WVU executed a perfect fake punt from Oliver Straw.
Two plays later, Garrett Greene found Hudson Clement racing towards the end zone for what should've been a 51-yard touchdown or at least set the Mountaineers up inside the one.
Instead, Wyatt Milum gets called for holding, the touchdown is taken away, and then shortly thereafter Pitt blocks the next punt returning it for a touchdown to tie the game.
Having looked back at the game, the penalty seems like a very questionable call. Milum took his guy and blocked him and went into the ground. The defender went straight down and never seemed to struggle to a point where Milum was holding him.
Keep in mind too that Milum is a superstar on WVU's o-line. He had seven penalties called on him last season and in any game, that kind of call can't be missed. By no means am I blaming the refs however in a close game with that much on the line, the correct call has to be made and I don't think the correct call was made by throwing the flag.
Red zone was a positive
One of the positives from the game was how West Virginia converted in the red zone.
The Mountaineers got the ball into the red zone four times, converting all four times for points and three of those opportunities for touchdowns. The one that will hurt them is the final opportunity when they had to settle for three points.
They had 2nd and 2 at the Pitt four and had two shots to get inside the two for a first down or just get four yards for the score. They couldn't and settled for three. Hinsight is 20-20 there, but they did a good job overall in the red zone.
However, to win close games you have to be able to convert in the red zone. They did that well on Saturday and also scored touchdowns. They went 5-for-5 with touchdowns against Albany in the red zone, after going having not their greatest showing in the red zone against Penn State.
This was one you had to have
The main takeaway from things is it feels like the same story from this team after they wanted to have lots of expectations.
Falling flat against a Penn State-caliber team is one thing. Collapsing in this game late feels like 2022 all over again.
What seems to be the biggest issue is this West Virginia team was supposed to be the best team under Neal Brown in his six years at West Virginia. Through three weeks his team is 1-2, the same record his team was at this point in 2022 for a team that won five games.
It's also a tough pill to swallow if you're West Virginia because of the preseason expectations surrounding this team. WVU was supposed to be the better team, Pitt was supposed to be the team going through somewhat of a retooling of sorts.
Pitt is 3-0, WVU is 1-2. Pitt had the quarterback making his third-ever start, while WVU had the seasoned veteran. One passed for 301 yards and three touchdowns, rushing for another 59 yards while he didn't turn the ball over. The other passed for 210 yards, two touchdowns, and threw two interceptions, adding 49 yards on the ground.
Now there are multiple question marks ahead of the first five games in a league that features four teams who were ranked in the AP Poll to start the week. There's no hiding from this loss if you're West Virginia.
While their goals are still in front of them as far as competing in the Big 12, there are a lot more questions than answers as well as wondering what's next for this group just three weeks into the season.
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