WVU Vanquishes the Demons, Storming Back to Win Classic Backyard Brawl

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – With enough hype and emotions to fill all of West Virginia, WVU battled Pitt on Saturday in the most anticipated Backyard Brawl in recent memory. And in fitting fashion, it took some time for both teams to ease into the game, a game that eventually exploded into a classic.

West Virginia brought an aggressiveness from their defense early on that caused a fumble, granted one Pitt was able to retain, and then forced a couple punts. But a missed 44-yard field goal and a couple offensive drives with minimal gain had WVU fans wondering if they would see enough from the offense for the defensive effort to matter.

The rock fight continued on….

And the first quarter would close with Pitt handing the ball and momentum back to the Mountaineers after a missed field goal of their own. West Virginia finally broke through, finding the end zone thanks to a 12-yard run by Tye Edwards.

But WVU also failed to take advantage of other opportunities, most notably Darrian Lewis’ pick of Eli Holstein accomplishing nothing other than briefly flipping the field.

An injury to Holstein aided the Mountaineers’ in the red zone, holding the Panthers to a field goal to make the score 7-3.

That’s where the score would stay at the end of the half, too.

Then, in the second half WVU found a spark. In for Marchiol, Scotty Fox led West Virginia on their second touchdown drive of the game early in the third quarter. Fox found Justin Smith-Brown for a 56-yard bomb that set up Edwards punching in his second short touchdown run of the day.

WATCH: Big Play Sets Up Tye Edwards’ Second Rushing TD in Backyard Brawl

Unable to hold Pitt down all game, Eli Holstein finally gets the Panthers into the end zone at 6:16 of the third quarter. A successful two-point try then made the score 14-11.

Fox’s interceptions on back-to-back possessions led to a pair of Pitt field goals and a turn of events that sucked the air out of the stadium. Jaylen Henderson then took over, but was unable to mustard up enough of a drive to even tie the game.

Pitt then answered with a touchdown, partly aided by a roughing the passer call that also acted as a nail in the Mountaineers’ coffin. However, West Virginia was not dead yet.

Enter Nicco Marchiol back into the game, which provided a jolted for the offense. Despite the newfound ability to threaten movement, West Virginia still failed to find pay dirt, eventually settling for a field that cut the score to 24-17, Pitt.

Marchiol to Grayson Barnes on a third and nine picked up 34 yards, marching the Mountaineers up the field.

What happened next may go down in West Virginia lure. Marchiol threw a two-yarder back to Barnes, scoring a touchdown that tied the game and sent the 108th Backyard Brawl into overtime.

With the crowd and all of Mountaineer Nation trying to will their team, West Virginia reclaimed the lead with a touchdown on the first drive of overtime. The score woulds read 31-24 and put all of the pressure on the Panthers.

And then in a blink of an eye, WVU found a way to steal a victory from a game that appeared to be lost long ago.

The Mountaineers will now enjoy this one before starting Big 12 play on the road at Kansas.