Costly Mistakes Hurt WVU Against Pitt
McCoy has career day as Panthers win, 19-15By JIM ELLIOTT, W.Va. Sports Editor
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PITTSBURGH - Nobody was ready to blame West Virginia quarterback Pat White for the Mountaineers' 19-15 loss to the Pitt Panthers in the Backyard Brawl on Friday at Heinz Field.
Except for Pat White.
White threw a pair of fourth-quarter interceptions, the second one by the recently benched Javoni Chappel at the WVU 30, setting up a touchdown that allowed the Panthers to creep within two points with 8 minutes remaining, and Pitt went on to beat West Virginia for a second consecutive season.
''Bad read, bad ball,'' said White, who was intending to get the pass to Dorrell Jalloh. ''I threw it right to him. It looked like he was on my team.''
Just like that, this became the Backyard ''Bawl.''
''It hurts,'' White said. ''I've been bawling my eyes out. I felt like I gave it away. We played good enough to get a 'W', but I didn't at the end.
''I felt my mistakes hurt us on those two picks.''
White said all of this despite the fact that it was his highlight-reel, 54-yard, against-the-grain, third-quarter touchdown run that gave West Virginia the lead in the first place.
It was vintage White, starting left on a designed play to that side on a third-and-short. He was bottled up - Pitt's sound option defense was coming in waves all day - when he reversed field, set up his blockers, made his way to the opposite sideline and took off.
It was the Mountaineers' fourth loss this season, matching the same number White had experienced as a starter in his first three seasons in Morgantown.
''It's definitely not something I'm used to,'' he said, ''but I understand it. It's a part of the game. You can't win them all. Just be thankful that you're still able to step out there and play.''
Pitt's LeSean McCoy sure is. He rushed for a career high 183 yards and scored a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns, including the game-winner from a yard out with 52 seconds remaining on what might have been his last game as a college player at Heinz Field.
Earlier in the week, McCoy suggested he was staying in school, but the NFL scouts and dollars might be able to change his mind after a performance like this.
''LeSean McCoy is a great back,'' said West Virginia coach Bill Stewart, never one to shy away from the obvious. ''He runs so hard, and I was really impressed with the balance he showed.''
Pat Lazear, who split time with Najee Goode at linebacker in place of injured starter Anthony Leonard, said McCoy is both relentless and smart.
''We stopped him a couple times, but he just kept coming and managed to break a couple,'' Lazear said. ''Every time you have a missed assignment, he makes you pay.''
The Mountaineers missed a lot of them in this one from the get-go.
Pitt got on the board first, taking the opening drive a rather easy 64 yards on five plays, culminating with a 30-yard Bill Stull touchdown pass to Derek Kinder.
The Mountaineers took possession, but it looked like they did it only because the rules state they had to.
First, Tyler Urban was called on an offensive pass interference penalty, wiping out a big gain. Later, receiver Alric Arnett was whistled for a holding penalty, making a memory out of a 54-yard touchdown pass to Jock Sanders. (In fairness, if Arnett wasn't holding, Sanders probably would have never made it).
On Pitt's next drive, Ellis Lankster was hit with a 15-yard facemask penalty that gave Pitt new life. It didn't matter when Connor Lee wound up missing a 40-yard field goal attempt, but it was clear something wasn't right.
''We were not mentally sharp, it didn't look like to me,'' Stewart said.
West Virginia got its first real break with 6:25 remaining in the second quarter when John Holmes stripped Stull of the ball and Scooter Berry pounced on it at the Pitt 39. A run (29 yards) and a pass reception (9 yards) by Jock Sanders advanced the ball to the 1, but West Virginia ultimately settled for a 20-yard field goal by Pat McAfee after two goal-line plays were foiled.
''We're still trying to figure out a way to get it in,'' West Virginia offensive coordinator Jeff Mullen said.
What didn't work was a run by White (lost 2 yards) and a trick play where Jarrett Brown took the snap, handed off to White who was in motion and then threw to Wes Lyons. Lyons, who stands at 6-foot-8, soared high to catch the ball but landed out of the back of the end zone.
West Virginia received another break just before halftime when Quinton Andrews intercepted Stull's pass in the end zone with 19 ticks remaining. The Panthers were at the 2 at the time when Coach Dave Wannstedt decided to upset the natives with a pass rather than put it in McCoy's hands.
''When we walked off the field at halftime, we felt we shot ourselves in the foot several times and our players could have been despondent,'' Wannstedt said. ''In the second half, we regrouped and found a way to make more plays than they did.''
West Virginia cut it to 7-6 on its first drive of the second half when McAfee capped a 14-play, 59-yard drive, with a 26-yard field goal. That was one play after the normally sure-handed Jalloh let a touchdown pass clang off his hands on a throw from the 9.
Then the Mountaineers upped it to 12-7 on White's 54-yard run and the PAT attempt was botched.
''We played defense against a very good offense and a great quarterback,'' Wannstedt said. ''Pat White is the best spread option quarterback in the country.''
Later, West Virginia went ahead by eight when McAfee drilled his third field goal, a 40-yarder with 11:53 remaining.
That was before the Chappel Show came on and McCoy found his rhythm.
With it all, they were popping champagne in Cincinnati. Regardless of the outcome of today's game against Syracuse, the Bearcats clinched the Big East's BCS bowl.
