MORGANTOWN -Friday night's annual Backyard Brawl proved to be all about the numbers. The only numbers that counted, however, were the ones showing on the Milan Puskar Stadium scoreboard at the game's conclusion.
Those read: WVU 21, Pitt 20.
West Virginia fans celebrated what may very well be the final Backyard Brawl after 104 seasons as well as 22 seniors that were playing their final game on Mountaineer Field. Among those were former Parkersburg South standout Cody Nutter.
"It's hard to believe five years have gone by," said Nutter, who went from invited walk-on to starting long snapper for the past three seasons. "I felt like we had a shot at all the time. We had what it takes to get the job done."
Nutter was not as fortunate during his final season with the Patriots as they dropped a hard fought decision in his final game at the Erickson All-Sports Facility.
"It (last game at South) was disappointing, but this makes up for it in a big way," added Nutter. "This day has just been amazing."
On a night when school records fell faster than the temperature at Milan Puskar Stadium, the first mark to fall was Marc Bulger's 1988 mark of 419 pass attempts in one season. Geno Smith's 11-yard completion to Tavon Austin was his seventh of the game and gave the junior 420 attempts for 2011.
Smith completed 22-of-31 attempts for 244 yards and one touchdown and heads to Tampa next Thursday night to take on South Florida with the single-season record of 448 attempts.
Two marks fell during WVU's next possession as Smith eclipsed Bulger's mark of 274 completions established in 1998 while Stedman Bailey's 16-yard reception on the play broke David Saunders' record for receiving yards in a season (1,043) and as a sophomore. Bailey finished the night with three catches for 80 yards giving him 1,117 receiving yards on the season.
The final marks to fall in the first 30 minutes of action also belonged to Smith as he again removed Bulger's name from the record book under passing yards as a junior (3,607) and total offense as a junior (3,515). Smith's numbers at the half stood at 3,548 total yards of offense and 3,632 passing yards.
But, Smith and company were far from finished as senior Tavon Austin entered the contest needing six catches to break Saunders' mark of 77 set in 1998. With his 24-yard reception in the fourth quarter, Austin broke that mark and finished the game with 10 catches for 102 yards - giving him 82 during his stay in Morgantown.
And, big numbers weren't only accomplished by the offense as the Mountaineers' prevent unit came up with a season-high 10 sacks, four by senior Julian Miller. The record is 12 against Idaho in 2000.
Miller's total, however, matched the team's single-game mark held by three players - James Davis against East Carolina in 2000, Gary Stills against Marshall in 1997 and Steve Hathaway in 1983 versus Virginia Tech.
"We had 10?" asked defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel. "We had eight up there four our five years ago. But, I don't remember the last time we had 10."
West Virginia now has 15 sacks in its last two games after registering only 11 sacks during the first nine contests of the 2011 season.
Special teams got into the act as well as senior Corey Smith took over for former Parkersburg South standout Michael Molinari following a second shanked punt and proceeded to average 57.2 yards on four attempts with a season-long of 62 yards.
The win not only kept WVU in the race for at least a share of the Big East title, it was the old gold and blue's third straight victory over the Panthers -the first time either team had won three in a row in the series since WVU won five in a row from 1992-96.
Pittsburgh still holds an overall edge in the series, 61-40-3, but WVU has been the most dominant over the past two decades with 14 wins in those 20 contests.
"It's always good to beat Pitt," said Nutter. "It means everything. But, to do it on Senior Night, I really did not want to leave the field."
Winning his first, and possibly only "Backyard Brawl", if the series is not renewed following the Mountaineers' move to the Big 12 and Pitt's move to the ACC, was WVU's Dana Holgorsen.
"It (the rivalry) was fun," said the coach. "The atmosphere was great. The crowd was rowdy and loud and our kids played with a lot of energy."
