The Pitt Panthers pulled off another stunning win in as many weeks with a dramatic 38-24 victory over West Virginia in the 107th Backyard Brawl. Pitt trailed by ten points with 4:55 left in the game, but yet again redshirt freshman quarterback Eli Holstein engineered an impressive come from behind win and moved Pitt to 3-0 in the process first the first time since 2020.
Here are my five takeaways from Pitt’s win.
Holstein is a baller
There’s something about Eli Holstein. I don’t know what that something is, but I know he has it. Redshirt freshmen quarterbacks aren’t supposed to regularly lead comeback victories, and yet for the second Saturday in a row, this kid has become the story. Holstein was stellar in Pitt’s comeback over Cincinnati, but he may have outdone himself with what he did today in the Backyard Brawl.
Playing in his first big rivalry game, in front of a sold out stadium, facing a 10-point deficit with under five minutes remaining, Holstein looked as comfortable as any player on the field. He played like a veteran senior making his 30th career start, while his West Virginia counterpart Garrett Greene looked like a timid freshman in the fourth quarter.
Holstein, who did not have the best protection from his offensive line for most of the game, started to get things done himself when Pitt found itself trailing by ten. He began to scramble more and picked up chunks of yardage that way, and while it got the drive kickstarted, Pitt almost wasted it.
Pitt was flagged for back-to-back holding calls, but Holstein stepped up on 2nd 30 from the 40-yard line and dropped one into the breadbasket for Daejon Reynolds, who made a spectacular catch. It was Reynolds’ first catch and target on the year, but Holstein trusted the play call, the player, and himself to bring Pitt to within three points.
On Pitt’s go-ahead drive, again, it was poised play from the freshman. Holstein made it look easy, actually. Pitt was in field goal range in three plays after starting from its own 23, and had the lead after the sixth play of the drive. There really weren’t tense moments, either. Pitt carved up the two minute drill like it was facing the scout team.
But again, that’s not normal. A guy making his third start isn’t supposed to do this kind of thing, but maybe he does not know any better. Holstein is three games into his career, and he’s produced 300+ yards and three touchdowns every time. Maybe this is just who he is.
A fourth quarter stand
Pitt’s defense had plenty of deficiencies in Saturday’s game. There were missed tackles, some reckless penalties, and West Virginia had them on the ropes with an 11:07 to 3:45 advantage in time of possession in the third quarter.
The Panthers could not get off the field, and the offense wasn’t doing much to provide any assistance either. But much like last week’s game, the two sides started to play off of one another, and as the defense saved its best quarter of the game for crunch time.
Pitt recorded its only two sacks of the game in the fourth. It held West Virginia to 65 yards in the final frame, and came up with a decisive stop with under three minutes remaining. It was a classic bend, but don’t break type of effort.
Obviously, moving forward, the goal is to replicate that kind of performance at the beginning of the game, but there is a lot to be said for turning it on when it matters most. These comebacks often feature heroes on offense, but it should not go unnoticed guys like Jimmy Scott had a huge sack, or that Kyle Louis was flying everywhere for that entire game. There is a lot to improve on, but making plays in a close game is still a very good trait to have as a team.
A lot of ugliness, even in a win
Pitt did not play its best game on Saturday. In fact, there were blunders from just about every element of the team. I think both sides of the ball, special teams, and coaching all had a hand in Pitt needing another unlikely comeback to remain unbeaten.
It’s good Pitt can find ways to overcome those things, but better teams will start to make them pay for it more as the season progresses. The Panthers’ new-look offense, well, let's just say it had some issues. The Panthers did not move the ball at all in the third quarter. They only converted one third down for the entire game. Plus, there was no running game to speak of, with the exception of a few Holstein scrambles.
The play calling, well yea, that needs called out as well. It looked like Kade Bell was trying to hit a few home run plays on some trick or gadget plays, but each one was blown up almost immediately, even though Pitt’s conventional downfield attack appeared to be moving just fine. Despite the flea flickers, and running back passes not working, it seemed he continued to force a few of them. Pitt’s poorly executed fourth down attempt just before halftime was nightmare, and I am not exactly sure what the play call was.
Did Pitt commit a bunch of careless penalties? Yea quite a bit of them.
Did Pitt miss any tackles? Yep, the Mountaineers had three guys over 45 rushing yards on Saturday.
Did Pitt even have a pass rush for 90% of the game? Uh, no.
It was sloppy, choppy, and again, not a performance worth replicating. There was plenty of good to take from finding a way to win, but this is also a dangerous way to live week to week, and it will cost them a game if they don’t correct some of these errors.
Narduzzi being Narduzzi
We are in the tenth year of this tenure, and yet again, the head coach says and does a few things you just have to shake your head at, because that’s all you can do. Narduzzi, who sometimes can’t help himself, had to get a few words in about the officiating during the broadcast after his team came back to win.
When pressed on it again, Narduzzi doubled down on it.
“I’m not going to get into it. Big 12 officials. I thought there were some calls that I can't wait to watch the videotape. But after the game, it's over with. But we had two large victories today.”
The two large victories, of course, is in reference to the West Virginia win, and ‘beating’ or overcoming the officials. Look, Pitt had some bad calls made against them, but there is not much to be gained from the public outcry, because West Virginia was also on the receiving end of a few as well.
It’s an emotional game, whatever, that happens.
But there were also some errors on his management that were confusing. He called a timeout with 2:09 remaining on Pitt’s third down stop to get the ball back, but it was a total waste, right? There is now a two-minute timeout in college football. If he runs down the nine seconds, he leaves two timeouts in two minutes for his team. Instead, the two-minute timeout occurred during the punt return, which didn’t help either.
Obviously, Pitt’s offense scored so quickly it didn’t really matter, but again, that was something that could have cost the team. His explanation on it didn’t exactly make sense either. In the end, Pitt just has a lot to clean up as a football team right now, and it’s from the top down.
A chance to (finally) make history
Pitt joined the Big East in 1991, and then the ACC in 2013. During that time, the program has never had an undefeated non-conference record. Never. It has never, ever happened. Yes, you are reading this correctly.
But that could and should change next week, as the program can erase an unflattering statistic finally. The Panthers are 3-0, and will welcome Youngstown State to Acrisure Stadium, with a chance to start 4-0 for the first time since 2000.
Pitt knows as well as anyone, you need to take these FCS games seriously, as Youngstown State defeated Pitt once back in 2012, and took them to overtime another time in 2017. The Panthers need to be mindful of it, but they should also be able to take care of business as well. On that end, Youngstown State dropped a game to Duquesne on Saturday, as the Penguins will carry a 1-2 record to Pittsburgh next week
Pitt star Desmond Reid was not out there on the final drive, and it’s probably more prudent to rest him next week, rather than forcing him through this game. Left guard Ryan Jacoby could not make it through the game either.
The Panthers shouldn’t need those guys either. This is a game where Pitt can right some wrongs as team, try to get some key guys healthy, and be ready to make a move in the ACC standings after a bye. The conventional thought was that Pitt would split with Cincinnati and west Virginia, but now the mind can wander a little bit, in a good way, about what this team can really accomplish. Pitt is sitting pretty and the team just needs to handle business next week.
