MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – A sellout crowd of 62,108 saw a Backyard Brawl for the ages as Nicco Marchiol rallied West Virginia from 10 points down with 9:23 left to pull out an unlikely 31-24 victory over touchdown-favorite Pitt here at Milan Puskar Stadium this afternoon.
Coach Pat Narduzzi’s Panther defense came unglued late in the game after taking control in the third quarter with a pair of interceptions that led to 21 unanswered Panther points.
But West Virginia (2-1) responded with a rally of its own once coach Rich Rodriguez went back to Marchiol late in the second half after using freshman Scotty Fox Jr. and redshirt senior Jaylen Henderson behind center seeking a spark.
Marchiol was 9-for-11 passing for 109 yards on West Virginia’s final two possessions of regulation, including the game tying 2-yard touchdown pass to tight end Grayson Barnes with 11 seconds remaining.
For the game, he completed 19 of his 25 attempts for 192 yards and a touchdown, while transfer running back Tye Edwards generated 141 yards and three touchdowns on 25 carries.
“Our quarterback, Nicco, this kid has a lot of heart,” Rodriguez said. “You know we were going back and forth, trying to get a spark here or there, and then right at the end, he played some great football; made some great passes.”
Edwards’ touchdown in overtime from the 1, his third of the game, was the clinching score.
“Happy for our fans who hung in there; never quit,” Rodriguez said. “I’ve always felt the longer the game goes, the more it goes to our advantage because of the way our guys work, and whether it’s overtime or not. I know at times it looked bleak, and we got
enough mistakes for five games, but man, our defense just played its tail off all game, and it kept us in the game.”
Only two West Virginia-Pitt games have gone into overtime, and both have happened here at Milan Puskar Stadium. The other one occurred in 1997 when the Panthers rallied to beat the Mountaineers 41-38 in triple overtime.
Pitt quarterback Eli Holstein, who said earlier this week that he was concerned about fan misbehavior and having “batteries and beer” thrown at his, was more rattled by the pressure West Virginia’s defense brought at him.
Coordinator Zach Alley, whom Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi mistakenly referred to as Zach Allen during his press conference earlier this week, brought wave after wave of defenders against Holstein. West Virginia got to the Pitt quarterback six times, hit him several others, broke up three passes and came up with a big red zone interception.
Holstein finished the game completing 22-of-37 passes for 301 yards and a touchdown, but Pitt could only muster 46 yards rushing on 34 attempts and the Panthers’ leading ground gainer Desmond Reid was a non-factor in the game.
The game’s opening play saw West Virginia miss a golden opportunity when Curtis Jones Jr. sacked Holstein for an 11-yard loss, jarring the football loose in the process. Kekoura Tarnue was in position to recover the fumble, but instead of falling on it, he tried to pick it up and the ball ended up in Justin Holmes’ arms at the Panther 8.
West Virginia came out of that with great field position when the Mountaineers forced a Panther punt, which Preston Fox returned 2 yards to the Pitt 48.
Marchiol’s first pass was successful to Rodney Gallgaher III for 20 yards to the Panther 28, but the drive stalled at the Pitt 26, where Kade Hensley’s 44-yard field goal attempt sailed wide left.
Near the end of the first quarter, Pitt got into position for Trey Butkowski to try a 43-yard field goal, but his kick was unsuccessful. The Panthers’ big play to get into field goal range was Holstein’s fourth-and-5 pass to tight end Malachi Thomas for 22 yards to the WVU 7.
However, on the play, Jaedon Moore was called for unnecessary roughness, placing the ball back at the 22. A sack of Holstein, an incompletion and short pass to Raphael Williams Jr. necessitated Pitt’s try for a field goal.
WVU took over at its 25, and Edwards began and ended the drive with 12-yard runs, his second, which included a great move at the line of scrimmage, ended with him standing up in Pitt’s end zone.
Edwards totaled 38 yards on the ground, while Marchiol completed passes of 18 to Cam Vaughn and 11 to Barnes on the nine-play, 75-yard scoring march.
Pitt started its fifth possession at its 39, and Holstein passes of 16 yards to Deuce Spann and 22 yards to Williams Jr., in addition to a personal foul targeting call on linebacker Ashton Woods, moved the ball to the WVU 11.
Replay confirmed the call on the field and Woods was disqualified.
Two plays later, Holstein’s pass intended for Zion Fowler-El was off target and intercepted by Darrian Lewis, who returned it to the Mountaineer 10.
Following an exchange of possessions, Holstein put Pitt in business by eluding pressure and hitting Bryce Yates in stride for a 68-yard hookup before he was knocked out of bounds by Tarnue at the WVU 6.
The Panthers’ next three plays consisted of a Holstein 1-yard run that required him to miss a play when he was shaken up, backup Cole Gonzales’ pass to the nearside of the field to Fowler-El that fell incomplete and Holstein’s incomplete fade pass to Johnson in the end zone.
Butkowski completed the drive with a 23-yard field goal with 1:37 left in the half.
The half ended in controversial fashion as a result of the ACC officiating crew, minus its lead official Gary Patterson, which allowed the first-half clock to run out despite an unnecessary roughness penalty called on the Panthers for hitting Marchiol late.
