In just over a month on Sept. 16, West Virginia will host Pitt in the second iteration of the Backyard Brawl in over a decade.
West Virginia head coach Neal Brown commented on playing this game yearly, saying he is all for it.
“The Pitt game I think should be played every year,” Brown said on Wednesday. “I think the Pitt game should be played every year. It’s one of the best rivalries in all of college football, and so we should play that every year.”
Scheduling is an area Brown has not shied away from recently. Brown has consistently had one of the toughest schedules in the country, due to multiple rivalry games being played in recent years.
In 2021, West Virginia played at Maryland and hosted Virginia Tech. In 2022, the Mountaineers played both Pitt and Virginia Tech on the road. This year, the Mountaineers are playing two rivalry games again, facing Penn State on the road and then hosting Pitt.
Next year the Mountaineers again face Penn State and Pitt, before going to a model Brown thinks is best for West Virginia.
“I’ve spoken on what’s the best for the program, not what’s best necessarily for me, but best for the program is I think you play that Pitt game, you play a [group of five] at home, you play a FCS at home, and you play nine league games, which should give you seven home games every year,” Brown said. “I think that’s the best opportunity for success, I think it’s best for our fanbase to have a seventh home game every year and it allows you the opportunity to really build some momentum early in the year.”
In 2025 for example, the Mountaineers play Pitt at home, Robert Morris at home (FCS), and Ohio on the road (group of five). In 2026 and 2027 it is a similar model with the Mountaineers replacing Pitt with Alabama. In 2028, WVU has Tennessee on the schedule as a power five opponent, before the Pitt series is resumed in 2029.
This means it is unlikely you will see Maryland, Penn State, or Virginia Tech on the schedule in the near future.
“Those other regional rivalries is I think it’s hard to play both (Pitt and a regional rivalry),” Brown said. “Those two games (against Virginia Tech) were awesome. That was a great home environment here, it was great going down there. The Penn State game, we’re meeting that thing head on, we’re excited about it, but I don’t think it’s within the best interest to play both those games within the same calendar year.”
