MORGANTOWN - Reed Williams was just like pretty much everyone else on West Virginia's sideline at the end of Friday night's Backyard Brawl with Pitt. He couldn't bear to watch.

That didn't mean, however, that he didn't play a part in Tyler Bitancurt's game-winning, 43-yard field goal in the Mountaineers' 19-16 win at Mountaineer Field.

The way Williams figures it, he laid the groundwork.

"I've been trying to rattle him all year. That's part of my job as a senior,'' Williams said. "I try to take it on myself to cause him as much grief as possible.''

It is done, of course, with good intentions. Bitancurt, after all, is a redshirt freshman. He had never made a college kick before this year and still hasn't been in many pressure situations.

So Williams was just trying to get him prepared.

And it worked.

"I think everyone knows Reed Williams is the smartest guy around here,'' Bitancurt said. "When he first started doing it [in practice], I thought, 'Why is this guy yelling at me?' Sometimes I kick the ball laughing so hard because he says the funniest things.''

So when it came time for Bitancurt to win or lose a game with his leg Friday night, the pressure was certainly there. But it was nothing new.

Next up, Williams might have to start physically assaulting Bitancurt to prepare him for celebratory piles.

"I think I broke my sternum [when everyone jumped on him after the winning kick],'' Bitancurt said. "I couldn't breathe for a while. But it was worth the pain.''

West Virginia and Pitt players had one of those ridiculous jawing matches at midfield about 20 minutes before the game. No players were injured - or penalized - in the making of what increasingly appears to be made-for-TV confrontations.

MORGANTOWN - Reed Williams was just like pretty much everyone else on West Virginia's sideline at the end of Friday night's Backyard Brawl with Pitt. He couldn't bear to watch.

That didn't mean, however, that he didn't play a part in Tyler Bitancurt's game-winning, 43-yard field goal in the Mountaineers' 19-16 win at Mountaineer Field.

The way Williams figures it, he laid the groundwork.

"I've been trying to rattle him all year. That's part of my job as a senior,'' Williams said. "I try to take it on myself to cause him as much grief as possible.''

It is done, of course, with good intentions. Bitancurt, after all, is a redshirt freshman. He had never made a college kick before this year and still hasn't been in many pressure situations.

So Williams was just trying to get him prepared.

And it worked.

"I think everyone knows Reed Williams is the smartest guy around here,'' Bitancurt said. "When he first started doing it [in practice], I thought, 'Why is this guy yelling at me?' Sometimes I kick the ball laughing so hard because he says the funniest things.''

So when it came time for Bitancurt to win or lose a game with his leg Friday night, the pressure was certainly there. But it was nothing new.

Next up, Williams might have to start physically assaulting Bitancurt to prepare him for celebratory piles.

"I think I broke my sternum [when everyone jumped on him after the winning kick],'' Bitancurt said. "I couldn't breathe for a while. But it was worth the pain.''

West Virginia and Pitt players had one of those ridiculous jawing matches at midfield about 20 minutes before the game. No players were injured - or penalized - in the making of what increasingly appears to be made-for-TV confrontations.

In this case, Pitt's players crowded up to the 50-yard line just as West Virginia was beginning to form its pregame circle, which covers nearly half the field. As the Mountaineers ran by the Panthers at the top of the circle, both sides began taunting one another. The fault, of course, rested with both sides - Pitt for crowding near midfield and West Virginia for being sucked into it.

Pitt freshman Dion Lewis went into Friday's game needing 38 yards to break the Big East freshman rushing record, set two years ago by the Panther running back he replaced, LeSean McCoy. And he nearly had it on the first series, when Lewis ran for 33 yards on his first five carries.

But for most of the rest of the first half, Pitt's offense went absolutely nowhere. It wasn't until late in the second quarter that Lewis finally went over the mark, which was 1,328 yards. Lewis finished the game with 155 yards rushing.

"He's one of those guys you can't stop,'' safety Nate Sowers said. "You just have to contain him as much as you can.''

As for that league freshman rushing list itself, it has a definite WVU and Pitt flavor. In addition to the top two from Pitt, three of the next six are Mountaineers - Avon Cobourne, Steve Slaton and Amos Zereoue. Four of the top six on the list did it as true freshmen - McCoy, Lewis, Slaton and Rutgers' Ray Rice.

BRIEFLY: Bitancurt tied his own record for field goals at Mountaineer Field with four. He had that many in the opening game against Liberty.

Reach Dave Hickman at 304-348-1734 or dphickm...@aol.com.