PITTSBURGH — West Virginia never believed Pittsburgh was a better team. Not in August, when Pitt was a near-unanimous pick to win the Big East. Not in October, when the Panthers opened a two-game conference lead over the Mountaineers.
Certainly not now.
Brandon Hogan’s interception and fumble recovery led to touchdowns in the first half, Geno Smith threw two scoring passes to Tavon Austin in the third quarter and West Virginia upset rival Pittsburgh for the second consecutive season, winning 35-10 on Friday.
Pittsburgh (6-5, 4-2) had a clear path to the conference title and an automatic BCS bowl bid, only to fumble it away on a chilly, windy day with four turnovers that repeatedly gave West Virginia’s offense excellent field position.
“Yeah, we felt we were the best team,” Smith said. “We’re always going to feel that way.”
So did wide receiver Jock Sanders, who said during preseason camp that West Virginia was better and would prove it when it counted.
The Mountaineers (8-3, 4-2) were seemingly out of BCS contention following successive losses to Syracuse and Connecticut. Now, they can play in a major bowl - likely, the Fiesta - if they beat Rutgers on Dec. 4 and Connecticut (6-4, 3-2) loses to Cincinnati (4-6, 2-3) on Saturday or South Florida (6-4, 3-3), also on Dec. 4.
UConn winds up with the automatic bid if it wins out because it owns the tiebreaker over West Virginia and Pitt.
The Panthers can only blame themselves. They fumbled six times, losing three, and Tino Sunseri threw the interception by Hogan that led to the first of Ryan Clarke’s two 2-yard touchdown runs, this one only 1:34 into the game.
“That was big. That changed the momentum of the game - quick,” Hogan said. “Our offense got points on the board real fast. It really does something to an (opposing) offense when you turn it over on the first drive of the game.”
West Virginia scored quickly in each half, withSmith finding Austin - a converted running back - behind mistake-prone Panthers cornerback Antwaun Reed for a 71-yard scoring pass play with 1:37 gone in the third quarter, making it 21-7. The week before, Reed was called for four pass-interference penalties against South Florida.
“That kind of let the air out of the balloon,” Pitt CoachDave Wannstedt said. “I don’t know if our confidence was shaken a little bit or what.”
The Mountaineers scored three touchdowns in the second half, two more than they had after halftime in their first five conference games combined.
Last season, West Virginia put Pitt out of the Top 10 by beating the Panthers 19-16 on a last-second Tyler Bitancurt field goal. This time, the Mountaineers likely put the Panthers out of a major bowl.
The loss likely dooms the Panthers to yet another lowertier bowl one season after lateseason losses to West Virginia and Cincinnati cost them the Big East title.
In another Big East game, running back Bilal Powell caught two touchdowns and ran for another and Louisville (6-6, 3-4) became bowl eligible in Charlie Strong’s first season as coach with a 40-13 victory over Rutgers (4-7, 1-5) in Piscataway, N.J. Powell caught touchdown passes of 17 and 11 yards from Justin Burke on the Cardinals’ first two series and he ran for 11 of his 123 yards to cap the third as Louisville become bowl eligible for the first time since 2007.
MID-AMERICAN
Kent State whips Ohio
KENT, Ohio - Eugene Jarvis ran for 106 yards and a touchdown to help Kent State end in-state rival Ohio’s hopes of reaching the Mid-American Conference title game in a 28-6 upset on Friday.
Ohio’s loss sends Miami ofOhio to the MAC title game to face Northern Illinois in Detroit next Friday. The loss also snapped the Bobcats’ (8-4, 6-2) eight-game winning streak on the road in MAC play.
Kent State (5-7, 4-4) finished with at least a .500 record in conference play for the fourth time in seven seasons under Coach Doug Martin, who said on Sunday he will resign after the game.
The Golden Flashes never trailed in the contest, jumping out to a 14-0 lead in the first half after Luke Batton’s touchdown off a fumble recovery and Spencer Keith’s (Pulaski Academy) 1-yard rushing score.
Kent State’s defense finished with seven sacks, recovered two fumbles and had two interceptions.
In other games involving Mid-American Conference teams, Alex Carder completed 23 of 33 passes for 251 yards and 4 touchdowns as Western Michigan (6-6, 5-3) blew out host Bowling Green (2-10, 1-7) 41-7. ... Patrick Nicely threw for three touchdowns to lead host Akron (1-11, 1-7) past Buffalo (2-10, 1-7) 22-14, giving the Zips their first victory of the season. Akron avoided its first winless season since moving to the Football Bowl Subdivision in 1987. ... Wide receiver Eric Page caught two touchdown passes, threw a touchdown pass and returned two kickoffs for scores to lead host Toledo (8-4, 7-1) to a 42-31 victory over Central Michigan (3-9, 2-6). ... Jordan Lynch rushed 142 yards and scored two touchdowns and Northern Illinois (10-2, 8-0) beat Eastern Michigan (2-10, 2-6) 71-3 in Ypsilanti, Mich.
Sports, Pages 24 on 11/27/2010