The Pittsburgh Panthers and the West Virginia Mountaineers have announced the renewal of the Backyard Brawl football series for 2022 through 2025.
The four-game, home-and-home series will kick off at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh on Sept. 17, 2022. Pitt will host WVU again two seasons later on Sept. 14, 2024.
West Virginia will host Pittsburgh at Mountaineer Field in Morgantown on Sept. 16, 2023 and again on Sept. 13, 2025.
The return of the Backyard Brawl is certainly something that Pitt and WVU fans and most college football fans are grateful to see. The Mountaineers won the last meeting in 2011, but still trail 61-40-3 in the series that began in 1895.
“Pitt and West Virginia have a long and storied rivalry that dates back to the 19th century,” Pitt athletic director Scott Barnes said. “I’ve learned there is a lot of passion surrounding this game and we’re pleased to be able to rekindle that history.
“We also continue to have productive conversations with Penn State,” Barnes added. “Although Penn State’s scheduling opportunities are limited in the early part of the 2020s, we are hopeful we will be able to expand upon our current four-year agreement that begins next year.
“An unfortunate byproduct of conference realignment has been the interruption of numerous traditional rivalries across the country. Everyone wins when two great series like Pitt-Penn State and Pitt-West Virginia are renewed, especially the student-athletes and fans of college football.”
In addition to the West Virginia games now scheduled, Pitt is also slated to host Tennessee in 2022, host Cincinnati and visit Notre Dame in 2023, travel to Cincinnati in 2024, and host Notre Dame in 2025.
Pitt and Penn State currently have a four-game football series scheduled — Sept. 10, 2016 and Sept. 8, 2018 at Pitt, and Sept. 9, 2017 and Sept. 14, 2019 at Penn State.
“I think this is a very exciting announcement for all of college football. We all know how conference realignment ended some long-standing rivalries, which have made the sport so special. Today, we are able to bring back one of the oldest rivalries in college football,” WVU Director of Athletics Shane Lyons said.
In addition to Pitt, West Virginia plays at Virginia Tech in 2022, at Penn State in 2023, and vs. Penn State in 2024. WVU has several other Power Five non-conference games lined up for the future, including Missouri (2016/19) and Tennessee (2018; at Charlotte) from the SEC.
Football Schedules