Opinion
Asti: West Virginia Must Have Effective Pass Rush in Backyard Brawl to Beat Pitt
There are many storylines heading into the 2024 Backyard Brawl, but the actual outcome will come down to one aspect of the game. If the Mountaineers, who enter game as a slight road favorite, are going to win, they will have to be much better at generating a pass rush. It’s really that simple.
WVU, who now sits at 1-1 through two weeks, has struggled to make opposing quarterbacks sweat. Drew Allar had all day in Penn State’s 34-12 blowout win in the much-hyped season opener and Albany quarterback Myles Burkett made history through the air despite West Virginia winning the game comfortably 49-14.
Allar threw for 216 yards on just 17 pass attempts, including one big one to end the first half. Burkett accumulated the most passing yards ever produced by any FCS opponent against a WVU team. In fact, Albany becomes the first FCS program to ever reach and surpass 300 yards through the air against the Mountaineers.
The previous high was 280 yards from Liberty in 2015 right before they moved up to the FBS level.
When asked for a comment about the secondary having another rough game, WVU head coach Neal Brown said they didn’t play fast enough. He also added that stats don’t lie about allowing 300 yards passing.
At first glance, the first two weeks point to issues within the WVU secondary. And while the secondary has certainly been a problem and must be better, the pass rush connects all of the dots, too.
The pass rush has only been able to mustard two sacks and 11 tackles for a loss through two games so far. And now with Eddie Vesterinen injured and expected to miss a few weeks, the defensive line will have even less depth to work with against Pitt.
A lack of an effective pass rush makes life even easier on a quarterback facing a struggling secondary. If West Virginia fails to make Pitt’s redshirt freshman quarterback Eli Holstein sweat, especially after since he’s coming into the game riding high off a comeback win on the road over Cincinnati, the WVU secondary will be tested and the Panthers’ new up tempo offense could make it a long night for the Mountaineers.
West Virginia will travel to Pittsburgh to take on the Panthers in the 2024 Backyard Brawl. Kickoff on Saturday, Sept. 14 is set for 3:30 pm ET and the game will air nationally on ESPN2.
For a related story, Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi shared his thoughts on Neal Brown and WVU.
