Touchdown helps swing momentum

MORGANTOWN, W.Va.- On fourth-and-four, with 31 seconds left in the first half, West… MORGANTOWN, W.Va.- On fourth-and-four, with 31 seconds left in the first half, West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez took a gamble.

Rodriguez’s gamble appeared to switch the momentum to West Virginia, and the Panthers were never the same on either side of the ball. With Pitt leading the Mountaineers 24-17, Rodriguez left quarterback Rasheed Marshall and the offense on the field instead of sending on the field goal unit to attempt a 45-yard field goal.

“You can’t really put it all on that [play],” defensive end Claude Harriott said. “That play just tied the game, so you can’t just put it on one play. It’s a number of things that we have to correct.”

The gamble paid off, as Marshall launched a 28-yard pass over linebacker Malcolm Postell to wide receiver John Pennington for a touchdown. After place kicker Brad Cooper nailed the extra point, the two teams went into the locker room at halftime knotted at 24.

“The catch the guy [John Pennington] made at the end of the half – that was a pretty gutsy call on fourth-and-four,” head coach Walt Harris said. “Instead of going for the field goal, they went for a touchdown and they ended up getting it.”

When the Panthers returned, they left the offense and defense behind. It was not apparent that the offense would be non-existent for the second half, as Pitt started the third quarter with the ball and drove to the Mountaineers’ 3-yard line.

On third-and-goal from the 8-yard line, Grant Wiley intercepted quarterback Rod Rutherford as he tried to loft a pass over Wiley to tight end Kris Wilson. From then on, the Panthers could not find a rhythm on offense.

Once again, the Panther offense fell victim to a lack of a running game. West Virginia held the Panthers to 10 yards rushing, with two yards on the ground coming from running back Jawan Walker.

“[Calling plays] is real hard [without a running game], and it puts a lot of pressure back on the quarterback,” Harris said. “Their defense played much better than they did against us last year.”

With no running game and West Virginia running all over Pitt’s defense, Rutherford was forced to try to make plays with his arm. This led to two more interceptions, giving him three for the game.

“It could be a little bit of everything. [We] definitely need to get a running game going,” Rutherford said. “If I were to have played better, I don’t know what the outcome would have been, but it would have been a lot different-I know that for a fact.”

West Virginia got on the board in the third quarter with six minutes, 53 seconds left in the quarter on a 12-yard run by Marshall. This gave the Mountaineers a 31-24 lead, and the barrage just kept on coming.

The Mountaineers scored four unanswered touchdowns, three of which were rushing touchdowns by running back Quincy Wilson. Wilson scored four touchdowns and amassed 215 yards rushing, with 109 yards coming in the first half.

“[The rushing defense] is something that we have been working on all year, and we have to keep working on it until we get it right,” Harriott said. “[Quincy Wilson] is a great runner. He runs real hard and breaks tackles. He’s very determined out there running.”

Pitt was not able to get on the board in the second half until there were three minutes, 49 seconds left in the game. Rutherford threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Wilson.

“West Virginia’s defense made some big plays,” wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald said. “Then the momentum kind of swung.”