The explanation on the field was that, despite Marchiol getting the necessary first-down yardage with one second still remaining, the clock started immediately. Had the clock stopped, the Mountaineers would have been able to run the field goal unit out to try a kick at the Panther 27.
This is the same officiating and replay crew that botched a replay at Syracuse last week that led to Patterson’s resignation.
West Virginia extended its lead on its second possession of the second half with Fox in the game. Taking over at its 20 after a Panther punt in the end zone, the Mountaineers began to move on Edwards’ 18-yard sweep to the WVU 41.
Two plays later, Fox hit Justin Smith-Brown in stride on a quick pass down the far side of the field and Smith-Brown ran to the Pitt 3 where he was tackled out of bounds by Cruce Brookins for a 56-yard gainer.
Three runs later, Edwards bulled in from the 1, and Hensley’s conversion kick gave West Virginia a 14-3 lead.
Pitt (2-1) immediately answered, thanks to Holstein’s bomb to Williams Jr. down the near sideline that he took 67 yards to the WVU 6 before Fred Perry pushed him out of bounds. It took Pitt four plays to score with Holstein taking it in from the 1.
Holstein’s conversion pass in the back of the end zone to Cartarus Hicks was initially ruled incomplete on the field, but after review, the call was overruled, making the score West Virginia 14, Pitt 11.
The Panthers got the ball right back when linebacker Kyle Louis picked off Fox’s pass that was intended for Smith-Brown to the far sideline and returned 21 yards to the Mountaineer 14.
A holding penalty on Justin Holmes, blocking for Deuce Spann on his 6-yard run, moved the ball back to the 16, and then Holstein was flagged for intentional grounding on third down, requiring Butkowski to kick a game-tying 46-yard field goal with 3:30 left in the third quarter.
On the ensuing possession, Fox’s second interception, this one by linebacker Braylan Lovelace, gave Pitt possession of the football at the WVU 24.
The Panther offense once again went backwards as a result of two false start penalties, but Butkowski punched through his third field goal of the game, this from 36 yards, to give the Panthers a 17-14 lead to begin the fourth quarter.
Here, Rodriguez opted to give Henderson a try at quarterback.
But yet another Panther possession began in West Virginia territory when Henderson was sacked for a 10-yard loss on fourth and 3, giving Pitt the football at the WVU 47 with 11:26 showing on the clock.
Six plays later, Holstein extended Pitt’s lead with a 14-yard touchdown strike to a wide-open Williams Jr., capping a 47-yard drive that consumed just 2:03.
Hensley’s conversion kick expanded Pitt’s lead to 24-14 with 9:23 remaining.
Marchiol then returned to the field and took West Virginia down to the Pitt 3 where the drive stalled and Hensley kicked a 21-yard field goal. Marchiol completed all four of his passes for 45 yards on the drive.
Marchiol continued his hot hand when the Panther offense was unable to run out the clock and punted the football back to West Virginia with 2:47 left. With one timeout and the two-minute timeout available, the Mountaineers took possession at their 13.
He completed 5 of his 7 pass attempts for 64 yards, the big one going for 34 yards to Barnes that took the football to Pitt’s 41. A pair of Clay Ash runs, a 13-yard pass to Vaughn and a pass interference penalty on Pitt’s Rashan Murray on Vaughn gave WVU a first and goal at the Pitt 2 with 18 seconds left.
Marchiol’s first pass in the end zone to Gallagher was broken up by Lovelace, but his second landed softly in Barnes’ arms for a 2-yard touchdown with just 11 seconds to go. Hensley’s conversion kicked tied the game at 24.
Pitt chose to take a knee and run out the final :07 to send the game into overtime, where West Virginia took possession at its 25 and used three Edward runs of 14 yards to get to the Pitt 11.
A Marchiol pass to tight end Jacob Barrick for 7 yards gave West Virginia a third and 1 at the Pitt 4. Marchiol’s run up the middle was unsuccessful, but Edwards got 3 on fourth down to give the Mountaineers first and goal at the Panther 1.
Another Marchiol sneak couldn’t get the ball in, but Edwards’ second try did.
Pitt’s possession to attempt and extend the game got off to a bad start when Juelz Goff was thrown for a 1-yard loss. A Holstein pass under duress was then nearly picked off by Tarnue.
On third down, Eddie Vesterinen got to Holstein to sack him for a 9-yard loss, and Holstein’s fourth-and-20 pass, again under heavy pressure, sailed out of bounds and the game ended.
“We are still going to have moments and it’s going to be tough in spots, but to come back after a tough week and to focus and to beat your rival … and when it looked like you weren’t gonna beat them, (I’m) just really, really proud of them. I’m blessed to be here and blessed to be their coach.”
West Virginia fans celebrated the victory by singing “Take Me Home, Country Roads” and then Pitt’s theme song “Sweet Caroline.”
A clip of Rodriguez from his introductory press conference also appeared on the video board to make a special announcement to the Panther fans who stayed until the end.
“Any of you other Pitt fans can leave the building now,” he said.
Eastern college football’s longest rivalry among power conference programs will hit the pause button for four years until the rivalry resumes in Pittsburgh in 2029.
West Virginia begins Big 12 play at Kansas next Saturday in a game that kicks off at 6 p.m. and will be televised nationally on FSN1.
