00:00Another game that went right down to the wire coach could have been the most, you know, I want to say impactful game as well and dramatic game in the backyard brawl. We talked about the breakdown of West Virginia and Pittsburgh with your former offensive coordinator, Rich Rodriguez. They lose in week number two, 17 to 10 outright against Ohio. They bounce back with a monumental effort, send the game into overtime after trailing in the second half by 10 points.
00:28They rebound, then pull it out in overtime. They win it outright as a seven and a half point underdog, 31-24.
00:36I tell you, it was good. And I did not think they could do it. I thought they had too much rebuilding to do with Rich Rodriguez coming back. And I thought he was a great selection as the new head coach because he knows West Virginia. He played at West Virginia. He's from West Virginia.
00:49And if you've got to remember, his last game he ever coached at West Virginia was against Pitt, 2009, last game of the season, lost as a 28-point favorite, lost 13-9. That was one he really wanted.
01:01But as I saw them get behind and I watched them come back to win the game in overtime, you know, Rich Rodriguez was my offensive coordinator just three years ago.
01:11And I got to stand there and watch him handle plays. He has called plays. He has been in that situation. He's had to come from behind. He's had to handle overtime.
01:20It's just the methodical way that they came back and never gave up. And in a team that I thought would have a lot more rebuilding because, yeah, whether they can win the Big 12 this year, I don't know.
01:30But I'm going to tell you something, beating Pitt in the backyard brawl, I mean, I played in that. I coached in that. That's my alma mater. And that's a huge, huge win for the Mountaineers and the Mountaineer faithful to believe in where they're going with their football team.
01:44They rushed 58 times in that game for 174 yards. Only averaged three yards per carry, but they put up 430 total yards of offense, coach. And it wasn't just the offense, right? It was the defense holding Pitt to 1.4 yards per carry. You get that type of effort moving forward. They can make some noise.
02:07But for Pitt, that has to be a disappointing loss, even though it's an out-of-conference game. You don't want to lose the backyard brawl when you had your sights set potentially as a dark horse for a playoff contender.
02:19Well, that's the other part. You know, Rich Rodriguez went out and hired Zach Alley as his defensive coordinator from Oklahoma. I tracked him to West Virginia. Of course, Zach was with me at ULM at Monroe with Rich, and he knew how good of a defensive coordinator he is.
02:34So he's got great leadership on both sides of the ball. And really, as far as building their program, I don't know yet. I'll have to continue to watch. I thought when he lost his top running back, the Ohio game, I said, I got to take another look at can he do this now?
02:49But I saw a lot of good play against Pittsburgh, a team that went, what, 7-0 last year to begin the season with a quarterback that's got a lot of talent.
02:58I thought West Virginia had a great football game and really now projects them a lot higher up, I think, in the Big 12 Conference.
03:05If you're Pat Norduzzi and you're Pitt, you had a double-digit second-half lead, you allowed it to slip, and you lose the ballgame outright.
03:13Not a good look entering week number four, especially when Eli Holstein throws for 303 yards against the West Virginia defense.
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