Mountaineers prevail in ‘Backyard Brawl’

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — The outcome of the Backyard Brawl was in the hands — or more specifically on the foot — of a redshirt freshman and Tyler Bitancurt wasn’t about to mess up his perfect night.

Bitancurt kicked his fourth field goals, a 43-yarder, as time expired to lift West Virginia to a 19-16 win over No. 8 Pittsburgh on Friday night.

Noel Devine rushed for 134 yards and a score as West Virginia (8-3, 4-2 Big East) halted Pittsburgh’s five-game winning streak and got a small measure of revenge for the last Backyard Brawl played in Morgantown. Back in 2007, the Mountaineers were a win away from playing for a national title when a sub-.500 Pitt team upset Pat White and Co. in Rich Rodriguez’s last game as West Virginia coach.

This loss was not nearly as damaging for the Panthers (9-2, 5-1), who can still earn the conference’s Bowl Championship Series berth with a win at home next week against No. 5 Cincinnati.

“Trust me, we’ll turn the page on this one in a hurry and get ready for Cincinnati,” Pittsburgh coach Dave Wannstedt said.

Pittsburgh was held out of the end zone on five drives inside the West Virginia 30 before Bill Stull found Jonathan Baldwin with a 50-yard TD toss with 2:54 left to tie the score at 16-16.

That gave Jarrett Brown enough time to move West Virginia 42 yards into position for the winning kick. Pittsburgh called a timeout to try to ice Bitancurt, who calmly walked back on the field.

“I didn’t say a word to Tyler Bitancurt,” West Virginia coach Bill Stewart said. “I looked at everybody but him.”

The Mountaineers’ sidelines erupted as his kick cleared with plenty of distance. Bitancurt, who won the kicking job in preseason camp following the graduation of Pat McAfee, has made 12-of-13 field goals this season.

Freshman Dion Lewis ran for 155 yards and Dan Hutchins kicked three field goals for the Panthers. Lewis, the nation’s fourth-best rusher, surpassed 100 yards for the sixth straight game. It marked the fourth straight game that West Virginia allowed a 100-yard rusher.

“Dion made some great plays on his own tonight,” Wannstedt said. “We weren’t as physical on offense as we needed to be or what we had been.”

West Virginia outgained the Panthers 369-325 and broke Pitt’s modest two-game winning streak in the Backyard Brawl.

West Virginia earned its first win over a top-10 team since beating Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl following the 2007 season.