Good teams or bad, Pitt-WVU series has been memorable
PITTSBURGH (AP) – The stakes at the Backyard Brawl never have been this high for both teams. No. 17 Pittsburgh (8-3) or No. 24 West Virginia (8-3) will leave Heinz Field on Saturday with a nine-win regular season, at least a second-place finish in the Big East and probably a New Year’s Day bowl bid.
The winner is expected to land in the Gator Bowl, which pays about $1.4 million per team. The loser must be satisfied with a lesser bowl – the Insight, Continental Tire or San Francisco – and a lesser payout.
Obviously, the incentive for winning is great, the rewards for doing so are plentiful.
But the West Virginia-Pitt rivalry never needs national rankings, bowl games or big stars to make it special or entertaining.
Even when the teams were bad, they often played good games.
A glance at some memorable Backyard Brawls of the past:
– 1895: West Virginia 8, Western University of Pennsylvania 0: In the schools’ first meeting, Pitt had yet to change its name to University of Pittsburgh. Of West Virginia’s four “home” games that season, it was the only one played in Morgantown. The others were played in Parkersburg, Wheeling and Charleston.
– 1955: Pitt 26, West Virginia 7: West Virginia was 7-0 going into the game, but Pitt never trailed after an early touchdown catch by Joe Walton, who later coached the New York Jets.
– 1965: West Virginia 63, Pitt 48: At the time, the highest-scoring major college game ever played. Teletype operators across the country kept messaging the Mountaineer Field press box, wondering if the score was real. The loss started Pitt on a stretch of six losses in seven games that included a 69-13 loss to Notre Dame. Improbably, the Panthers ended a 3-7 season by upsetting Penn State; their only other victories were over Oklahoma and Miami.
– 1970: Pitt 36, West Virginia 35: West Virginia led 35-8 at halftime, but Pitt switched to a Power-I offense and rallied with four touchdowns. Afterward, West Virginia fans beat on the dressing room door, screaming in anger at a rookie head coach named Bobby Bowden.
– 1975: West Virginia 17, Pitt 14: Walk-on kicker Bill McKenzie’s game-winning field goal in the closing seconds led to one of the longest postgame celebrations ever at old Mountaineer Field.
Led by Heisman Trophy winner Tony Dorsett, Pitt would rebound to win the 1976 national championship and 67 of its next 77 regular-season games.
– 1982: Pitt 16, West Virginia 13: Pitt spent much of the season at No. 1 while starting 7-0, but held on to beat West Virginia only when Paul Woodside’s long field goal attempt hit the crossbar.
– 1983: West Virginia 24, Pitt 21: Jeff Hostetler drove the Mountaineers 90 yards in the final two minutes for their first victory over Pitt since 1975, and Don Nehlen’s first in four tries as coach.
– 1989: Pitt 31, West Virginia 31: The second-greatest comeback in the series’ history. Pitt trailed 31-9 at new Mountaineer Field in the fourth quarter, but rallied behind freshman quarterback Alex Van Pelt – a West Virginian – for 22 consecutive points. Ed Frazier made a tying 42-yard field goal on the final play. After the game, Pitt celebrated as if it had it won. West Virginia was ranked No. 9 at the time.
– 1994: West Virginia 47, Pitt 41: Again, another great Pitt comeback, this time from a 31-6 deficit to a 41-40 lead in the final minute. But with 15 seconds left, Chad Johnston hit Zach Abraham on a winning 60-yard touchdown pass.
– 1997: Pitt 41, West Virginia 38: One of two memorable Pitt wins in coach Walt Harris’ first season, the other being an upset of Miami. The three-overtime win propelled Pitt into its first bowl game in eight years and began the Panthers’ turnaround following six losing seasons in seven years. West Virginia was favored by 12 points and got a big game from Marc Bulger, who passed for 348 yards. But with Pitt about to lose in the third overtime, Pete Gonzalez hit Jake Hoffart for 20 yards and a first down on fourth-and-17, then hooked up with Terry Murphy two plays later on a 12-yard touchdown pass.