The Backyard Brawl has been dominated by West Virginia over the last decade or so, and with this year’s lone matchup being played in Morgantown, the expectation was that the Mountaineers would stack another win in their all-time series lead over the Panthers.
Unfortunately for Steve Sabins and Co., the tables turned on Tuesday night, and in a way no one saw coming or even thought to be possible, as the 12th-ranked Mountaineers were clobbered by unranked Pitt 23-1.
“Tough loss. Been on both sides of that,” Sabins said following the loss. “Over the course of the season, there’s usually a couple blowouts both ways, so obviously not the result you want, but definitely been on both sides of those where you beat somebody by 20, you lose to somebody by 20. Try to move past it, get ready for the weekend.”
I was a little surprised Sabins wasn’t asked if he saw this type of performance coming or how things spiraled out of control so quickly. Instead, it was mostly about the strategy throughout the game as they prepare for a big series this weekend against Cincinnati.
David Hagen, WVU’s usual midweek starter, came in out of the bullpen last night to try to usher in better results, likewise for reliever Bryson Thacker, who got the starting nod. Obviously, that idea didn’t go as well as all had hoped, and by the end of the third inning, the game was well out of reach, so Sabins turned to some guys in the bullpen who hadn’t pitched much in games this season to try and get them experience while saving arms for the weekend.
Losing a game by 20+ runs is one thing, but losing to your bitter rival by such a score is a tough pill to swallow. Sabins believes that this group can bounce back and wash this performance, but also knows that he’s about to find out how they can handle this level of adversity.
“I think it’s just in general losing…it always opens the door or opportunity for fragmentation or fraying of teams. And that’s all teams forever, right? And so the message is always to stick together. At the end of the day, you can’t fall in love with yourself when you’re doing great, and people are telling you you’re leading the Big 12 or you’re in second place or you’re player of the week or you’re all-conference, or we’re hosting regionals or whatever you want to say. All that kind of stuff is all fake. It’s all poison until you perform at a high enough level for the team to earn those kind of things. The message has always been stick together. It’s always about these 40 players competing, getting better, working hard, kicking ass, doing the right stuff. And then the other message is like the definition of who you are as a man basically is decided through adversity. When adverse things happen and struggles show up, how you respond to those is your character. They always have a choice. When things go good, it’s really easy to be a great teammate. When things don’t go good, your character is revealed. Your character isn’t revealed when you win 22-1. It’s pretty easy to be a good dude and a good teammate. Character is revealed when things don’t go your way.”
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