PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – West Virginia head coach Neal Brown said it’s one of the best rivalries in all of college sports. Three former Mountaineers spent the week feet from Pitt players.
Pitt tried, Pat Narduzzi holding practices in their indoor facility where no one could see them. No cameras, no phones, no passers-by, no distractions, yet still the player who had an interception and seven tackles against the Panthers in 2023 infiltrated their facility.
Steelers rookie safety Beanie Bishop said he snuck over to the Pitt football training room and talked to the people there. They had no idea who he was, even though Bishop said there were pictures of him and Steelers offensive linemen Doug Nester and Zach Frazier hanging up so Pitt personnel would keep them out. All three having played for West Virginia.
“That’s the game that everyone is circling on their calendars,” said Frazier, a West Virginia native who played in the last two matchups.
“As soon as they brought it back, especially for our fan base, it’s always been a huge rivalry,” Nestor said. “We can feel how much they love it. It carried down to us as players.”
“Guys up the road, you hate those guys,” Bishop said having played only last season at West Virginia. “It was one of those things that I learned when I first got there, we hate them.”
“That game is just a little bit more physical than all the others,” Nester said. “You can tell there is a little bit of hatred for each other. It’s called a brawl for a reason.”
Bishop says whenever he sees Pitt players, he talks ‘stuff’ to them. He took a shot saying that this year’s Pitt offense throws the ball a lot. He said it looked like they had a similar quarterback in Eli Holstein to last year with Phil Jurkovec. Bishop said hopefully he throws a couple of picks like happened last year.
“The main thing I remember is the atmosphere, it was like electricity in the air,” Frazier said of the pair of Backyard Brawls he played in.
Bishop smiled while he was talking to reporters about playing Pitt. It was that half-kidding, half-serious look. Then he said about what he wants to see happen on Saturday.
“I like us to curb-stomp those boys,” Bishop said.
Pitt and West Virginia fans, heck, college football fans need to see more of these games.