By John Antonik for
MSNsportsNET.comPITTSBURGH, PA. – Kevan Barlow rushed for 272 yards and four touchdowns to lead Pittsburgh to a 38-28 victory over West Virginia in Don Nehlen’s final regular season game as Mountaineer coach.
Nehlen will end his 30-year head coaching career with a 201-128-9 record, 148-93-4 at West Virginia, unless the Mountaineers land one of the Big East Conference's four bowl bids.
Barlow, a senior from Pittsburgh, scored on runs of 56, 2, 30 and 23 yards to lead the Panthers to their first victory over West Virginia since 1997, and their first seven-win season since 1989.
It was just the second Panther win in nine years against the Mountaineers, and the first victory in Pittsburgh since 1986. West Virginia captured the last two meetings against the Panthers by a combined 104-35.
But Barlow proved that Friday’s game would be much different than last year, when WVU freshman Avon Cobourne rolled up 210 yards to spoil Pitt’s bowl hopes.
Barlow’s 272 yards are the second most in Panther history behind Heisman Trophy winner Tony Dorsett’s 303 yards against Notre Dame in 1975. It is also the most yards ever allowed by a West Virginia defense, eclipsing the previous high of 216 yards gained by Syracuse’s Larry Csonka in 1965.
West Virginia’s defensive performance was in stark contrast to last week’s effort against East Carolina, when WVU held the Pirates to just one rushing yard.
The Panthers out-rushed West Virginia, 275-49. Despite Barlow’s heroic effort, Panther miscues kept West Virginia hanging around.
Quarterback David Priestly, who replaced starter John Turman, fired three second quarter interceptions that limited Pitt to just a 14-3 halftime lead.
Turman took over in the third quarter as Pitt utilized the running of Barlow.
However, Turman did manage to fire a 60-yard TD pass to Antonio Bryant to give the Panthers a seemingly insurmountable 35-9 lead.
Bryant’s score came right after West Virginia returner Shawn Terry took a Nick Lotz kickoff and raced 89 yards for his second kick return for a score on the season.
The Panthers expanded the margin to 38-9 on a Lotz 44-yard FG, but West Virginia began chipping away.
WVU’s first offensive touchdown of the game came with 11:42 left in the fourth period when Scott McBrien, subbing for injured starter Brad Lewis, found Khori Ivy in the corner of the end zone for a 17-yard score.
Brenden Rauh, who missed two extra-point tries on the day, hit the PAT to make it 38-16.
Pitt gave West Virginia six more when Turman’s pass was deflected at the line of scrimmage and Lance Frazier pulled in the interception and raced 32 yards down the near sideline for the TD.
That was West Virginia’s fifth interception return for a touchdown this season. However, Rauh’s conversion attempt hit the cross bar, leaving West Virginia trailing 38-22.
Pitt again couldn’t move the football and had to punt it back to West Virginia. The Mountaineers missed a perfect opportunity to make the score closer when a wide-open Ivy dropped a sure TD in the end zone on a third-and-goal play.
The Panthers stuffed West Virginia on fourth down and regained possession.
West Virginia tallied one final score when McBrien hit a streaking Phil Braxton for a 60-yard touchdown with just 57 seconds left. WVU’s two-point conversion failed, and Pitt ran out the clock after being awarded the football when West Virginia illegally touched the ball on its on-side kick attempt.
Pitt had 504 total yards to West Virginia’s 392.
McBrien led West Virginia with 257 yards passing and two touchdowns. Cobourne carried 20 times for 100 yards, giving the sophomore 893 yards for the season.
Cobourne also topped the 2,000-yard barrier for his career, now showing 2,032 yards in 19 games. That's good enough for 10th place on the WVU career rushing chart, passing Dwayne Woods who gained 1,970 yards from 1973-76.
Flanker Antonio Brown caught 9 passes for 91 yards, and now shows 118 career receptions to rank fifth on the WVU all-time list.
Ivy, meanwhile, caught 4 passes for 83 yards and a touchdown. He now shows 154 catches for 2,313 yards, ranking third all-time in both categories.
In addition to being Nehlen’s final regular season game, it was also the last collegiate football game at Three Rivers Stadium, which will be torn down upon the completion of the Pittsburgh Steelers season.
The victory probably ensures Pitt (7-4, 4-3) of a bid to the Gator Bowl provided Virginia Tech defeats Virginia, Notre Dame defeats USC and Miami wins against Boston College.
West Virginia, which finishes the regular season 6-5, 3-4, will have to wait to see if it will receive a bowl bid.
Scoring Summary
Pitt – Barlow 56 run (Lotz kick)
Pitt – Barlow 2 run (Lotz kick)
WV – Rauh 43 FG
Pitt – Barlow 23 run (Lotz kick)
WV – Terry 89 kickoff return (Kick failed)
Pitt – Bryant 60 pass from Turman (Lotz kick)
Pitt – Lotz 44 FG
WV – Ivy 17 pass from McBrien (Rauh kick)
WV – Frazier 32 interception return (Kick failed)
WV – Braxton 60 pass from McBrien (Conversion failed)
Individual Statistics
RUSHING: West Virginia-Cobourne 20-100, A Brown 1-minus 3, Mcbrien 3-minus 8, B Lewis 1-minus 12, Team 1-minus 28. Pittsburgh-Barlow 33-272, Turman 5-10, Goings 5-4, Polite 1-0, Priestley 1-minus 5, Rutherford 1-minus 6.
PASSING: West Virginia-McBrien 13-28-0-257, B Lewis 8-17-0-86; Pittsburgh-Priestley 7-17-3-147, Turman 5-10-1-82.
RECEIVING: West
Virginia-A Brown 9-91, Ivy 4-83, S Terry 4-48, Braxton 3-117, Ours 1-4;
Pittsburgh-Bryant 6-148, Slade 2-26, Grim 2-12, K Wilson 1-28, Rutherford
1-15.
