In the fourth quarter of Thursday night’s Backyard Brawl between Pittsburgh and West Virginia, the Mountaineers found themselves facing a fourth-and-1 on the Panthers’ 48-yard line.
West Virginia led 31–24 at that point, with just over six minutes left in the game. Instead of going for it, WVU coach Neal Brown decided to punt.
Pitt subsequently mounted a seven-play, 92-yard scoring drive to tie the game. Then, on the Mountaineers’ next drive, Pitt defensive back M.J. Devonshire intercepted a tipped pass by WVU quarterback JT Daniels and returned it for a 56-yard touchdown. The score proved to be the winning margin as the Panthers hung on for a 38–31 win in the first Backyard Brawl since 2011.
After the game, Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi was asked if he would’ve made the same call on fourth-and-1.
“You know what, you never know what’s going to happen,” Narduzzi said. “I think maybe they had some pretty much some confidence that they were going to be able to stop our offense.
“I’d have gone for it, but I’m not going to answer for them. That would be something you have to ask Coach Neal about, what they were thinking or whatever. You know, it’s fourth-and-1. We were ready for a stop.”
As Narduzzi said, it’s difficult to say if that one decision by Brown would’ve changed the outcome of the game. However, Brown’s decision did seem to drain the momentum WVU had built up after back-to-back touchdown drives.
