PITTSBURGH — The year started on an incredible high for Bill Stewart and his Mountaineers. It certainly won’t end that way. Despite three losses coming into Friday’s annual Backyard Brawl, West Virginia still maintained significant incentive. First and foremost, the Eers badly wanted to avenge 2007’s bitter 13-9 setback at Morgantown, a loss which denied WVU a potential bid to the BCS title game. Furthermore, a Friday win at Heinz Field and West Virginia retained some glimmer of hope of overtaking Cincinnati to claim the Big East’s automatic bid to a BCS bowl. But after failing to protect an eight-point fourth quarter lead and eventually dropping a 19-15 verdict, most Mountaineers and their fans are likely to consider this 2008 season a dismal failure. Perhaps they shouldn’t feel that way. Two of three losses to begin the season served as an early indicator this team was not nearly as formidable as WVU’s past three combines.