By: Justin Walker | WV Sports Chat
WVU football fans have likely already circled the date of 9/13/25 on their calendars. This is the date the Pitt Panthers come to Morgantown to face West Virginia in the final game of the Backyard Brawl before the rivalry takes another three year hiatus. I think it’s fair to say that Pitt fans likely have that date circled as well. It’s a game that matters. It matters to both teams and to both fanbases.
During his appearance at ACC Media Days last week, Pitt Head Football Coach, Pat Narduzzi, spoke about the rivalry and how he would like to keep it on the schedule. “I think those regional rivalry games are critical. Our players look forward to playing West Virginia every year,” he said.
Narduzzi went on to say that Pitt is even willing to move some games around on their schedule to make it happen. “If you guys have any power to see if we can get them in the next three years, we’re willing to make some movements in our schedule and try to get that done.”
WVU Athletic Director, Wren Baker, has also commented in the past that he would also like to see the game played every year.
The problem is, WVU does not appear to have the same scheduling flexibility as Pitt. The Mountaineers already have their entire schedule laid out for those next three years. Getting out of previously scheduled games is not easy. It typically requires either a financial penalty from the team who is backing out, or for both teams to mutually agree to a cancellation.
One possible scenario would be for the Mountaineers to try and get out of their 2026 & 2027 matchups against the Alabama Crimson Tide. The home & home series with Alabama was scheduled under former Athletic Director, Shane Lyons.
After seeing the comments from Narduzzi, I decided to poll the Mountaineer fanbase on X (formerly Twitter) to see exactly how they felt. Would they rather play the historic blue blood SEC program, or replace the Crimson Tide with the hated rival from up north? To my surprise, the fans picked the Backyard Brawl.
In this era of collegiate athletics where schools are now paying athletes a large share of the revenue, it’s unlikely the Mountaineers are willing to pay the estimated $2 million penalty to get out of the series with Alabama. What could be more likely is Alabama canceling the series, adding $2 million to WVU’s coffers, or school leaders from both WVU and Alabama mutually agreeing to cancel. This could be the outcome if the SEC decides to go from playing eight conference games, to playing nine conference games in the near future. That would mean the Tide would need to remove a non-conference game from their schedule. Seeing as the SEC is already viewed as playing the toughest conference schedule in the country, it’s unlikely Alabama would want to cancel their guaranteed wins against FCS or G6 opponents.
Whether or not the series is cancelled by Alabama, or WVU is required to pay the $2 million, doesn’t seem to matter to West Virginia fans. All they want is to see their beloved Mountaineers battle it out against the hated rival from up I-79. And they want to see that game every, single year.
Photo Credit: WVNews.com
