A Brawl for the ages

With back-and-forth scoring, multiple double-digit scoring runs, six lead changes, epic individual performances and a comeback that will be talked about for a long, long time, the 107th edition of the Backyard Brawl was an instant classic.

At least for those on the winning side.

It started with West Virginia taking a lead on its second drive, which was promptly followed by Pitt rattling off 10 points in a row to go ahead. The Mountaineers then went back in front with another touchdown, only to be answered by a Pitt touchdown, which was then answered once again by a West Virginia field goal that tied the game at 17-17 heading into halftime.

Pitt took its second lead when Brandon George returned a blocked punt for a touchdown, but but WVU then went on a 17-point scoring run to create what seemed like it might be an insurmountable 10-point lead.

Then, with five minutes to go, the Panthers poured on the heroics, and at the center of it all was Eli Holstein.

Pitt’s redshirt freshman quarterback, who was nearly perfect in the Panthers’ last fourth-quarter comeback - the one that happened seven days earlier in Cincinnati - put the team on his shoulders once again on Saturday at Acrisure Stadium.

He started the comeback with a pair of scrambles that picked up 34 yards. Then he moved the sticks with an 11-yard pass to Konata Mumpfield. And then, when facing a daunting second-and-30, he threw deep to the end zone, where redshirt junior receiver Daejon Reynolds made a huge catch to cut the lead to three.

Following a big-time defensive stop to get the ball back, Holstein led the offense onto the field at its own 23 with a three-point deficit and 119 seconds on the clock.

What followed was a drive that will be referenced in shorthand by Pitt fans for years to come.

“The Holstein Drive.”

It started a scramble for seven yards, which was followed in quick succession by a 17-yard pass to Gavin Bartholomew and a 23-yard pass to Mumpfield.

Now, with 62 seconds on the clock, Pitt’s offense was at the West Virginia 30, and an outcome that had been almost entirely ruled out by most of the reported-capacity crowd seemed like it just might be possible.

When Holstein spun out of a tackle to scramble for another 17 yards, pushing the ball inside the 15 with plenty of time left, the unlikely that had turned to possible became probable. A field goal seemed like a certainty.

But Pitt didn’t just want a field goal. And Holstein wouldn’t let the offense leave the field with anything less than seven points.

So the Panthers took the field at the WVU 6 and lined up in a shotgun formation that motioned into an empty set.

Holstein by himself in the backfield - it was almost obvious what was coming:

A quarterback draw.

Sure enough, Holstein took the snap from Lyndon Cooper, tucked the ball and started weaving his way through the WVU defense.

He didn’t quite get across the goal line, but he got to the 1. And while a lost helmet forced him to the sideline for the next play, Nate Yarnell executed the handoff to Derrick Davis, who pushed through the defense for the game-winning touchdown.

Holstein watched from the sideline like a general, and in the battle that was the 2024 Backyard Brawl, he had led the winning charge.

For the second time since the Pitt-West Virginia rivalry was reignited after a too-long slumber, the Panthers put on a show for the hometown crowd. Two years ago, it was M.J. Devonshire with a game-clinching pick-six. This year, it was a fast and furious final five minutes highlighted by two big defensive stands, two big offensive marches and a quarterback who just might be up to the task of putting the team on his back when the situation calls for it.

Now Pitt is 3-0 for the first time since 2020 with a chance to go 4-0 for the first time since 2000. With a growing defense, emerging playmakers and Holstein leading the charge, the Panthers are positioning themselves to stack some wins in 2024.

But the most memorable of those might have already happened with Saturday’s spectacle.