On a historic night for Pittsburgh sports, it was the hometown kid who sent a record-setting crowd of 70,622 home with smiles from ear to ear.
Tied 31-31 with just over three minutes remaining and rivalry game pride on the line, redshirt junior cornerback and Aliquippa native M.J. Devonshire came up with what his head coach deemed "the play of the game," intercepting a JT Daniels pass and returning it 56 yards for the game-winning score, lifting No. 17 Pitt to a 38-31 victory over West Virginia on Thursday evening at Acrisure Stadium.
THIS. IS. THE. BACKYARD. BRAWL.
— Pitt Football (@Pitt_FB) September 2, 2022
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“This is why I came back to Pitt,” said Devonshire, who transferred back to his hometown university from Kentucky in 2019, “to do things in this type of game. This is the greatest rivalry in college football.”
“That was one of the nicer ones I’ve seen," coach Pat Narduzzi said. "That was a big-time play. He would not be denied.”
From start to finish, the game was a true back-and-forth battle that featured six lead changes. Yet, after being the victim of opportunistic plays all evening long, Devonshire’s pick was the break the Panthers (1-0) needed to come out on top.
Pitt received a big night from sophomore running back Rodney Hammond Jr., who rushed for 74 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 16 carries. Senior quarterback Kedon Slovis was up and down in his first start as a Panther but did enough to get the job done, throwing for 308 yards and a score while completing 16 of his 24 pass attempts.
The Mountaineers (0-1) received big days from redshirt junior Bryce Ford-Wheaton and true freshman CJ Donaldson, who were responsible for the lion’s share of the team’s marquee plays. Donaldson, in his first college game, rushed for 125 yards on seven carries and a score while also blocking a punt.
Ford-Wheaton, meanwhile, had nine catches for 97 yards and two touchdowns. However, his most notable moment of the game will be favorably remembered by Pitt fans, as Devonshire’s game-winning interception came from a ball that bounced off his hands.
While the victory will be celebrated, those within the Pitt locker room will be the first to admit there is room for improvement. There were times Pitt had no answers for what West Virginia was throwing their way. Yet, when push came to shove, the Panthers did what was needed to finish the job, making their packed home field, along with their head coach, proud.
“It tells you they believed,” Narduzzi said. “We made some darn bad mistakes, but they found a way to win it at the end, and that tells you a lot about them. We'll get better, that's for sure.”
Key stat: 173 of Slovis’ 308 yards passing came after the catch. Big runs after the reception from numerous receivers played an instrumental role in Pitt’s victory.
“It makes my job a lot easier. It makes everyone’s job a lot easier,” Slovis said. “ ... It speaks to the blocking. It speaks to how skilled those receivers are running down the field. It really makes a difference, getting those big plays.”
Jared Wayne had the longest play of the evening for the Panthers, taking a short crossing route 64 yards to set up a score for Daniel Carter. Later on, Hammond set up his second score of the evening with a long catch and run of 49 yards.
Finally, it was Hammond’s counterpart in the backfield, Israel Abanikanda, who had the last big reception of the night for Pitt, taking a short pass from Slovis 24 yards to tie the game 31-31 with 3:41 remaining — setting the stage for Devonshire to play hero.
Quotable: Prior to Thursday evening’s kickoffs, reports surfaced saying the crowd at Acrisure Stadium could make for a home atmosphere for the opposing team. Word traveled around claiming as much as 75% of the tickets sold belonging to West Virginia fans.
Following the victory, Narduzzi took time to point out just how inaccurate that claim was.
“First of all, let’s just start with the fans in the stadium today. That place was electric. Pitt fans showed up, like big time. I was kinda real upset the night before when I heard it was going to be 75% West Virginia fans, which I knew ESPN had some bad facts. They disrespected our fans, and our fans showed up. They were unbelievable all day today.”
Numerous members of Narduzzi’s team echoed their head coach’s sentiment about the crowd, with all of them agreeing the atmosphere was the best they’d played in.
“This was Number 1, without a doubt,” defensive lineman John Morgan III said. “Just the magnitude of it — you’ve got to think, it’s been over a decade since we’ve played this game, and it’s my senior year. Being able to be that leader of the defense and play in this magnitude of a game was amazing for me.”
“That was amazing,” Hammond said. “I’ve never seen anything like that. I came from a small high school, and we never had anything like that. Even last year, we didn’t have a crowd like that. That was the best crowd I’ve ever seen.”
Up next: The Panthers will look to keep the good times rolling as they shift their focus toward Tennessee. The Volunteers took care of business on Thursday, defeating Ball State in dominant fashion by a final score of 59-10.
Last fall, the Panthers overcame a 10-0 first-quarter deficit to defeat Tennessee on the road by a final of 41-34. The Week 2 matchup will have a bit of historical significance, as it marks the first time Pitt will host an SEC opponent on its home field.
Speaking of 2021, remaining sharp following a big victory was a struggle for the Panthers last year. As senior linebacker SirVocea Dennis pointed out, Pitt’s two losses in last year’s regular season — against Western Michigan and Miami — came the week after their two most notable victories — against Tennessee and Clemson.
The Panthers’ captain spoke about how the team is already focused on not letting that trend continue in 2022.
“It’s really about handling success and adversity,” Dennis said. “We just want to clean up everything that we did in this game that we need to clean up, get focused on Tennessee, have another great week, game plan really well and execute next Saturday.”
Noah Hiles: nhiles@post-gazette.com and Twitter @_NoahHiles
First Published: September 2, 2022, 3:33 a.m.
