Pittsburgh vs. West Virginia: Report Card for Panthers Following Loss

The 104th edition of the Backyard Brawl is in the books, and if you're a Pitt fan, it's harder to think of a more disappointing loss to rival West Virginia in recent memory.

As usual when it comes to the Panthers, Friday night's loss was a tale of two halves, especially on the offensive side of the ball.

The guys on the defensive side of the ball played well enough to win, but as has been the case for the majority of the season, the "high-octane," Pitt offense fizzled out again wit the game on the line.

Will there be another Backyard Brawl? It's hard to tell at this point, but if these two rivals don't meet again for some time, this was a difficult way for the Panthers to go out in the series.

Here's your weekly report card following the loss to the Mountaineers.

Quarterback

Grade: D-

The Panthers needed a quarterback that could make just a few plays Friday night. Unfortunately for them they had Tino Sunseri.

Sunseri did a decent job of managing the game in the first half. After two quarters he was a respectable 7 for 11 throwing the football for 87 yards; including two big completions on the Panthers second touchdown drive of the game.

He was making quick decisions and was only sacked once.

After that it was a pure disaster for Sunseri, who seemed confused by the West Virginia pressure. He was afraid to pull the trigger when he had an open man and the result was holding onto the football too long and being sacked nine times in the second half.

Nine times.

None worse than the final two-minute drill, which looked like the first two minute drill Sunseri ever tried running. The defense gave him a chance to win the game and he held onto it, being sacked twice with no timeouts.

You just can't take sacks in that situation.

Early in the game, he missed throws that could have got the Panthers touchdowns instead of field goals when the Mountaineers were begging Pitt to take control of the game. You just can't miss those throws as a quarterback at this level.

Sunseri completed only two passes in the third quarter and the Panthers had only two first downs in the quarter, which left the Pitt defense on the field way too long.

He completed only three fourth quarter passes, with two coming on Pitt's final drive.

Throughout it all, Sunseri has remained classy and taken the blame right on his shoulders, but after the game looked like a beaten man for the first time this season.

Like it or not, Panthers head coach Todd Graham is going to have to make some tough choices. The Sunseri era is going to have to come to an end.

Running Back

Grade: C+

Freshman Isaac Bennett became the feature back in the second half after a shoulder injury to Zach Brown sidelined him for the remainder of the game.

The two tailbacks did a decent job, each running for 70 yards on the night, but most of the damage came in the first half as the Mountaineers had Bennett bottled up for most of the second half and were daring Sunseri to beat them.

Of course, it doesn't help when you run the same plays out of the shotgun for most of the game.

Would it kill anyone to line up under center for a change?

You have a freshman running back in a big game. Maybe it would make sense to get him the ball deep in a traditional set and let him see lanes and make choices.

Sunseri officially led the team with 22 carries for minus-seven yards. Of course, the 10 sacks come off that total but having the ball in his hands that much can't be part of a successful game plan.

Wide Receivers

Grade: F

As bad as Sunseri may have been, are any of the Pitt wide receivers ever going to help him out?

Devin Street didn't make a play on the one time Sunseri got the ball down the field. The ball was slightly underthrown, but you have to make a play for your quarterback there.

Where was Mike Shanahan? Only two catches for a mere 18 yards won't get it done.

You've got freshman out there alligator-arming balls. You've got guys dropping balls that while not thrown on the money, still need to be caught. You've got guys not adjusting to the pressure and coming back to help their quarterback.

Add all that up and you've got absolutely no one out there making plays. Pitt needed someone to step up, and no one did.

Offensive Line

Grade: D-

It was a decent first half for the men upfront, but the second half was very ugly.

Once West Virginia really started applying heat in the second half, the Pitt offensive line really had no chance.

You can put about half of the 10 sacks on Sunseri, but on the other half, he had no chance at all.

The biggest problem though was not being able to move the chains consistently. Eventually, the offensive line has to win some individual battles and create running lanes.

By moving the chains just a little more consistently in the second half, we could be talking about a Pitt win right now instead of a heartbreaking loss.

Defensive Line

Grade: B

The Pitt defense played good enough to win. You hold that West Virginia offense to 21 points, and you should come out winners.

The guys up front got pressure on Geno Smith early, which was a key to the game.

They only struggled coming out of the locker room to begin the second half. It appeared as if they weren't ready for the Mountaineers' ground game, which Graham pretty much admitted after the game.

Aaron Donald recorded his 10th sack of the season but took a bad personal foul penalty late in the game on West Virginia's go ahead drive.

Donald said after the game that he didn't hear the whistle blow, and to his defense, I didn't hear a whistle from the press box either.

Linebackers

Grade: B+

The Pitt defense has improved week-to-week throughout the season, and Friday night was no exception against West Virginia.

The linebacking core was all over the field.

Todd Thomas had a quiet night, but Max Gruder was very good, and Brandon Lindsey had his best game of the season, recording a pair of sacks and two tackles for loss.

Again, these guys left everything out there and deserved a better result.

Defensive Backs

Grade: B

Talking to Andrew Taglianetti after the game, the pain showed in his face of the sheer disappointment of losing the game.

While his statements suggested that allowing 21 points to anyone is too much, it was also enough to win this game.

As a unit, the secondary had one job to do, and that was to prevent the big play. They did that for the most part, only allowing one home run to Stedman Bailey that got the Mountaineers back into the game.

Everyone in the secondary played well, including Buddy Jackson who got his first start.

Both Jarred Holley and K'Waun Williams were solid as well, with Williams forcing a huge fumble that kept Pitt right in the game.

Special Teams

Grade: B

They get a high mark partially for recovering two fumbles on special teams. The West Virginia special teams were trying to give Pitt the game, but the Panthers wouldn't take it.

Kicker Kevin Harper made a pair of field goals.

Punter Matt Yoklic had to punt a whopping 10 times but came out with a 42.8 average.

The return game was pretty much nonexistent though. Late in the game, with Pitt needing a big play from someone and could have used a spark from their punt return team, Graham elected to put Shanahan deep.

Ronald Jones was hurt, but there were other options, instead of the guy that had no chance of making a play.

Coaching

Grade: C-

Adjustments are part of the game, and one coach made them, and one coach continues not to. The one who didn't would be Graham.

Give him credit for being in the game. His kids competed and left everything out there but just fell short.

But in a close game, many head-scratching decisions go along with it. Friday night was no exception.

Graham stated in his post-game press conference that they were caught off guard by West Virginia running the football. Did he not think that the Mountaineers would attempt to run the football at all?

Continuing to run out of the shotgun is a problem for now. Again, where are the adjustments?

Putting Shanahan deep to field punts late in a one-point game?

After your quarterback has been sacked eight times up to the point in the fourth quarter when he called a designed speed option to the left on 2nd-and-short. Did he think that was going to work? Not with the speed of the West Virginia defense. That's a real easy way to go from 2nd-and-short to 3rd-and-long.

After the game, Graham was understandably frustrated. He commended the kids' effort and was sickened that they didn't win the game.

There are a lot of things that Pitt does very well, and there are some things that they do very lousy. He knows that it's those things that have kept the Panthers out of the win column way too often this season.