PITTSBURGH — Perhaps unsurprisingly, the two West Virginia fans picked the Mountaineers to win the Backyard Brawl.
The College GameDay crew made its picks for the Brawl Saturday morning, and former WVU kicker Pat McAfee and West Virginia native Nick Saban picked the Mountaineers, but the remainder of the crew (Lee Corso, Desmond Howard and Kirk Herbstreit) and guest picker Dawn Staley picked the Panthers.
That’s a 4-2 majority win for Pitt, but of course, the win that matters will have to come on the field at Acrisure Stadium Saturday afternoon.
Pitt opened as a slim home underdog, and while the line has fluctuated a bit since, the Panthers are still a 2-point underdog against the Mountaineers.
The Backyard Brawl, when it’s on the schedule, is one of the most eagerly anticipated games on the Pitt schedule — especially when it’s in Pittsburgh. And with the Panthers coming off a historic comeback victory, Panther Nation will be out in full force this weekend.
Pitt is 2-0, coming off a come-from-behind win against Cincinnati this weekend, and is looking to improve to 3-0 for the first time since 2020.
West Virginia is 1-1, rebounding from a season-opening loss against Penn State with a 49-14 beatdown against Albany. WVU quarterback Garrett Greene and the Mountaineers’ offense are looking to continue their ascent.
Pitt leads the all-time series with West Virginia 62-41-3. It’s a series that initially kicked off in the 1800s, with an 8-0 WVU win 1895, but the two sides played every season from 1943-2011 — and just about every season since 1900 before that. It’s grown into perhaps the greatest rivalry in college football in the years since.
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The series stopped for 10 seasons due to both teams leaving the Big East, with Pitt going to the ACC and West Virginia to the Big 12, following the 2011 season.
But it resumed in the 2022 season. Pitt knocked off WVU, 38-31, to open the season at Acrisure Stadium, and WVU returned the favor with a 17-6 win at Milan Puskar Stadium last season. After last season’s embarrassing showing, with three interceptions from then-quarterback Phil Jurkovec, the Panthers have a lot to prove this time around.
