Basic rule. In a game won by under 7 points. The opposing fans and media covering that other team will tend to focus more on their team’s mistakes, missed opportunities and how they lost the game. It’s no different for Pitt fans when the Panthers lose. So, when it comes time for the VT perspective, don’t act like they aren’t acknowledging Pitt won.

Oh, what the hell. Let’s start with the VT perspective.

VT earned that loss.

A team that doesn’t make a first down until its sixth possession doesn’t deserve to win. A team that doesn’t convert a third down until the third quarter and goes 2-of-14 overall doesn’t deserve to win. A team that rushes for 26 yards on 22 carries doesn’t deserve to win, and won’t, absent the perfect outing Bud Foster’s defense was unable to deliver — Pitt rushed for 210 yards.

Yes, the Panthers rank fourth nationally in total defense and 17th in scoring defense. But in Pitt’s most recent game, Virginia rushed for 225 yards on 43 carries in a 24-19 victory.

Tech’s three best tailbacks — Marshawn Williams, Trey Edmunds and Shai McKenzie — missed Thursday’s game due to injury. But the way the Hokies’ offensive line blocked, I doubt any of them would have fared well.

“We have good backs,” Beamer said. “Give (Pitt) credit. Their two guys there in the middle (tackles Darryl Render and K.K. Mosley-Smith) are tough, and they crowded and they blitzed us. Then we just needed to throw the ball a little better, connect on a couple more that we had an opportunity to, and it’s a different game.”

Indeed, while Brewer went 26-of-45 for 265 yards and a touchdown, and did not throw an interception for the first time this season, his first-half skittishness was unmistakable. He misfired on some open deep routes, threw well short of the sticks on several third downs and declined to run when the defense parted.

So bad was Brewer in the first half that you half-wondered whether backup Mark Leal had practiced well enough for Beamer to ponder a switch. But Beamer stuck with Brewer, whose 210 passing yards after intermission validated the decision.

Still, convinced Brewer could not beat them, the Panthers smothered the Hokies at the line of scrimmage, leaving J.C. Coleman, Sam Rogers and Joel Caleb little room to run. Offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler lamented his group’s 45-22 pass-run ratio — it marked the Hokies’ fewest rushes since they had 22 in the Sugar Bowl loss to Auburn a decade ago.

Basically, the defensive script reads like the way opposing defenses have wanted to beat Pitt the prior three games. Take away Conner and the running game and make Chad Votyik beat you. Good to see Pitt use that experience for their own purposes.

Oh, and of Brewer’s 265 yards, 104 came on their final two possessions when Pitt’s defense went into prevent mode. Again. Felt a bit like being on the other side of the last few games when Chad Voytik had to throw on every down and the total passing yardage numbers looked a bit better than you would think.

A little side story from the Hokie side was their offensive mistakes when they had a chance before halftime to really close the gap. You may remember the Chad Voytik interception and VT getting downfield in a hurry. Then the Hokies went into implosion mode — only to get bailed out by a Pitt penalty — and then implode some more.

Power runs were in order, until Caleb Farris committed a snap infraction that pushed the ball back to the 10. On second down, Brewer brain-locked and threw into tight coverage in the back of the end zone, where Mitchell intercepted. But officials flagged Shakir Soto for roughing Brewer, giving the Hokies a first down at the 5.

Following a 2-yard Rogers run and Brewer throwaway, Tech committed delay-of-game and false-start penalties, knocking them back to the 13. On third-and-goal, Brewer threw underneath to Cam Phillips, who though untouched, fumbled. David Wang’s alert recovery allowed Joey Slye to kick a 24-yard field goal that cut Pitt’s lead to 14-6 at intermission.

Beamer, Brewer and Loeffler all said the delay flag was caused by contrasting times on different play clocks. Heightening their frustration: Brewer connected with Isaiah Ford on a slant route in the end zone before officials signaled the delay.

ACC supervisor of officials Doug Rhoads attended the game and told me he would review the tape and address any issue he discovered with Pitt’s game-management crew.

The ACC did review the film, the clocks, everything. They found no such contrasting times. So, that ends that.

My guess is even Hokie fans don’t even see this as much of a controversy. A post-game comment that was investigated and debunked quickly as an excuse for one of the many dumb penalties VT keeps committing on offense to kill drives (A shock, I know, but it would appear Pitt isn’t the only team out there that finds ways to shoot themselves in the foot with pre-snap penalties.)

I swear to god, switch out VT for Pitt and Pitt  for UVA and you would have similar sentiments echoed by Pitt fans after losing at Charlottesville a couple weeks ago.

…the offense didn’t have an identity, and the defense did enough to win, but not enough to account for the lack of a ground game (49 positive yards on 22 carries, 26 net yards). Pre-snap penalties nullified most early offensive momentum, and despite a pulse on offense, Tech couldn’t climb out of its hole late in the fourth quarter.

One of the excuses coming from VT is about the relative youth of their team. Especially on offense. Not the best excuse considering Pitt is in the same boat, but you work with what you have.

As much as Heinz Field is VT’s house of horrors, so too are mobile QBs.

When we ask defensive coordinator Bud Foster about this, he usually scoffs, saying defenders are in the right spot to make plays and just haven’t, leading to big running games by quarterbacks. But when it happens as frequently as it has with the Hokies — four quarterbacks have topped the 100-yard mark in the last 10 games and Tech has lost every one of those contests — it’s an issue.

