Backyard Brawl

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Pitt Panthers-West Virginia Mountaineers
Football History
1st Meeting	October 26, 1895
Last Meeting	November 27, 2009
Last Result	WVU: 19-16
Next Meeting	TBA
Number of Meetings	102
All-Time Series	PITT: 61-38-3
Largest victory	PITT: 53-0 (11/08/1904)
Current Streak	WVU: Won 1
Longest PITT Win Streak	15 (1929-1946)
Longest WVU Win Streak	5 (1992-1996)
Last ten games	5-5
Men's Basketball History
First meeting	February 17, 1905
Last Meeting	March 12, 2009
Last Result	WVU: 74-60
Next Meeting	March 12, 2009
Number of Meetings	178
All-Time Series	WVU: 94-84
Largest victory	WVU: 103-63 (2/14/1966)
Current Streak	WVU: Won 1
Longest PITT Win Streak	9 (1/17/1931-1/26/1935)
Longest WVU Win Streak	13 (1/8/1957-2/2/1963)
Last ten games	PITT: 7-3

The Backyard Brawl is an annual football game between the University of Pittsburgh Panthers and the West Virginia University Mountaineers. The term "Backyard Brawl" has also been used refer to college basketball games played annually or biannually each year and may also be used to refer to other athletic competitions between the two schools. The term refers to the close proximity of the two universities, separated by some 75 miles (105 km) along Interstate 79.

The football rivalry is the 14th oldest in the United States and is typically shown on national television. In the past, the Backyard Brawl has been seen on ABC, CBS, ESPN, and ESPN2. Both schools are currently members of the Big East Conference, making the Backyard Brawl the oldest rivalry in the conference. Through the 102 games played between these two schools, Pitt leads the series by a 61-38-3 margin. On Saturday, December 1, 2007 the 100th edition of the Backyard Brawl took place at Mountaineer Field in Morgantown, West Virginia. The 4–7 Panthers upset the second-ranked Mountaineers 13–9, knocking West Virginia out of the BCS National Championship Game. The game was one of the most important Backyard Brawls, one of the biggest upsets for the Pittsburgh Panthers, and one of the biggest upsets of the season, voted as the "Game of the Year" by ESPNU.^[1] The Mountaineers would get a measure of revenge when the series returned to Morgantown in 2009, upsetting the #8 Panthers 19–16 on a game-ending field goal. The 2009 Backyard Brawl, broadcast on ESPN2, was the most watched gamed in the history of ESPN2.

[edit] History

The football series was first played in 1895, and the game has historically been one of the more intense rivalries in the eastern United States. The rivalry between the two schools is due mainly to proximity. WVU's campus in Morgantown, West Virginia is only about 70 miles south of Pittsburgh (via Interstate 79), and the two schools often compete for the same recruits. Of these recruits, 400 have become National Football League players, including 27 first round draft picks. There have also been 100 First Team All-Americans and 57 other All-Americans.

The 1921 edition of the Backyard Brawl was the first college football game broadcast on the radio when Harold W. Arlin announced the 21-13 Pittsburgh victory on KDKA.^[2]

Since 1962, the series has alternated between Pittsburgh and Morgantown on a yearly basis. Before that, the games were held in Pittsburgh on an almost regular basis, with Morgantown occasionally hosting the game. At one point, Pittsburgh hosted the game 11 years in a row (1919–1929) and also hosted eight straight contests between 1938 and 1948. (There were no matchups from 1940 to 1942.) In contrast, the most consecutive games West Virginia has hosted were four in a row from 1895 to 1901, with one of those games held in Fairmont, West Virginia, now the home to Fairmont State University, and one in Wheeling, West Virginia. The most consecutive games played in Morgantown, three, were held from 1932 to 1934.

West Virginia started out the series leading, 5–1. Pittsburgh won four games in a row between 1904 and 1908 (there was no game played in 1905) to tie the series at 5–5. In 1909, the teams played to a 0–0 tie, making the series 5–5–1. The following year, Pittsburgh won 38–0, taking a 6–5–1 lead in the series, and has led ever since.

On 2004-11-25, the Backyard Brawl series saw its 97th game, surpassing the 96–game Pitt versus Penn State series as Pittsburgh's most–played rivalry game. Pittsburgh celebrated the event with a 16-13 win at Heinz Field.

[edit] Location

The 1908 edition of the Backyard Brawl at Exposition Park

The location of the Backyard Brawl has varied much throughout its history. The very first football game took place in Wheeling, West Virginia in 1895. The next meeting, in 1898, was held in Fairmont, a short distance south of Morgantown. The third and fourth contests were held in Morgantown. The year 1902 marked the first time the game was held in Pittsburgh, at Exposition Park, the North Shore home of the Pittsburgh Pirates. 1910 was the first time the Backyard Brawl was held on the Pittsburgh campus, at brand-new Forbes Field. The series was held here for eight of the next nine years, until the opening of Pitt Stadium in 1925 on the opposite end of the University of Pittsburgh campus. Pitt Stadium hosted five consecutive games, until in 1930, the Backyard Brawl found itself at yet another new location, Mountaineer Field, on the campus of West Virginia University, which had opened in 1924. Another change in location occurred in 1981, when the game was played at a new Mountaineer Field in Morgantown. In 1998 and 2000, the game was played at Three Rivers Stadium. The most recent change took place in 2002, when the Backyard Brawl was played for the first time at Heinz Field, the new, full-time home of the Panthers, a year after it was opened.

[edit] Football game results

Pittsburgh victories shaded in ██ gold. West Virginia victories are shaded ██ blue.

[edit] Basketball

The basketball rivalry began on February 17, 1905 and has been played 176 times with West Virginia holding an 94-84 advantage in the all-time series. A break in the series began in 1908-09 when Pitt did not field a team for two seasons and the two schools did not meet from 1910-1914, played again in 1915, and then became a regular fixture on the schedule starting in 1918 and have played each other at least once every season since then.^[3] The basketball rivalry has heated up over the last few years as each team has been among the best in the country. On February 9, 2006, for the first time in the history of the series, in the 169th edition, Pitt and WVU were both nationally ranked as they squared off in Pitt's Petersen Events Center. Pitt won, but mere weeks later, the two ranked teams played at WVU Coliseum--the Mountaineers took the rematch. The two teams then faced each other in the Big East Conference Tournament at Madison Square Garden. The Panthers won the 2006 rubber match, 68–57. On February 7, 2007, Pitt defeated WVU 60–47 at Morgantown, WV. They next played on February 27, 2007 and Pitt won 80–66. The February 7, 2008 meeting proved to be one of the most exciting in recent history, as 21st-ranked Pitt prevailed at home 55-54 following a three-pointer as the buzzer sounded. On March 3, 2008, Pitt traveled to The Coliseum in Morgantown for the second game of the season, resulting in a 76-62 Mountaineer victory. The following season, the Panthers swept both games during the regular season, but were upset by the Mountaineers in the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Tales From The Backyard Brawl
• Brawl Ball (basketball)
• Pittsburgh vs. West Virginia series history
• University of Pittsburgh Official Athletics site
• West Virginia University Official Athletics site

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