The renewal of the Backyard Brawl is just under two months away, and the hype around the return of two of the oldest rivals in college football to the gridiron continues to grow.
The Brawl is set to kickoff the 2022 college football season, a matchup set under the lights of Heinz Field on Thursday, Sept. 1. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. and those who cannot make it will find the coverage on ESPN. But if you haven’t bought tickets already, it may be time.
WVU’s Ticket Office announced Thursday that the Mountaineers’ allotment of tickets for the game is officially sold out. If WVU fans are looking for tickets still, the University encouraged fans to look on StubHub or contact Pitt’s Ticket Office.
WVU’s single-game and mini-package tickets went on sale Wednesday at 9 a.m., taking just over 24 hours to sell out for the Brawl. Which goes to show the excitement of the rivalry picking back up — even if it’s just a few thousand tickets.
Pitt, however, has not yet put tickets on sale for the Brawl. While tickets for all of Pitt’s other home games have been put on sale. Ticket sales for the Brawl will have an exclusive on-sale date set for Aug. 2.
Pitt has lost three consecutive Brawl matchups dating back to 2009, but the most memorable edition in recent memory came in the famous 2007 matchup when Pitt ruined WVU’s season with a late-season loss to take away a national championship bid.
Pitt is 61-40-3 all-time against WVU in a series that dates back to the 1895 season. While the Brawl hasn’t taken place in a while, the renewed rivalry is one of the most hyped returns of the 2022 season.
Pitt and WVU will both kickoff the 2022 season with new quarterbacks, former USC quarterbacks even. Kedon Slovis will likely start for Pitt and J.T. Daniels will start for WVU in a battle of former quarterback room members in SoCal.
The Brawl isn’t just a chance for both Pitt and WVU to kick the season on a high note, but it’s a chance to win the first matchup in over a decade and regain those bragging rights.
With games set from 2022-25 and 2029-32, the Brawl will be a much more relevant series than it was in the 2010s.
Karl, how often do you traverse the Hot Metal Bridge and watch PITT’s QB play at the UPMC Sports Complex? I watched the Blue-Gold game on TV replay and #12 Patti looked a lot more fluid and better drop back passing than Slovis. Let the August Camp play out. You keep posting articles with Slovis as QB1, and I suspect it is based upon Past performance. He had Cignetti calling his Plays in the Spring and TE1 plus RB1 and did not shine much. Patti looked much better, let it play out.
I haven’t a clue other than ticket sales what drives this fascination with the past. Narduzzi is going to MF Heather when he loses a significant number of starters in this meaningless game. WV will do whatever they can to sabotage Pitt’s season. Their hatred of all thing Pitt will drive them to unspeakable acts. This is WV’s season.
I hope Narduzzi brings in veterans of past games to prepare them for what lies ahead. I see us losing one or both starting quarterbacks, a running back and a receiver for the season.
Batteries are expensive nowadays … just put the Mountaineers fans Section away from where PITT enters exits Stadium. If anything PITT Defensive Line lights up their QB.
You don’t understand, they will stop at nothing to screw up our season. Their hatred is as deep as the Mariana Trench. In 1970, Bryan Salter, Pitt db horse collared WV’s star running back as they were going down Salter brought his knee up into the small of the back. When he got up, he looked back at a motionless Mountaineer. I saw it from the sidelines. No upside for Pitt in this game.