It may have taken 16 years, but Pitt has swept West Virginia in football and men’s basketball for the first time since 2008.
With a big 86-64 win Friday night at the Petersen Events Center, Pitt secured a season sweep of WVU in the two biggest sports on either campus. It wouldn’t have been possible without a fourth quarter comeback at Acrisure Stadium in September, a 38-34 win for the Panthers.
And oddly enough, the last two sweeps have taken place in Pittsburgh.
02/07/08 — 55-54 win at the Petersen Events Center
11/28/08 — 19-15 win at Heinz Field
And now…
09/14/24 — 38-34 win at Acrisure Stadium
11/15/24 — 86-64 win at the Petersen Events Center
Although the 2008 edition wasn’t as impactful as the 2007 one, the 2008 Backyard Brawl was certainly memorable. It took a fourth quarter comeback to pull out a victory.
The Panthers secured a 19-15 victory against the Mountaineers largely thanks to LeSean McCoy’s 183 yards and two touchdowns.
West Virginia led 15-7 early in the fourth quarter, but McCoy scored twice in the fourth to help the Panthers to a second straight win — and the last until the Brawl was renewed in 2022.
Pitt men’s basketball squeaked out a 55-54 win against West Virginia at the Petersen Events Center nine months earlier, thanks to a Ronald Ramon 3-pointer with one second left in the game.
It was a back-and-forth battle, with neither team leading by more than the 7-point West Virginia lead early in the second half, but a suffocating defensive performance (limiting WVU to 35.8% shooting) led to a win.
Sam Young and Keith Benjamin scored 10 points each, and DaJuan Blair, despite a 3-of-13 shooting night, pulled in a game-high 12 rebounds.
WVU won the last (football) Backyard Brawl in 2011 before the series went dormant for just over a decade, and the Mountaineers won six (basketball) Backyard Brawl matchups from 2017-22. Pitt has won the last two Basketball Brawls now, and after an embarrassing loss at Milan Puskar Stadium last season, the Panthers are back on top.
