Anything can happen in a rivalry game and when Pitt and West Virginia meet in the Backyard Brawl for the 107th time Saturday at Acrisure Stadium, that statement could come to fruition as a game of this magnitude is circled on the schedule months, maybe years, in advance. Fan bases, players and coaches look forward to every matchup because they want bragging rights.
"If you don't know anything about rivalries, this is the one," Pat Narduzzi said earlier this week when discussing the matchup. "This is the one that people in Pittsburgh live for, people down south live for ... I think you can throw every record out. We could be 0-2. They could be 0-2. It doesn't matter. This will be a knock-down-drag-out battle at Acrisure Stadium on Saturday. They'll be ready; we'll be ready. We're excited for it."
Emotions always come out in rivalry games. Things go awry and teams sometimes stray away from their game plans because of it and that's what will be crucial for Pitt this weekend on its home field. The Panthers must stick to their game plan of stopping the run and playing efficiently and fast. It's something that's been talked about multiple times inside the facility on South Water Street on the South Side.
With West Virginia's three-headed monster of Garrett Greene, CJ Donaldson and Jaheim White, the Panthers are presented with a tough challenge as the Mountaineers have rushed for a total of 390 yards and five touchdowns while averaging 195 rushing yards per game. But to stop West Virginia's rushing game, Narduzzi said the Panthers need to put points on the scoreboard.
"To stop the run you gotta score points too," Narduzzi said. "Last week, we ran into the same problem because when you’re down, they can run the ball more, it makes it easy for them because they are up by 14 or 21 points and we were allowing them, by the scoreboard, to be able to call those plays because if you’re down by 14 on the other end, you have to think otherwise. So we have to help ourselves out that way."
That starts with Kade Bell and the offense. So far this season, outside of the first half against Cincinnati, the offense has operated efficiently with Eli Holstein at the helm. The redshirt freshman has thrown for 638 yards and six touchdowns this season while completing 66.7% of his passes and throwing two interceptions. Ten different players have also caught passes this season and the Panthers have averaged 334 passing yards per game.
Western Carolina transfer Desmond Reid has led the way on the ground through the first two games and has tallied 293 rushing yards and one touchdown. But he also leads the nation in all-purpose yards with 488 yards and two more touchdowns,
Through the first two games of the season, the Panthers have started fast. Against Kent State, they scored in just 2 minutes, 59 seconds while running nine plays and covering 95 yards. This past week against Cincinnati, they were on their way to doing the same but Holstein threw an interception in the end zone. Pitt moved the ball from their own 20-yard line to Cincinnati's 26 in just under two minutes and utilized a nifty 13-yard shovel pass to Gavin Bartholomew, which was followed by a 23-yard run by Reid.
It was the type of start that Bell envisioned before it went awry and it's the same type of start -- minus the interception -- that Bell wants to have this week against the Mountaineers.
"I want to start fast this week and hopefully we’ll do that and have momentum and hold onto the momentum," Bell said. "Big games like this, my dad always told me, you can’t get the momentum back, right? Once you get it, you have to hold onto it as long as you can and I think if we do that, we’ll have a good shot."
There's also a balance of focusing too heavily on starting fast. Narduzzi said Thursday that he doesn't want his offense to take the field, go three-and-out and then feel discouraged going into the remainder of the game. So while Narduzzi knows he wants his team to start fast, he also wants his team to go out and execute.
"To me, it’s about going out and playing like we know how to play, executing the call on offense, defense and special teams," Narduzzi said. "I’m not worried about the fast start, of course, we want to start fast. But I don’t want to say that’s the No. 1 thing we have to do."
THE OPPONENT
Head Coach: Neal Brown (67-46, 32-30 at West Virginia)
Record: (1-1, 0-0 Big 12)
Players to watch: Garrett Greene, QB, Sr.; CJ Donaldson, RB, Jr.; Jahiem White, RB, So.; Kole Taylor, TE, Sr.; T.J. Jackson, DL, Sr.; Josiah Trotter, LB, R-Fr.
Through their first two games of the season, the Mountaineers are 1-1, as they fell to Penn State in their season opener, 34-12, before stomping Albany this past weekend in Morgantown, 49-14.
Despite its loss to Penn State, the Mountaineers have focused heavily on establishing the run in both of their contests this season. While only rushing for 85 yards against Penn State, West Virginia ran the ball 37 times. Donaldson led the way, carrying the ball 12 times for 42 yards and a touchdown while White received eight carries for 33 yards. Greene also recorded 10 carries on the day.
It was much of the same against Albany, but the Mountaineers turned 32 carries into 305 rushing yards and four touchdowns as a team. Donaldson and White combined for 225 yards and two touchdowns while Greene added 68 yards and a score.
"White is a dude. He’s a good football player, I see him kinda like a Desmond Reid. He’s slippery, he’s not real big, but he’s explosive, he’s made some big plays for them," Narduzzi said. "Then, CJ, they got two different types of guys, kinda like we do. I don’t think Derrick Davis or Daniel Carter are 240 but they have a two-headed monster at running back and you better be prepared for different stuff when both of them are in. CJ will probably come in for some short-yardage stuff. But both good pass protectors, they are both good football players."
Greene has completed 62.8% of his passes this season for 397 yards and three touchdowns. But, the Mountaineers open their passing game through their running game. They'll use RPOs and find receivers such as Hudson Clement, Traylon Ray and 6-7 tight end Kole Taylor. The mixture of talent presents problems, so the Panthers just have to be ready for anything.
"They will throw the ball downfield, then they’ll run the quarterback when you spread out and try to cover everybody and they’ll do a great job of mixing it up," Randy Bates said earlier this week. "So, I think, at the end of the day, you have to do a great job of reading your keys and doing your job."
The Panthers have been able to do that for the most part this season. They've been the victims of big plays but seemed to get it under control during the second half against Cincinnati. If they can contain wide receivers in man coverage and present different looks with their blitzes throughout the game, they should be in a good position.
Defensively, the Mountaineers are similar to Cincinnati. They've used a three-safety look at times with an odd front, but they've also sent four down linemen at times as well. Bell said West Virginia defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley "likes to do a little bit of everything."
"They play in the Big 12, so they’ve had to defend a lot of tempo offenses, spread offenses," Bell said. "They do a lot of different stuff. Every game plan to me they are a little bit different. They’ll play some quarters, some man, some three, they kinda switch it up depending who they are playing. To me we just have to be able to handle the different fronts and obviously, are they going to blitz us or are they not going to blitz us, we have to be able to handle it."
With a young quarterback under center, one could expect that Neal Brown and the Mountaineers will throw as many looks as they can at Holstein, much like Cincinnati confused him and caused him early problems with their three-safety look.
But Brown said earlier this week "he'll (Holstein) probably be excited to play us because quarterbacks have been able to run against us." Albany quarterback Myles Burkett rushed 13 times for just eight yards while Penn State quarterback Drew Allar rushed for 44 yards and his backup Beau Pribula rushed for 25 yards. If Holstein can stay patient, take what the defense gives him and utilize his legs, he could neutralize the West Virginia defense.
However, with the amount of looks the West Virginia defense can show, the key for Pitt will be able to adjust on the fly and find ways to attack it throughout the game.
"It’s a rivalry game, you gotta be ready for anything," Bell said. "They’ve only played two games, they could be saving everything for Pitt. So we just have to be prepared to make adjustments and get Eli comfortable early in the game."
