After 11 long years, the game we all love is back. Two teams, playing in one game, with everything to play for and everything to lose.
When Pitt and West Virginia kickoff on Thursday night, no one will be thinking about the past, they will only be thinking about the present and how this game impacts the future.
As the Backyard Brawl takes center stage of the sports world on Thursday, it will also put two schools up against each other who are fighting for relevancy.
One school is coming off a season in which they won their first conference championship in more than a decade. The other is in a the worst three-year stretch their program has been in since the turn of the century.
This game is what college football is about — two teams squaring off who want to do nothing more than beat each other.
No. 17 Pitt comes into this game having just won their first ACC Championship since 2010. The Panthers won the ACC on the back of a quarterback who now finds himself fighting for a starting quarterback job in the NFL as a rookie.
The Mountaineers on the other hand are looking for consistency from the quarterback position. For the last three seasons under head coach Neal Brown, the quarterback has never shined, and therefore West Virginia has never taken the jump they thought they would be following their 2018 season.
In turn, both teams went to the transfer portal and found new quarterbacks. Those quarterbacks are Kedon Slovis for Pitt and JT Daniels for WVU. Ironically enough, both Slovis and Daniels were teammates at USC, adding another layer to this year’s brawl.
Former USC offensive coordinator Graham Harrell who coached both Slovis and Daniels at USC now finds himself also in the thick of things, as he is the offensive coordinator for West Virginia.
“I know Slovis pretty well,” Harrell said. “There’s not much I can tell you that you can’t see on tape.”
As for Daniels, Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi said it was no surprise when Brown officially named Daniels the starter this week. Narduzzi then added he has also been watching tape on Daniels.
“JT Daniels will be the starting quarterback. If they haven’t made that announcement, I’ll make it for them,” Narduzzi said on Monday. “I watched I think 238 throws he’s made in the last couple years there. Again, he’s very, very capable. I can see why he’s the starter. He can make every throw. He’s really, really talented. We’ll have our hands (full) on that end.”
The drama that follows these quarterbacks to their new schools will just be the writing in another chapter of this historic rivalry.
This is the 105th all-time meeting between these two schools, with the first game being played in 1895. Pitt leads the series 61-40-3, but since 1990, West Virginia is 15-7 against the rival Panthers.
This game means more. It means more to the players, more to the schools, and more to the fans. This game encapsulates what sports are all about — lining up and seeing who the better team is that night.
This rivalry has brought joy and pain for both schools. This rivalry has separated households, has put everything on pause in Morgantown and in Pittsburgh for three and a half hours. For the first time in 11 years there will be a game between these schools and it could not come at a better time.
In an era of college football where more days are spent talking about conference realignment and the transfer portal, this game gets back to the root of how this sport began.
Tomorrow’s game will feature two teams with two different play styles.
Pitt will try to be more physical than you. The Panthers return one of the best defensive lines in college football and since 2019, Pitt has recorded more sacks than anyone else in the country. Pitt brings depth on its offensive line as well, looking to run the ball and grind out the game.
On the flip side, West Virginia will bring an offensive attack that will spread a defense out and make them beat you in space. The Mountaineers will bring a defense which depends more on coverage down field than putting more guys at the line of scrimmage.
When tomorrow night comes and goes however, one thing will remain the same — the bitterness of the rivalry.
Thursday night will end the 11-year hiatus of this rivalry. It will also begin a span of the next 11 years in which this rivalry will be played in eight of those years.
On Thursday night these two teams will write a new chapter, with a whole lot to prove, and a big stage to do it on. Football fans rejoice, because The Brawl is back.
