As much as I like a lot of Pitt’s players, I think their coaching staff sucks and predicted they’d get run off the field last night in the 99th annual Backyard Brawl between Pitt and WVU and Heinz Field.  I was wrong for about a half, as the Panthers took at 27-24 lead into the locker room.  The 8th ranked Mountaineers came out and scored 3 unanswered TDs in the 2nd half to win 45-27.

WVU rolled up a whopping 641 of total offense, including 345 (215 rushing, 130 receiving) from Steve Slaton…who I think is the best player in the country, but probably won’t even make the Heisman finals.  Add QB Pat White’s 220 on the ground and it marks just the 3rd time in NCAA history that two players on the same team both had 200 yards rushing on the same team in the same game.  Pitt’s Tyler Palko threw 341 and 2 TDs but was out matched by the unstoppable Mountaineer offense.

The game also featured what may be the greatest punt return in the history of college football by the Panthers’ Darrelle Revis.  Revis fielded WVU’s pooch punt in the 2nd quarter, ran the width of the field to the near side, turned the corner nearly stepping out of bounds, shaking and jiving no less than 5 Mountaineers, including a spectacular inside spin near the goal line to score.  The return appears to have been an intended throwback from Revis to Pitt WR Derek Kinder on the other side of the field that went awry.  Darrelle ended up keeping the ball and Kinder ultimately delivered a brutal crack back block, leveling 2 WVU cover guys and giving Revis the edge.

WVU is obviously a better team than Pitt and definitely should’ve won.  It just baffles me though that Pitt has absolutely no answer for the Mountaineers’ spread option offense.  Defensive Coordinator Paul Rhoades has probably seen this offense more often than anyone else in college football, you’d think he may have some theories on shutting it down.  Pitt has seen it six times since Rich Rodriguez took over WVU in 2001, played Bobby Petrino’s Louisville (they run a modified version of it) once, and not to mention getting embarrassed in the Fiesta Bowl in 2004 by Urban Meyer’s Utah squad.  I understand that WVU kills lots of teams and that Pitt may not entirely have the personnel to deal with it, but it’s pretty obvious that the defensive game plan, or lack thereof, is so flawed that the Panthers have no chance to win.  It looks as if Paul Rhoades has no clue how to handle the spread package and that translates into disaster for the team.

Pitt drops to 6-5 and needs to beat aforementioned, 10th ranked Louisville next Saturday to get bowl eligible.

Updated with YouTube goodness of Darrelle Revis

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Tags: backyard brawl, College Football, darrelle revis, derek kinder, pat white, paul rhoades, Pitt, steve slaton, tyler palko, Videos, WVU

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