Makes me wonder if Coach Chryst and OC Paul Rudolph knew that as well, and it influenced their decision to let Chad Voytik go with the read-option much more in this game.

If you were watching at home as the game went to halftime, there was the run off the field interview with VT head coach Frank Beamer. In a classic bit of coachspeak said about how his team needed to play better because — and I swear this is true, “They [Pitt] don’t beat themselves.”

Aside from the interception just before the half that gave them 3 more points and the fumble earlier in the game. Absolutely not. It’s like Beamer wasn’t even trying to give the right cliche.

Okay, now for Pitt.

There’s the typical, “it was ugly, but at least a win.” And there is an element of truth to that, no matter how tiresome it is to read or hear. Anyone mind, though,  if I skip over that? No? Good. Moving on.

In the week leading up to the game, there was a surprisingly positive piece on Chad Voytik. I say surprising, because Voytik was receiving a lot of the blame for the offenses troubles — and not exactly all of it undeserved. So, to bust out with the puff piece on his leadership, academics and the other aspects of Voytik at this point seemed odd in the timing.

Now it seems prescient since there was a chunk from his high school days and mentioning the kind of offense he ran there. And, of course, on Thursday night saw a lot of those elements utilized in the offensive scheme.

Against the Hokies, Pitt used a heavy dose of read option, featuring quarterback Chad Voytik, for the first time this season. Voytik gained consistent yards when he kept the football and ran with it.

“It speaks highly of [Chryst],” Voytik said. “He adjusted to my strengths and our team’s strengths and put something in that turned out to work for us. That’s just a great coaching point right there, how he adjusted like that.”

Voytik finished with a career-high 118 rushing yards on 19 carries, mostly coming on option plays when he could have handed the ball off to running back James Conner, but the defense dictated that Voytik keep it.

Voytik said the Hokies defensive ends consistently crashed down to try to stop Conner, who finished with 85 yards and two touchdowns on 16 carries. Virginia Tech tried to keep defensive back Kendall Fuller close to the line to stop Voytik, but the Panthers countered by pulling a fullback over to block Fuller.

“They were giving that to us all night,” Voytik said.

The success of Voytik running came from the element of surprise, but also the predictable keying in on James Conner all game by the Hokie defense. The fact that any time they let up on keying on Conner in the slightest led to him busting their contain and rumbling into the secondary only reinforced the conundrum for VT.

Not that Head Coach Paul Chryst is going to commit to it beyond this game. Even if the players were all for it.

Chryst said he isn’t sure if he will continue to use the zone read, but Voytik seems to be thinking, “Why not?”

“We had success with it,” he said. “I think we are going to keep going with it.”

Boyd said it may be smart to keep the defense guessing.

“The defense might prepare for it,” he said, “but once they prepare for it, we are going to throw a whole different trick at them.”

It didn’t create an offensive juggernaut, but it opened things up a bit more for Pitt. This was a defensive game. Tons of punting and looking for field position. Pitt was better able to capitalize on opportunities and made more plays than VT did.

There is not really a doubt that Pitt will keep using it. They might dial it back in frequency, but given Pitt’s strengths and weaknesses on offense — and that includes the ability of the O-line to block for runs versus passing, not just Voytik as a passer  — it is not something that can be left out of the game plan.

Overshadowed by the offense having a new wrinkle and all the punts. The defense really did a great job all game. The prevent stuff late in the 4th quarter is never fun, but that shouldn’t obscure just how much they controlled VT and forced 3-and-out after 3-and-out all game long.

The defense, which did not allow Virginia Tech a first down for the first 24 minutes, kept Pitt in the lead and even helped embellish it.

Conner’s first touchdown — a 15-yard run with 3:39 left in the first half — followed defensive tackle K.K. Mosley Smith’s fumble recovery at the Pitt 22.

Virginia Tech’s first score was Joey Slye’s 42-yard field goal in the second quarter, set up by a 38-yard punt return to the Pitt 32 by Greg Stroman.

Later, the Hokies managed a 24-yard field goal on the last play of the half after Marshall intercepted a Voytik pass at the Pitt 46. The Hokies moved to 5-yard line before they were set back by two false-start penalties and a delay of game.

The defense has been a surprising bright spot as a unit.

He kept passing out small, but significant, helpings of praise for several other defensive players who helped vault Pitt into a tie for first place in the ACC Coastal Division with Virginia and Duke.

“When we go back and look at it,” he said, “there are going to be a lot of guys (who contributed),” he said.

First, he mentioned freshman safety Patrick Amara, who made his first career start when Pitt opened the game with five defensive backs.

He also pointed to sacks by Nicholas Grigsby, Rori Blair and Dave Durham. Grigsby’s was the most important, coming after Virginia Tech had moved to a first down on its 46 with 1:46 left in the game while Pitt was clinging to a 21-16 lead.

Defensive tackles K.K. Mosley-Smith (fumble recovery) and Darryl Render (two pass breakups) also caught the coach’s eye.

Time limitations kept him from mentioning the efforts of linebackers Anthony Gonzalez, Matt Galambos, Bam Bradley and Todd Thomas, who were around the ball continually, or safety Ray Vinopal and cornerback Lafayette Pitts, who combined for three of Pitt’s five pass breakups.

Various defensive players stepped up at different parts all game. That’s been the theme for that side of the ball most of the season. Ray Vinopal has been the leader and probably has stood out the most, but not anywhere close to being the star of the defense. Solid team play.

Now the defense has to get ready for a team that runs a hell of a lot more than VT did. And does it a hell of a lot better.