The Backyard Brawl
Pittsburgh vs. West Virginia
101 of their 108 meetings are on file: they first met in 1895, and the earliest on file is 1906; officially, Pittsburgh leads 63–42–3; as played, 61–37–3 in the games on file. Over the last 10 meetings it’s West Virginia 6–4. The official count covers every meeting. Share
2029 at Pittsburgh; 2030 at West Virginia; 2031 at Pittsburgh; 2032 at West Virginia; 2033 at Pittsburgh; 2034 at West Virginia; 2035 at Pittsburgh; 2036 at West Virginia. As the programs’ Wikipedia articles list them (CC BY-SA).
- Official series
- Pittsburgh leads 63–42–3
- Pittsburgh wins on file
- 61
- West Virginia wins on file
- 37
- Ties
- 3
- Earliest on file
- 1906 first met 1895
- Longest streak
- 15 Pittsburgh
- Current streak
- 1 West Virginia
- Last 10 meetings
- West Virginia 6–4
- Most recent
- 2025
The series at a glance
| ’0 | ’1 | ’2 | ’3 | ’4 | ’5 | ’6 | ’7 | ’8 | ’9 | W–L | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1900s | 3–0–1 | ||||||||||
| 1910s | 4–0 | ||||||||||
| 1920s | 7–3 | ||||||||||
| 1930s | 10–0 | ||||||||||
| 1940s | 6–1 | ||||||||||
| 1950s | 6–4 | ||||||||||
| 1960s | 4–6 | ||||||||||
| 1970s | 7–3 | ||||||||||
| 1980s | 5–3–2 | ||||||||||
| 1990s | 2–8 | ||||||||||
| 2000s | 5–5 | ||||||||||
| 2010s | 0–2 | ||||||||||
| 2020s | 2–2 |
- Both ranked
- 5 meetings: Pittsburgh 1, West Virginia 3; 1 both in the top 10
- Average margin
- 15.9 points; 34 decided by one score (8 or fewer)
- At Pittsburgh
- 43–21 Pittsburgh’s record at home
- At West Virginia
- 15–18–3 West Virginia’s record at home
- Neutral sites
- 0–1 Pittsburgh first
- Shutouts
- 24
Every meeting on file, as played. Ranks are the AP poll’s going in.
Games that tell the story
- Pittsburgh’s biggest win1978: Pittsburgh 52, West Virginia 7by 45 points
- West Virginia’s biggest win1998: West Virginia 52, Pittsburgh 14by 38 points
- Upset1928: West Virginia 9, Pittsburgh 6West Virginia had a 9% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
- Upset2007: Pittsburgh 13, West Virginia 9Pittsburgh had a 10% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
- Upset1954: Pittsburgh 13, West Virginia 10Pittsburgh had a 19% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
- Ranked showdown1982: Pittsburgh 16, West Virginia 13No. 14 West Virginia at No. 2 Pittsburgh
- Ranked showdown1989: Pittsburgh 31, West Virginia 31 (tie)No. 10 Pittsburgh at No. 9 West Virginia
- Ranked showdown1988: West Virginia 31, Pittsburgh 10No. 11 West Virginia at No. 16 Pittsburgh
Coach against coach
| Years | Pittsburgh | Series | West Virginia |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1908–1910 | Joseph Thompson | 2–0–1 | C.A. Lueder |
| 1917–1920 | Pop Warner | 3–0 | Mont McIntire |
| 1921–1923 | Pop Warner | 1–2 | Clarence Spears |
| 1925–1930 | Jock Sutherland | 5–1 | Rat Rogers |
| 1931–1933 | Jock Sutherland | 3–0 | Greasy Neale |
| 1934–1936 | Jock Sutherland | 3–0 | Trusty Tallman |
| 1943–1945 | Clark Shaughnessy | 3–0 | Rat Rogers |
| 1955–1959 | John Michelosen | 3–2 | Art Lewis |
| 1960–1965 | John Michelosen | 3–3 | Gene Corum |
| 1966–1968 | Dave Hart | 1–2 | Jim Carlen |
| 1970–1972 | Carl DePasqua | 1–2 | Bobby Bowden |
| 1973–1975 | Johnny Majors | 2–1 | Bobby Bowden |
| 1977–1979 | Jackie Sherrill | 3–0 | Frank Cignetti |
| 1982–1985 | Foge Fazio | 1–2–1 | Don Nehlen |
| 1986–1989 | Mike Gottfried | 2–1–1 | Don Nehlen |
| 1990–1992 | Paul Hackett | 1–2 | Don Nehlen |
| 1993–1996 | Johnny Majors | 0–4 | Don Nehlen |
| 1997–2000 | Walt Harris | 2–2 | Don Nehlen |
| 2001–2004 | Walt Harris | 2–2 | Rich Rodriguez |
| 2005–2007 | Dave Wannstedt | 1–2 | Rich Rodriguez |
| 2008–2010 | Dave Wannstedt | 1–2 | Bill Stewart |
| 2022–2024 | Pat Narduzzi | 2–1 | Neal Brown |
Head-coach pairings with three or more meetings on file, the series read from Pittsburgh’s side (Thompson 2–0–1 against Lueder). A season split between coaches goes to the one credited with the game.
Both programs through the years
Our Elo rating at the end of each season, a measure of how strong a team was, not a forecast; 1500 is an average FBS team.
Stars of the series
Biggest days: the week’s best individual games by our big-days rule, from box scores (2004 on).
From the newspapers
1907 · The Fairmont West Virginian, Fairmont, W. Va., Nov 11, 1907
1913 · The times dispatch, Richmond, Va., Oct 12, 1913
1917 · The sun, Sep 30, 1917
1919 · The sun, New York, Oct 12, 1919
1920 · The New York herald, New York, N.Y., Oct 10, 1920
Public-domain newspapers from the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America, found through the American Stories dataset (Dell and Harvard, CC BY 4.0). The earliest meetings with a story on file; each game’s page has the full text.
On television
ESPN’s College GameDay has broadcast from this game once: 2022.
| 2025 | ESPN | 1.7 million viewers |
College GameDay’s sites from Wikipedia’s list of its locations (CC BY-SA). Viewers: Nielsen, as compiled by nschultz7’s ratings tracker.
Every game
Every game is listed as played on the field.