Right to the very end when Wes Lyons failed to get out of bounds and then committed pass interference. Between that ending, which was somewhat apropos, and the penalties and the bad passes and the penalties and the poor tackling and the penalties and the critical interception, WVU just killed itself today. That team is not good enough to make those errors and expect to win. In short, the Mountaineers made things much easier for a Pitt team that didn’t look as if it wanted to win that game. 

The game changed when Pat threw to the wrong team on third and 10 and set up a Pitt touchdown. The call itself goes Stewart’s philosophy because it let the defense make a play and allowed the opponent to get back in the game. Then again, you probably trust your senior quarterback not to make that pass. Yet he did and for as good as he’s been throughout his career, today was one of Pat’s poorer performances. The throws weren’t on and he ran the wrong way on a couple of plays, though Pitt did a good enough job complicating his decisions.

Funny thing is this doesn’t really change bowl prospects outside of making the Big East title and BCS bid unattainable. If USC beats Notre Dame and Rutgers beats Louisville, it’s still likely down to Pitt and WVU for the Sun Bowl. Head-to-head stuff doesn’t matter for the selection and the Sun will make a financially based decision.

Hunch? Charlotte and the Car Care Bowl only because WVU and it’s fans can do more with that game than anyone else.