West Virginia falls to No. 16 Pitt 38-31
PITTSBURGH – West Virginia let a fourth quarter lead slip away falling 38-31 to No. 16 Pittsburgh in the 105th edition of the Backyard Brawl inside Acrisure Stadium.
The game was played in front a Pittsburgh sports record 70,622.
Freshman CJ Donaldson rushed for 125 yards on 7 carries, while quarterback JT Daniels tossed for 214 yards and 2 touchdowns both to Bryce Ford-Wheaton.
The WVU offense took the ball first and moved the ball to the 40, but the drive would stall forcing the Mountaineers to punt to the Panthers deep into their own territory at their own 11. The West Virginia defense would force a three and out with a sack from Jared Bartlett to get the ball back to the offense.
West Virginia would return with a three and out of their own, but again the punt would pin the Panthers deep into their own end of the field. The Panthers would respond with a third down conversion deep in their own end and then was able to move the football to midfield.
The drive would result in a 42-yard field goal to cap off a 73-yard drive and give the Panthers a 3-0 edge.
The Mountaineers would answer back in short order with a 44-yard run by true freshman CJ Donaldson which set the offense up at the 10-yard line. From there, Daniels would connect with Ford-Wheaton on a 10-yard touchdown toss to put the visitors ahead 7-3.
The Panthers would move the ball close to midfield, but the defense would stand tall and the ensuing punt put the Mountaineers at their own one-yard line. After punting the football back, Pittsburgh would take over at their own 46-yard line with 8:11 left in the half.
Pittsburgh would move the ball to the West Virginia 32-yard line but an untouched fumble by receiver Bub Means gave the ball back to the Mountaineers. From there, the offense would quickly return the favor by fumbling the football back to the Panthers on a catch by Kaden Prather.
The Panthers would cash in driving the ball for a touchdown capped off by a four-yard rushing touchdown by Hammond to reseize a 10-7 lead.
It looked as if the Panthers were going to record an interception after Daniels’ arm was hit on a throw but Ford-Wheaton was able to come in and wrestle the ball away for a first down to extend the drive.
From there, the West Virginia offense would drive the ball deep into the Pittsburgh red zone and boot through a 24-yard field goal to tie the game at 10-all at halftime.
The Mountaineers would force the Panthers into a three and out on the opening drive and then Donaldson would block the punt. The coaches would reward those efforts as they would hand the ball off to the true freshman on the next play for a five yard touchdown to give West Virginia a 17-10 advantage.
After exchanging punts, the Panthers would use a 64-yard pass play to set them up at the goal line and would punch the ball into the end zone to tie things up at 17.
A three and out gave the ball back to Pittsburgh and the Panthers would score in short order in three plays to take a 24-17 edge with 3:42 left in the third.
West Virginia would put together their best drive of the second half to answer going 75-yards in 9 plays to cap it off with a 16-yard touchdown toss to Ford-Wheaton to tie things up yet again with 14:52 remaining.
The Mountaineers would answer yet again after stopping Pittsburgh to take a 31-24 lead on another 70+ yard drive that ended in a sneak by Daniels. Donaldson was effective yet again with a 39-yard run to start the momentum.
The Panthers would tie things up at 31-all after Brown elected not to go for it on fourth and one from midfield. The drive would go 92-yards in 7 plays capped off by a 24-yard touchdown toss to Abanikanda.
The Panthers would strike again as a Daniels pass bounced off the hands of a wide-open Ford-Wheaton and was returned 56-yards by MJ Devonshire for a score to lead 38-31 with only 2:58 left.
The Mountaineers would drive the ball to the 22 yard-line of the Panthers but would be unable to get any closer.
The Mountaineers will return to action Sept. 10 at home against Kansas. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m.
----------
• Talk about it with West Virginia fans on The Blue Lot.
• SUBSCRIBE today to stay up on the latest on Mountaineer sports and recruiting.
• Get all of our WVU videos on YouTube by subscribing to the WVSports.com Channel
• Follow us on Twitter: @WVSportsDotCom, @rivalskeenan
•Like us on Facebook
