Mistakes cost Panthers a chance in Backyard Brawl

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The Pitt Panthers ended new coach Dave Wannstedt’s first year on the job… MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The Pitt Panthers ended new coach Dave Wannstedt’s first year on the job with a demoralizing 45-13 defeat at the hands of the rivaled Mountaineers of West Virginia Thursday night.

Despite the 32-point difference in the final score, Wannstedt’s Panthers had plenty of opportunities to stay in the game. His team, however, failed to capitalize on any one of them – a trait that plagued Pitt throughout the course of the season.

“That’s about how the season went,” Wannstedt said of the miscues. “We’re going to get some help, though. This is why we go out recruiting.”

Pitt’s first blunder of the game came in the second quarter, just after scoring its second touchdown – a pass from Tyler Palko over the middle to Greg Lee.

A bad snap on the extra-point attempt kept the Panthers from tying the game at 14.

On West Virginia’s ensuing drive, Bernard “Josh” Lay intercepted Pat White’s pass on the left side, providing the Panthers with field position on West Virginia’s 38-yard line.

Three plays and just seven yards later, the Panther offense was forced to punt after a three-and-out.

Just before the end of the half, Pitt received the ball in good field position again on the West Virginia 48-yard line. Its offense failed to gain the five yards needed to convert a first down on three chances.

“I don’t think I can come up with enough words to describe how disappointing this is,” Palko said. “I’m going to stick with what I said before.

“Mediocrity is not going to be acceptable here anymore.”

Down 21-13 at the start of the second half, LaRod Stephens-Howling rushed for an 11-yard gain, sparking the offense, but tight end Erik Gill fumbled two plays later on a completed pass from Palko.

The defense held that turnover to only three West Virginia points, but on the next drive, Stephens-Howling fumbled the ball back over to the Mountaineers again.

“You can’t do that and win, we all know that,” Wannstedt said of the fumbles.

A 13-play, 53-yard drive led the Panthers down the field to salvage a few points after the fumbles, but kicker Josh Cummings slipped on the field just as he went to kick a field goal, and missed.

All four of Pitt’s fourth quarter possessions turned out in favor of the Mountaineers, pushing the game out of reach for the Panthers.

A turnover on downs ended a 9-play, 50-yard drive, and another fumble gave the ball back to the West Virginia offense. The Mountaineer secondary also picked off Palko twice, as he made last ditch efforts to cut the lead.

“With all the times we kicked ourselves in the foot, and all the missed opportunities we’ve had, we still had a chance to win that game or take control of it,” Palko said.

“The whole time up until midway through the first quarter, it wasn’t out of hand,” Palko said.

Penalties didn’t help the Panthers either. Their six penalties for 55 yards came at crucial times in the game, while their 0 for 2 mark on fourth downs, and failing to score on their only red zone attempt, halted other drives.

The mental mistakes and lack of execution pinned the Panthers in a corner for much of the game, and Palko emphasized that everyone will need to correct their mistakes before the 2006 season.

“It is frustrating that we didn’t really give ourselves a chance to win,” he said. “Everybody, and I mean everybody, needs to take a long look at themselves in this offseason because we have a lot of work to do to get to where we want to be.

“And really all those mistakes we made are focus, mental errors, not learning the system, that’s why mistakes are happening.”