MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The only cheering West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez heard this time in the Backyard Brawl was from his own supporters.
Tye Edwards rushed for three touchdowns, including a 1-yarder in overtime to lift West Virginia to a 31-24 win over Pittsburgh on Saturday night.
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West Virginia (2-1) bounced back from a pitiful performance a week ago at Ohio. Rodriguez won in his first matchup with Pitt since 2007, when the Panthers prevailed 13-9 and denied the Mountaineers a trip to the BCS national championship game.
Rodriguez, whose postgame news conference in that game was punctuated by the celebration coming from Pitt's locker room, has said this meeting wouldn’t erase any of the angst from that loss. But the result set off a celebration from the sellout crowd.
″This win was for everybody that supports our program, that follows our team," he said. "We're going to enjoy the hell out of this one for 24 hours."
Nicco Marchiol, who started but was on the bench for five series in the second half while two backup quarterbacks struggled, led West Virginia on a furious comeback. The Mountaineers scored 10 points in the final five minutes of regulation, then he engineered the eight-play scoring drive on the first series of overtime.
Pitt (2-1) had one last chance on its overtime possession but Eli Holstein threw incomplete on fourth-and-20 to end the game.
“We just didn’t execute. Plain and simple,” said Holstein, whose face and nose were bruised from a second-quarter hit.
Holstein brought Pitt back from a 7-3 halftime deficit with a short TD run and a 14-yard scoring toss to Raphael Williams Jr. for a 24-14 lead.
West Virginia got a field goal after Marchiol returned. Then, after the defense forced a punt, he led the Mountaineers 87 yards, hitting tight end Grayson Barnes with a 2-yard TD toss to tie it at 24-24 with 11 seconds left.
Edwards ran 25 times for 141 yards, including other TD runs of 12 and 1 yards. He got the bulk of the carries in place of Jahiem White, who was lost for the season a week ago with a knee injury.
Holstein finished 22 of 37 for 303 yards.
Reid out
Pitt leading rusher Desmond Reid had 30 rushing yards in the first 11 minutes of the first quarter but didn’t play the rest of the game. Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi didn't specify why Reid went out.
“We hope we can get him back here quick,” he said.
The takeaway
Pittsburgh: Unlike last year, when Holstein engineered a comeback win for the Panthers over West Virginia as a freshman, he couldn't get it done this time. Pitt was limited to two touchdowns on six red-zone chances. Holstein threw an interception in the end zone.
West Virginia: Marchiol came up huge after two backup quarterbacks got little done for the Mountaineers. Scotty Fox Jr. threw a pair of interceptions in the third quarter that gave Pitt the ball in West Virginia territory and led to a pair of field goals. Marchiol finished 19 of 25 for 192 yards.
Up next
Pittsburgh: Is idle next Saturday and hosts Louisville in their Atlantic Coast Conference opener on Sept. 27.
West Virginia: Plays at Kansas in their Big 12 opener next Saturday night.
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