West Virginia Hosts Pitt for the Backyard Brawl

The Mountaineers look to go end their nonconference slate and retain bragging rights over the hated Pitt Panthers

Morgantown, WV - The West Virginia Mountaineers welcome the Pitt Panthers to Mountaineer Field Saturday night for the first time since 2011. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 and the game will broadcast on ABC.

The two squared off last year to open the 2022 season after a decade long drought. The Panthers captured bragging rights with a 38-31 victory in front of the largest crowd at Acrisure Stadium.

Pitt is coming off a 27-21 home loss to Cincinnati while West Viriginia bounced back with a lopsided win over Duquesne after suffering a season-opening road loss at No. 7 Penn State.

The Panthers lost their quarterback, top rusher and receiver to graduation following the 2022 season.

Boston College transfer quarterback Phil Jurkovec grabbed the reins of the offense. His 10-32 passing for 179 yards last week overshadowed his 17-23 214-yard output in the season opener versus Wofford, and in doing so, lowered his season completion percentage to 49.1%.

“He’s big, dual threat, strong arm,” said West Virginia head coach Neal Brown. “[He] Does a really good job when the pocket breaks down. He’s a guy that’s very well thought of in the NFL circles.

Entering his sixth season, Jurkovec spent two years at Notre Dame before transferring to Boston College for three seasons. He spent his first two years under the direction of current Pitt offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti Jr. where, in 2020 during his first season with the Eagles, he averaged a career-best 255.8 yards per game and tossed 17 touchdowns.

Meanwhile, the team’s second leading rusher from a year ago, Rodney Hammond Jr., returns to the backfield, but Daniel Carter has carried the load early and has rushed for a team-leading 90 yard on the season.

They got a good mix of running backs with different skill sets,” Brown said. “I really like the big kid number four. He’s a load to tackle.”

Pitt has a combined 94 starts among its offensive linemen. Center Jake Kradel leads the unit with 40 career starts between center and guard while left tackle Matt Goncalves was named to the 2023 Preseason All-ACC team and appeared on the Outland Trophy Watchlist after earning a spot on the third team last year. Freshman BJ Williams made his first collegiate start (at right guard) against Cincinnati, becoming the first freshman to start on the Panthers' offensive line since Dorian Johnson in 2013.

“O-line, it’s a veteran group - a lot of the same guys,” Brown said.

The Panthers returned three of their top receivers from last season. Konata Mumpfield was second on the team in receptions (58) and receiving yards (551) last year and currently leads Pitt with a team-high seven receptions. Through two games, he’s up his yards per receptions from 9.5 to 12.4.

“They’re talented,” Brown said. “They are big and strong. Mumpfield is a really consistent guy.”

Tight end Gavin Barthlomew leads Pitt in receiving yards with 118 on five catches and a touchdown, while his counterparts Karter Johnson and Jake Renda have bolstered the room with a combined five receptions for 48 yards and a touchdown.

Pitt lost the bulk of their defensive production from last season, including a majority of its past rush. However, the program has finished in the top two nationally in sacks per game each of the past four seasons (2019-22) and has already tallied six sacks through two games.

“They like to pressure, and a lot of players roll in and roll out, but the defense looks the same,” Brown said.

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Defensive end Dayon Hayes leads the team with two sacks while three defensive lineman Samuel Okunlola, Bam Brima, and Devin Danielson has registered a sack along with the team’s second leading tackler, linebacker Bangally Kamara.

The Panthers secondary returns three of its top cornerbacks from a season ago. M.J. Devonshire highlights the group and the infamous pick six after the ball slipped through Bryce Ford-Wheaton’s hands. Javon McIntyre and Marquis Williams also return while defensive back Phillip O’Brien currently leads the team in tackles.

West Virginia starting quarterback Garrett Greene threw for 240 yards and four touchdowns in the win over Duquesne while also chipping in 33 rushing yards.

“He's a real athlete,” said Pitt head coach Patt Narduzzi. “He's physical, he's tough. He's a competitor. He's a run threat. He can throw it. He can throw all the RPOs he needs to throw. I think he's thrown for 200 yards a game which is good when they're running the ball 70% of the time of 65% of the time. He's played in big games, and I just think he's a competitor. He's a tough dude."

West Virginia receiver Hudson Clement broke out against Duquesne with 177 yards and three touchdowns, earning a scholarship in the postgame locker room celebration and will get the start against Pitt on Saturday. Devin Carter is expected to return to the lineup after suffering a minor injury last week in practice.

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CJ Donaldson highlights a talented Mountaineer backfield. He leads the team in rushing with 137 yards and a touchdown, while Jaheim White debuted with 110 yards on 12 carries last week.

"They rushed for 190 yards a year ago against us in the opener and had a couple big plays. We can't let what happened Saturday happen again defensively. We got to come out and it doesn't matter what they throw at you, we've got to react the right way. We'll show them a bunch of stuff this week to prepare them the best we can about how they want to attack us."

The West Virginia defense ranks tenth nationally, and second in the Big 12 Conference, with 18 tackles for a loss. Defensive lineman Tomiwa Durojaiye leads the rush with 2.5 sacks and Mike Lockhart has been consistently disrupted the backfield along with Sean Martin, combining for 12 tackles, including 2.5 TFLs.

Linebacker Lee Kpogba leads the team with 15 tackles, highlighted by a 13-tackle performance in the season-opener at Penn State.

The early setback for the Mountaineers has been the secondary, netting one of the worst passing defenses in the country, allowing 281.5 yards per game.

"fWe’ve got two games on film where some people have not performed as well and their playing time will decrease,” Brown said. They’re not getting fired but their snaps are going to get decreased.”

Brown also noted some problems with the secondary.

“Our issues are eye violations first and foremost and second is not getting our hands on receivers and allowing free run.” He said.

Pitt leads the all-time series Pitt leads 62-40-3. However, since alternating the series to a home and home in 1962, the Mountaineers are 26-23-2 against the Panthers. 

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