Panthers burn Mountaineers, couches

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MORGANTOWN, W. Va. – The 100th Backyard Brawl was supposed to be mere formality – 60 tedious minutes of football against pushover Pitt stood between West Virginia and its best shot ever at a national title.

Instead, it will go down as the rivalry’s biggest upset.

The Mountaineers, without quarterback Pat White for nearly half the game, imploded, and Pitt did the impossible, knocking off No. 2-ranked West Virginia 13-9 and squashing its national championship hopes on Saturday at Milan Puskar Stadium.

“We shocked the world today,” fifth-year senior Mike McGlynn said. “In the Backyard Brawl, anything can happen.”

That doesn’t mean it was supposed to. The Panthers (5-7, 3-4 Big East) came into the game as 28.5-point underdogs, and none of the national media thought Pitt had any chance to win. Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt, who got the biggest win of his three years at Pitt and possibly of his coaching career, knew the circumstances and what his team had to do to quell the doubters.

“The plan coming in was almost too simple – run the ball, use the clock, play great defense and create a couple turnovers,” Wannstedt said. “That’s how it unfolded.”

LeSean McCoy carried the ball 38 times for 148 yards, setting a new Big vEast freshman record for a single-season rusher in the process.

Run the ball? Check.

“I wouldn’t block for anybody else in the nation,” McGlynn said.

McCoy added: “Anybody with a line that motivated to block for them would get records.”

“It was like ‘Tick, tick, tick