MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The state of West Virginia was so quiet Saturday night you could hear a national championship drop.
The only sounds heard in Milan Puskar Stadium were the howling curses from the few departing West Virginia fans still conscious enough to speak.
A college football season coming soon to a “Twilight Zone” episode near you had a cruel but somehow appropriate twist. West Virginia, needing one home victory over a 28-point underdog to earn a berth in the Bowl Championship Series title game, became the seventh No. 2 team to lose this season, botching arguably the second biggest game in its history, 13-9, to arch-rival Pittsburgh in the Backyard Brawl.
The Mountaineers (10-2) became the sixth No. 2 to blow it against an unranked opponent. Combined with top-ranked Missouri’s 38-17 loss to ninth-ranked Oklahoma, Ohio State’s Jan. 7 title game opponent is nearly as mysterious as West Virginia’s collapse.
“The whole thing is mystifying,” West Virginia’s stunned coach, Rich Rodriguez, said. “It’s a flat-out nightmare. I didn’t sleep well this week. And I won’t sleep well for a couple more.”
Rodriguez didn’t mean to use flat as a double entendre, but he could have. If West Virginia were more flat Saturday, it would’ve been Nebraska — in more ways than one. The eighth-highest scoring team (41.6 points per game) and No. 11 offense (474.8 yards per game) gained only 183 yards and scored its fewest points since a 41-7 Gator Bowl loss four seasons ago.
It let an offense ranked 110th and a Pitt team going nowhere after the game but up Interstate 79 dominate time of possession, 36:19-23:41. Adding aging to injury, true freshmen led Pitt with LeSean McCoy rushing for 148 yards and quarterback Pat Bostick playing flawlessly in the second half.
Then again, it’s certainly understandable why the Mountaineers, who lost to Notre Dame in 1988 for the national championship, would be flat. They do play for a national title bid twice every century or so.
West Virginia, which likely will settle for the Orange Bowl, had a bad omen when reliable Pat McAfee missed two chip-shot field goals in the first quarter. None of the 60,100 in attendance had reason to worry. Pitt’s offense was inept, gaining only three first downs and 75 yards in the first half.
Sure, Heisman darkhorse Pat White dislocated his thumb on his right (non-throwing) hand in the second quarter. However, sophomore backup Jarrett Brown had engineered a crucial win over Rutgers last year and ran 6 yards for a 7-0 lead with 1:43 left in the second quarter.
But Pitt’s Conor Lee booted a 47-yard field goal to end the half and West Virginia’s Vaughn Rivers fumbled the second-half kickoff.
A momentum change occurred that shook the college football world to its core. Pitt started moving the ball. The Panthers (5-7) drove 48 yards in 11 plays with Bostick sneaking from the 1 for a 10-7 lead.
“No, I don’t feel anyone on the team was looking ahead,” Mountaineers center Mike Dent said. “We knew this was a good team. We knew they had a good defense.”
Pitt’s 11th-ranked defense buried West Virginia in the second half. Brown fumbled twice and got sacked once and forgotten tailback Steve Slaton gained a pitiful 11 yards on nine carries. When Lee’s 18-yard field goal made it 13-7 with 6:17 left, White sucked it up and returned, sending an electric charge through the silent stadium.
“It took him a while to get the feeling back,” Rodriguez said. “The trainer said, ‘It’s coming back. It’s coming back.’ But I made sure. I said, ‘Are you sure you can go?’ He said, ‘Yeah, I feel OK.’ ”
He wasn’t. He gained only 8 yards on five carries and fumbled once. His end zone pass against a fierce blitz wasn’t close and Pitt punter Dave Brytus ran out the clock with a safety.
“I want to thank (ESPN’s) Mark May, Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso, everybody who doubted us,” Pitt offensive tackle Mike McGlynn said. “We shocked the world today. It’s the Backyard Brawl. Anything can happen, baby.”
John Henderson: 303-954-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com
