PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – It’s a first time in Morgantown for three key members of the offense as the Panthers look to go to 3-0 Saturday afternoon in West Virginia.
Quarterback Eli Holstein, offensive coordinator Kade Bell and center Lyndon Cooper, while all played in the game at Acrisure Stadium, they haven’t played at game at Milan Puskar Stadium.
Bell believes he saw enough from the Backyard Brawl at home to know what they are in for Saturday.
“It’s an awesome atmosphere,” Bell said. “You could just tell the passion of the game, the love of the game, the hatred. It’s all there. It feels like a deep south rivalry, it’s real hatred football and I love that.”
“I think that’s what makes the game special. It means something.”
It seems Holstein has seen enough film, heard enough stories or just watched WVU games before.
“It’s hectic environment,” Holstein said. “It’s gonna be a lot of fun. They said it’s crazy. There’s gonna be little kids flipping me off. I’m gonna get batteries and beer thrown at me on the sidelines, all types of stuff like that.”
“But I’m really excited. I’m looking forward to feeding off that energy. I think our team has that mindset to feed off that energy, feed off the hate and the pure venom and poison from them. Really looking forward to it and can’t wait to do it.”
Bell said they have to be really focused given the crowd noise and have great communication. Cooper said they’ve had intense practices this week using loud crowd noise and believes they are where they need to be for a rivalry game.
“He’s telling us to embrace it, really,” Holstein said. “It’s gonna be loud. It’s gonna be hectic. We’ve talked about the pure hatred of the rivalry. He told us to embrace it. It’s gonna be a lot of fun. He told us to feed off of it and use that to drive us, get us amped up and motivated to go out there and dominate.”
Even with 106 points in two games, Bell said they haven’t played their best game. They’ve made mistakes and are looking to correct them. What puts them in the right frame of mind is that he watched his team prepare to do their job at its best.
The Pitt offensive coordinator said no one wants to go and win at West Virginia more than they do. They understand the fans will be hyped and its for bragging rights and Holstein knows he will hear a lot of things he couldn’t repeat.
“Hey, these guys are hating me for a reason,” Holstein said. “If I wasn’t any good, they wouldn’t be hating me. Just play with confidence, play with the attitude that I’m the reason these guys are mad. Go out there and give ‘em something to be mad about.”
Pitt looks to take three out of the four in this recent series. It’s likely the last time these players will get a chance to face each other with the next Backyard Brawl not scheduled until 2029.
“It’s a big-time environment,” said Pitt defensive coordinator Randy Bates. “Their fans are great. They’re loud, they’re obnoxious, they’re outstanding. They’re lucky to have ‘em. We just portray to them that it’s a big-time atmosphere like many that we play in.”
Coverage starts Saturday at 8a with the Panthers Insider Show hosted by Pat Bostick. Then at 12:30p, Bob Pompeani hosts Panthers pregame with Dorin Dickerson and John Petrishen. At 1:30p, Larry Richert begins network pregame with Bostick before the Voice of the Panthers, Bill Hillgrove calls play-by-play starting at 3:30p.