Neal Brown Makes No Excuses for Pitt Loss: ‘You Should Never Lose When Up By 10’

PITTSBURGH – Not that it will alleviate any of the pain for WVU fans, head coach Neal Brown didn’t make any excuses following his team’s 38-34 loss to Pitt in the Backyard Brawl.

West Virginia led 34-24 towards the end of the fourth quarter, but then ended up walking off the field a loser nonetheless. “You should never lose a game when you’re up 10 late,” said Brown during his postgame press conference.

And since Pitt’s comeback win was largely due to the struggles of WVU’s secondary, Brown added a “let’s just say what it is, we haven’t defended the pass really good” as well. Pitt quarterback Eli Holstein completed 21-of-30 passes for 301 yards and threw three touchdowns in the game.

Quarterback Garrett Greene echoed what Brown said, too. “We were up with 5 minutes to go. We shouldn’t lose games like that.”

WVU QB Garrett Greene: “We were up with 5 minutes to go. We shouldn’t lose games like that.”

— Mike J. Asti (@MikeAsti11) September 14, 2024

Running back CJ Donaldson even admitted that this loss stings more than when he was also on the losing side of Pitt’s 38-31 win over West Virginia on the same Acrisure Stadium field to kickoff the 2022 season.

However, taking accountability isn’t going to change the outcome. At the end of the day, the Mountaineers lost and are now 1-2 with a tough Big 12 slate coming up.

For a related story, WVU head coach Neal Brown didn’t hold back when responding to what Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi said after the game.

WVU HC Neal Brown Doesn’t Hold Back in Response to Pat Narduzzi