RB Respect Month, Day 23: LeSean McCoy vs. West Virginia (2008)
Everyone remembers the 2007 Backyard Brawl. 2008 was Shady's moment.
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Welcome to day 23 of Running Back Respect Month™️! Yesterday, Emmitt Smith set the Florida single-game rushing record at Alabama in 1987. Here's where we're at today, and how the rest of the month looks:
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Today: LeSean McCoy vs. West Virginia (2008)
RB Respect Month, Day 23: LeSean McCoy vs. West Virginia (2008)
LeSean McCoy was a revelation as a freshman in 2007. His 1,328 yards rushing and 14 total touchdowns earned him First Team All-Big East, Big East Rookie of the Year and unanimous Freshman All-American honors. Pitt was a disappointing 5-7 that season, but no one remembers or cares, because they ended it with one of the most monumental rivalry wins in college football history. The Panthers' stunning 13-9 upset of West Virginia thwarted the Mountaineers' National Title hopes, threw the 2007 season into further chaos, and provided a simple, yet iron-clad, piece of shit-talking for Panthers fans that lives on to this day:
McCoy's 148 yards rushing were a major factor in the win, and didn't even include an ankle-breaking touchdown called back on a fraudulent holding penalty:
What did Pitt Head Coach Dave Wannstedt think of the call?
Pitt still held on for the upset, and the win helped further make McCoy a household name entering 2008.
The first thing that probably comes to your mind when you think of LeSean McCoy is an explosive run. Maybe it's him shaking someone in the open field, his legendary TD run in the snow against the Detroit Lions in 2013, or how he introduced himself to the college football world in 2007 against Michigan State. He was as shifty as any running back we've seen post-Barry Sanders, and a threat to score every time he touched the ball. That's why it's so funny that the best performance of his college career was a game where his longest run was 16 yards.
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The 2008 Backyard Brawl didn't have the stakes of 2007's, but was just as intense. West Virginia was dying to get revenge for the previous year, while Pitt had the opportunity to win eight games for the first time since 2004. On an individual note, McCoy was two touchdowns away from breaking Larry Fitzgerald's school record for most TDs through a player's first two seasons, and had just thrown the fanbase into a frenzy by announcing he'd return for his junior year.*
*McCoy attended a year in prep school before playing at Pitt, making him eligible to leave for the NFL after his sophomore season.
He delivered a performance befitting of a Pitt legend, running 33 times for 183 yards, and scoring the game-winning –and record-breaking– touchdown with 52 seconds left in a 19-15 Panthers win:
West Virginia did a great job not letting him break any monster runs, but couldn't handle McCoy's short-area quickness. He dipped, darted, and dodged through every level of the Mountaineer defense, gaining at least five yards or a first down/touchdown on 21 of his 33 carries. Even the ones that weren't successful were still entertaining:
McCoy reversed course by declaring for the 2009 NFL Draft after the season, but two years were enough to cement his legacy in Pittsburgh. He has the sheer numbers to stand alongside other Panthers greats –he's still third in program history in rushing touchdowns, and eighth in rushing yards– and was also the centerpiece for two massive wins against Pitt's most-hated rival.
