West Virginia eager for the chance to host a rebooted Backyard Brawl against Pitt
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The Backyard Brawl between Pitt (1-1) and West Virginia (1-1) returned a year ago in Pittsburgh. Both teams have already lost a game this season. But enthusiasm for the next chapter of the rivalry, set to be written at Mountaineer Field on Saturday night (7:30 p.m.), hasn’t waned at all.
At least not in the Mountain State. West Virginia University wants its turn to host the Interstate 79 party.
It may not be the season lid-lifter like it was at Acrisure Stadium a year ago when Pitt won 38-31. But former Mountaineers quarterback and current radio sideline reporter Jed Drenning says the fans in Morgantown are just as excited despite both teams suffering an early season defeat.
“It hasn’t been dulled,” Drenning told me during our most recent “Breakfast With Benz” podcast. “When this game was put back on the schedule, people started looking into hotel reservations, which are now going for about $600-$700 in Morgantown.”
It’s Drenning’s feeling that, regardless of when on the calendar this game is played (Week 1 like last year, or late November as it so often was in decades past), Drenning says the heritage of the game and the fact it had been taken away from both fan bases for so long is what’s driving interest around campus and throughout the state.
“I would say every West Virginia fan has been waiting since 2011 — the last time (the rivalry) was here — to show up and get this thing cooking again in Morgantown. It is an event,” Drenning added.
WVU won that 2011 game 21-20. Geno Smith and company were able to overcome a 14-point deficit thanks in part to 10 sacks of
Then the series — first played in 1895 — was halted for a decade.
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“We’re fired up about this game. It’s going to be a great atmosphere for college football. I truly believe that returning this rivalry is a shot in the arm for both of these programs, and it’s one of the great rivalries, not just college sports, but I think in all of sports,” Drenning said.
Part of the reason the West Virginia fanbase is so hyped up for this installment is because of how things went down at the end of the game in Pittsburgh a year ago. WVU led the constantly see-sawing contest 31-24 midway through the fourth quarter. That’s when current New York Jets running back Israel Abanikanda busted off a 24-yard touchdown run to tie the game. Then M.J. Devonshire brought back a 56-yard pick-6 off the hands of Bryce Ford-Wheaton.
THIS. IS. THE. BACKYARD. BRAWL.
PITT SIX ???? @Mjdevonshirejr
???? @ESPN #H2P » #BeatWVU pic.twitter.com/zy0EA8H4EG
— Pitt Football (@Pitt_FB) September 2, 2022
Pitt went on to a 9-4 season and a Sun Bowl win over UCLA. WVU fell in overtime to Kansas the next week and ended the year 5-7, failing to even qualify for a bowl game.
“It’s hard to dismiss the possibility that after losing a rivalry game like that, there’s not some element of hangover,” Drenning said. “You hope that’s not the case. But with the Pitt game always being as meaningful as it is to everybody, it probably was. It had an impact. There’s no doubt about that.”
But Drenning believes there’s a different approach to Mountaineers coach Neal Brown this year that will help the team overall. It starts with quarterback Garrett Greene’s ability to use his feet. He has 20 carries for 104 yards and one touchdown rushing so far. Last year’s QB, J.T. Daniels, only carried the ball 30 times and never netted more than 10 yards in a game.
“The skillset in the quarterback room puts him in position to do some things that are a little more creative in the run game,” Drenning said. “He’s an Air Raid guy. But he’s an Air Raid guy that sees the game big-picture, more globally, as a head coach. … The fact that you now have a couple of quarterbacks who can make some things happen with their legs in addition to their arms puts them in a decent spot to try and do some of that.”
Also, in the podcast, Drenning and I discuss what the Mountaineers learned from their season-opening loss to Penn State, the performance of the running backs so far, and what he has seen from Greene at the QB position.