Geno Smith had a big day and Pittsburgh couldn’t overcome its own mistakes as West Virginia posted a 35-10 victory on Friday in a Big East matchup.

Smith threw only nine passes and three of them went for touchdowns. He finished 9-of-12 for 212 yards with two of his scoring strikes coming in the third quarter to turn what looked like another taut edition of the“Backyard Brawl” into a rout.

West Virginia (8-3, 4-2 Big East) in now in the running for the conference title while Pittsburgh (6-5, 4-2) has squandered its lead in the Big East and has lost to both of the teams it is tied with.

Connecticut (6-4, 3-2) controls its own destiny and will go to a BCS bowl if it can beat Cincinnati on Saturday and South Florida next week. The Huskies own wins over both the Mountaineers and Panthers.

West Virginia led this one 14-7 at the half and pulled away in the third. Smith threw touchdown passes of 71 and 12 yards to Tavon Austin to give the Mountaineers a 28-10 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Tino Sunseri completed 28-of-46 passes for 290 yards and a touchdown and one interception for Pitt, which was limited to 75 yards rushing.

The Panthers’ potent rushing combo of Dion Lewis and Ray Graham was held to 54 yards on 21 carries and both lost a fumble as did Sunseri.