PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – It was going to come up, after 10 minutes of questions at his weekly news conference Tuesday, West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez was asked about his first meeting against Pitt since losing 13-9.
The game happened in 2007, but it kept then number two West Virginia from playing for the national championship and it came against a Pitt team with a losing record. Rodriguez said most of his current team probably wasn’t born and he said there really isn’t any carryover. Maybe if it was two or three years ago, but he said it was a lifetime ago.
Then came the pain.
“Is it a sore spot when it’s brought up? Yeah. So, thanks for that,” Rodriguez said. “It is. It was the worst moment of my professional career from a game standpoint. I tried to move past it a long time ago.”
“From that regard, it would be good to get a win. It’s not going to ease the pain from that. It’s always going to be there.”
“That’s part of life.”
Who would have thought life’s path would bring Rodriguez back to the Mountaineers? That was devastating loss was his final game at WVU, he would leave for a job at Michigan later that month. Fans were critical, felt betrayed for years about Rodriguez. Somehow, he found his way back to his home state at his alma mater and no one in that stadium better understands what this game means.
“I think it’s one of the greatest rivalries in sports,” Rodriguez said. “There is a lot of intensity with it. There is never any love lost between the fan bases. It’s always the biggest game on your schedule when you are at West Virginia. I don’t know if Pitt will tell you that.”
“Pitt is the biggest game you play.”
He’s got an incredible number of new players, 81, on his 2025 football team, most not from the area. Rodriguez said he’s sure they’ve heard about The Backyard Brawl. He approaches the game the same as others, but believes the players understand the importance, and if not, will on Saturday.
“Every place has a rivalry, I’ve told people everywhere I’ve been, I’ve been in a bunch of rivalries, but none more intense than this,” Rodriguez said. “I don’t know if, because the location is close or there have been in so many heated games in all sports against each other. You can look at West Virginia, we are smaller towns and Pittsburgh is the big city.”
He said it doesn’t stick out nationally, but it should.
“I would tell folks even at Michigan, I know the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry is big, but hard to get more intense than West Virginia-Pitt,” Rodriguez said. “Every school probably has that one school that they consider that rival, Pitt has always been ours.”
The Mountaineers will be the underdog, most sportsbooks have it around a touchdown in Pitt’s favor. It’s not the 28.5-point dogs the Panthers were in 2007, but it is still being Pitt favored in Morgantown.
This game could set the tone for Rodriguez’s return to Morgantown as he said it’s the biggest recruiting weekend of their season, most on unofficial visits to get a feel for what it’s like on a game day.
The atmosphere shouldn’t disappoint. Coming off a loss to Ohio University, how will West Virginia react?
“Saturday they are going to get our best shot,” Rodriguez said.
Listen to the Backyard Brawl Saturday with pregame starting at 12:30 and kickoff at 3:30 on 93.7 The Fan.