McCoy's late TD rallies Pitt past W.Va. 19-15

[November 29, 2008]  PITTSBURGH (AP) -- LeSean McCoy scored his second touchdown with 52 seconds left to finish off a career-high 183-yard rushing performance, and Pittsburgh beat rival West Virginia 19-15 on Friday to make Cincinnati the Big East champions.

McCoy carried on all but one of the 10 plays on the 59-yard, game-winning touchdown drive in the closing minutes, scoring from the 1.

Pitt (8-3, 4-2 in Big East) rallied from a 15-7 deficit, even though Bill Stull threw two interceptions and lost a fumble and a pair of drives inside the West Virginia 10 ended with no points.

Pat White scored on a 54-yard touchdown run, but West Virginia (7-4, 4-2) lost for the second year in a row in the Backyard Brawl - though this loss didn't hurt nearly as badly as last year's 13-9 defeat that cost the Mountaineers a national title game appearance. White threw incomplete on fourth-and-1 from the Pitt 18 on the final play to end it.

McCoy had 33 carries and now has 331 yards in two seasons against West Virginia.

White, the leading rusher among quarterbacks in NCAA history with 4,385 yards, ran for 93 yards and was 15-of-28 for 143 yards but also was intercepted twice - and, except for his long TD run, was effectively controlled again by Pitt. He ran for 220 yards in each of his first two career games against the Panthers, but was held to 41 yards last season.

West Virginia came with a chance to win the Big East, needing to win its final two while hoping No. 16 Cincinnati was upset by Syracuse on Saturday. Now the Bearcats' game is moot.

By beating its biggest rival again, Pitt likely moves into contention for the Sun Bowl if it can win at Connecticut on Dec. 6.

Stull (12-of-23, 156 yards) twice cost Pitt chances to mount go-ahead or tying drives in the fourth quarter - overthrowing Conredge Collins on a fourth-and-3 gamble from the West Virginia 34 before being intercepted by Brandon Hogan on another overthrow. That set up Pat McAfee's third field goal for West Virginia, a 40-yarder that made it 15-7.

Then it was White's turn to go out of character. Jovani Chappel stepped in front of his poorly thrown pass and returned it to the West Virginia 16 and McCoy, seemingly forgotten by Pitt at key points in the game, needed only two plays to run it in, scoring from the 11 to get Pitt to within 15-13. The 2-point conversion failed with 8:07 remaining.

For the first time since 2001, neither of the bordering state rivals went into the Backyard Brawl nationally ranked - though the Mountaineers and Panthers received the most votes of any unranked teams this week.

The Panthers, a running team all season, crossed up West Virginia by throwing on its opening possession - then repeatedly tried to do it the rest of the game. Stull needed only five plays to drive them 64 yards, finishing it with a 30-yard scoring pass to Derek Kinder for a 7-0 lead 2:10 into the game.

Stull's touchdown pass was only his seventh of the season, the fewest by a full-season Pitt starting quarterback in the last dozen years.

The changeup in strategy worked perfectly on that drive. It didn't work nearly as well when Pitt twice had the ball inside the West Virginia 10 in the first half and didn't score.

McCoy's running and Stull's 25-yard completion got Pitt to the West Virginia 9 but the usually reliable Conor Lee missed a 40-yard field goal attempt.

Stull's fumble at the Panthers' 39 later gave West Virginia excellent field position, though the Mountaineers settled for McAfee's 20-yard field goal with 4:27 remaining in the second quarter.

Pitt looked to be in position to make it 14-3 at the half by driving from a first down at the West Virginia 3, but Stull was intercepted by Quinton Andrews on a fade pass into the end zone.

[Associated Press; By ALAN ROBINSON]

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