The West Virginia Mountaineers will face the Pittsburgh Panthers in the Backyard Brawl for the first time in over a decade. Taking place at the newly named Acrisure Stadium, Pitt will be hosting the game. One of the longest running rivalries, the Backyard Brawl has occurred 104 times dating back to 1895. The last time these two teams met up was in 2011, the Mountaineers won the game 21-20. Pitt currently leads the series 61-40-3; the Panthers last win was in 2008. September 1st, the two teams will meet to kickoff the season and have a chance to grab bragging rights.
Backyard Brawl History
Morgantown, West Virginia is located just about 70 miles south of Pittsburgh. The geographical locations of the two schools are one of the main reasons for the rivalry and gives the rivalry its name. The Thursday Night game will mark the 105th time the two schools will meet, and the schools met every season from 1943-2011. The anticipation is only picking up, Karl Ludwig of Pittsburgh Sports Now reported that WVU has already sold out of their allotted tickets to the game.
With the Backyard Brawl being absent for most of the 2010’s, the two teams will go against each other from 2022-2025 and continuing from 2029-2032. Neal Brown will coach his Mountaineer team for the first time against Pitt and has expressed interest in playing the game every year. Mountaineer fans expect to travel well and make a presence in Pittsburgh during the upcoming Backyard Brawl. WVU will get their chance to host the game next season, but that’s a long time from now. Fans of both teams expect a win and want the extra motivation to kickstart the season.
Slovis vs Daniels
Each team is coming into the season with transfer quarterbacks. JT Daniels transferred into WVU from Georgia and is expected to make a big splash for the Mountaineers. Daniels was placed on the Maxwell Award Watchlist and was a major grab for Neal Brown. Slovis is coming into Pitt from USC with a career 70% pass completions, and is currently expected to start. This is not the first time these quarterbacks will compete, they played together on USC in 2019. Daniels started over Slovis until he was hurt in week 1 of the 2019 season. Slovis shined after replacing Daniels and is currently considered the better quarterback. It is all coming full circle for the two to be able to compete with their current teams.
The anticipation of the long awaited Backyard Brawl revival is almost over. Only 42 days until kickoff and the hype and trash talk will continue to build until game time.
