Backyard Brawl a game both schools want on schedule
West Virginia and Pittsburgh will play the final scheduled game of a four-game series in the renewal of the Backyard Brawl Sept. 13 until the rivalry takes a three-year hiatus.
The series will then resume from 2029-32 with the first game being hosted by Pittsburgh before flipping between the two longtime rivals and concluding in Morgantown.
But what about that three-year gap?
If Pittsburgh coach Pat Narduzzi has any say he’d like to see the teams find a way to make it work.
“If you guys have any power to maybe see if we can get them in the next three years, we’re willing to make some movements in our schedule and try to get that done,” he said at ACC Media Days. “I would love to play them every year. You know, to have at least one rivalry game, which is West Virginia right now.”
West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez has stressed a number of times this off-season the importance of the Brawl after he has seen the rivalry from all sides over the years. Rodriguez grew up in West Virginia and not only played in the game as a player in Morgantown but as coached in it over the years.
“They can’t make it big enough. It’s the biggest that we play every year. You know, like I said four-letter word. What do we say?” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez also has constantly stressed the intensity of the game and the draw it is to both teams and their respective fanbases.
Narduzzi echoed those comments, saying that his players look forward to it yearly.
“That’s what the game is all about, those regional rivalries. Fans love it. Our players love it. It’s intense. There’s no love lost. That’s what it’s all about. That’s college football,” he said.
For now, the possibility of working the game into the schedule from 2026-28 would appear challenging as West Virginia is currently booked through that time period.
In 2026, West Virginia will host Alabama in the first of a two-game home-and-home series and then host UT Martin before playing Virginia at a neutral site contest in Charlotte.
The 2027 slate has the return trip to Alabama before hosting both VMI and Ohio while finally in 2028 the Mountaineers will play Tennessee at a neutral site game in Charlotte before hosting Youngstown State and Akron. That means for the time being the possibility of it occurring would be difficult at best without being able to move some of the contests around.
But there is hope that the two schools could potentially work out a longer-term agreement in the future as it’s obvious there is a desire to continue the storied rivalry on both sides.
The Backyard Brawl not being played is one of many tragic consequences of continued realignment across the college football landscape, but perhaps we’re moving closer to remedying that long-term.
Overall, Rodriguez is 6-5-2 against Pitt, between his time as a player, a grad assistant, a volunteer assistant, and a head coach. This will also be Rodriguez’s first Backyard Brawl since 2007, which was also the last game he coached in his first stint at WVU.
Narduzzi is 2-1 in the series since it resumed.
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