The Big East race is down to four teams after West Virginia defeated Pittsburgh 21-20 in the final installment -- at least for the foreseeable future -- of the Backyard Brawl.
Down 17-7 at halftime, the Mountaineers looked lost, and frankly, were being pushed around by Pitt. But Jeff Casteel‘s defense, which has struggled at times this season thanks to turnovers and poor field position, held the Panthers to just three points and 78 total yards in the second half. WVU tallied 10 total sacks, by far their best effort this season.
WVU needed it, too. Turnovers and special teams miscues were nearly lethal for the Mountaineers tonight.
And, it was good enough to keep WVU in the thick of the Big East race as it comes down to its final two weekends. The Mountaineers didn’t get any favors today when Louisville beat South Florida 34-24 earlier today; the Cardinals would hold a tiebreaker over WVU in the event of a three-way tie with UL, Rutgers and WVU.
All eyes from this point forward will be on Cincinnati. Whereas Louisville is cheering for a Cincy loss that would put them on top of the aforementioned tiebreaker, WVU is going to be the Bearcats’ biggest fans tomorrow against Syracuse and next week against UConn. In short, WVU is hoping for the following scenarios: a four-way tie that is now free of Pitt because of tonight’s game, or a three-way tie of UL, WVU and Cincinnati that would choose the team with the highest BCS ranking.
In any case, no one controls their own destiny in the Big East.
