One of the best things about late July for a sportswriter is conference media days. Stick a microphone in a coach’s face, and they’re probably going to give you a tailor-made piece, at a time when games aren’t happening.
Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi did exactly that at ACC media days, and it directly impacts West Virginia. With the Backyard Brawl set to take a three-year hiatus after this year’s meeting in Morgantown, Narduzzi said that the Panthers don’t want it to end and would be willing to rearrange schedules to fix that.
It’s a good line for Narduzzi. It goes to what both fan bases want, and it attempts to place the onus on the Mountaineers. It’s also not fair to do that, and it’s probably not going to get the outcome the fans want.
Make no mistake, Wren Baker wants to play Pitt. He knows how badly the fans want this game. He also needs to make it make sense for WVU. And for the next couple seasons, that’s difficult. Here’s why.
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The Big 12 Plays Nine, the ACC Plays Eight
This is the big sticking point in the College Football Playoff, and it’s the big sticking point in scheduling. West Virginia has an extra Power 4 game to figure out that Pitt does not. Some years, Notre Dame rotates onto the Panthers’ schedule as part of the ACC’s agreement with the Irish, but that isn’t a conference game. Pitt knows far in advance when the Irish will come to town or when it must go to South Bend, and it can plan accordingly.
West Virginia does not have that flexibility. All the Mountaineers know is that they’ll play nine Big 12 opponents, without knowing strength or location. They might know ahead of time whether they have four or five in Morgantown, but that’s about it. Any Power 4 game the Mountaineers add in non-conference is on top of nine.
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Last year, West Virginia played both Penn State and Pitt. That gave the Mountaineers 11 games of 12 without a likely breather. (Oklahoma State ended up being an unexpected breather when the Cowboys crashed to 0-9, but that’s beyond the point.) The only game last year the Mountaineers went in knowing was a likely win was Albany. Pitt got to open by routing Kent State, then followed the Backyard Brawl with Youngstown State.
That’s a much easier way to handle things. Was that why Pitt started 7-0? No, but it didn’t hurt. And Baker wants that opportunity available to his team some years. Playing 11 power schools makes that unrealistic.
West Virginia Can’t Move Most of Its Games
The next two years are booked pretty solid for the Mountaineers. And they’re filled with games that make little sense to move.
Next year, Alabama comes to Morgantown. I’ll repeat that: Alabama comes to Morgantown. That’s a huge game that would mean the world to WVU fans if they have a chance at victory. There’s also a neutral-site game with Virginia in Charlotte. West Virginia already paid East Carolina $300,000 to buy its way out of a visit to Greenville so it could play the Cavaliers. The Mountaineers will be paid at least $2 million to go to Charlotte, so that’s locked in place.
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So to get Pitt on the schedule, WVU would have to commit to 12 games against Power 4 opponents. That’s not happening. The Mountaineers might have done better than UT-Martin, but it was always going to be FCS or Group of 6 for Game 12.
What about 2027? Obviously, the Mountaineers aren’t buying out of going to Tuscaloosa. You don’t do that against an SEC school, not if you want future home-and-homes. They’re also not moving the Ohio game. WVU agreed to go to Athens to get the Bobcats to come twice. And they did that because visiting Ohio is a brilliant way to market the Mountaineers to the entire state.
Two of West Virginia’s three biggest cities are Charleston and Parkersburg. Both are substantially closer to Athens than to Morgantown. If WVU fans make the drive, Peden Stadium will be full of blue and gold instead of green in September. And by giving themselves a home crowd on the road, WVU gets two home dates with Ohio. The 2027 game makes no sense to move.
West Virginia Needs to Play Six in Morgantown
Baker has committed to six games minimum in Morgantown. That means the location of a game with Pitt has to match up.
There’s one way the schools could do that and cut the Backyard Brawl’s hiatus to one year. To make it happen, Pitt would have to agree to come to Morgantown in 2027. Odd years are the Mountaineers’ time to play five league road games, so playing Pitt anywhere but Milan Puskar Stadium in 2027 is a non-starter. To do that, WVU would have to pay VMI to vanish from the schedule and Pitt would need to leave Sept. 11 free to travel to Morgantown.
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In 2028, WVU could make the trip to Pitt. It’s not an easy ask, but it would leave the Mountaineers with six in Morgantown. They’d have five Big 12 games, plus one of Akron or Youngstown State. Pitt still has two open dates in 2028, so that would be doable.
There are issues to navigate. First, Baker would have to crunch the numbers and see if they make sense. Again, his first responsibility is to his athletic department. If it doesn’t make financial sense to add the Backyard Brawl in 2027 and 2028, he shouldn’t do it.
His second responsibility is to his football team and Rich Rodriguez. Just because Pat Narduzzi wants to move things around doesn’t mean West Virginia is obligated to do so. The game has to make sense for the Mountaineers. If Rodriguez thinks the Mountaineers can handle 11 Power 4 games in 2027 and 2028, go ahead and play the Panthers. If not, they can wait until 2029.
The Backyard Brawl’s Future
Whether or not it happens in 2027 and 2028, WVU and Pitt will play more often than not. Both sides want this game. It’s a question of making it make sense for both sides.
If it does, Baker will find a way to get it on the slate. If not, three years isn’t very long, and West Virginia’s still got plenty of good games to get excited about until then.
