Brawl Bits
November 22, 2005 02:35 PM | General
November 21, 2005
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia (8-1, 5-0) continues preparation for Thursday night’s “Backyard Brawl” at Milan Puskar Stadium. This year’s meeting with the 5-5 Pittsburgh Panthers is the 98th time these two long-time Eastern rivals will meet on the gridiron.
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The Mountaineers are still playing for a chance to win the Big East and capture the league’s BCS spot, while Pitt can finish the campaign with a winning record and become bowl eligible.
“You just go back to the last few years it’s really been a situation where the games have been very meaningful really ever since the conference started,” said Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt. “Back when I played here we were independent and West Virginia was an independent so it was a rivalry because they were the closest opponent we played every year. Now we’re competing for slots in the conference in addition to everything else.”
“It’s a ballgame and the ‘Backyard Brawl’ means a lot to both programs,” said West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez. “For us we have other things riding on it. We’re still competing for a BCS championship and a BCS bowl. I’ve been pleased with the way our players have stayed focused all year: not getting too hyped or caught up too much in the extra curricular things and just staying focused on playing good football against a good football team.”
Either Pitt or West Virginia -- or both -- have been nationally ranked for each game dating back to the 2001 season. The Mountaineers bring a No. 13 rating into this year’s game.
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“This is really unique because I’ve actually played in the game and played down there. I’ve been part of some of the great stories that fans and ex-players talk about. I’m sure Rich has the same type of experiences,” said Wannstedt. “When you stand up and talk to your team you’re not telling them something that was written in a book: you’ve actually done it.”
Like Wannstedt, Rodriguez also has a good knowledge of the series having played in a pair of West Virginia wins in 1983 and 1984.
“It’s always been such an intense rivalry and an important game,” Rodriguez said. “When we were playing Pitt back then it was always earlier in the season so it almost kind of set the tone for the entire season. I remember playing them my senior year and us having a pretty good ballgame against them. But all four years it was always very close, competitive ballgames.”
“There was a lot of hype around campus,” Rodriguez said. “Students were excited about the game, the weather was usually warm and nice and I remember walking around town and you’d see the ‘Beat Pitt’ shirts and the more colorful ones.
“But there was no over analyzing that goes on today,” he said. “There is so much over-analyzing of every sport today. There are so many experts that can tell you what you should have or could have done. It’s okay because it draws interest in the game but everything is under more scrutiny now.”
“West Virginia was probably my second choice,” Wannstedt said. “I liked the location because it was close enough and I really hit it off with Coach Bowden. One of the things I was most certain of was that there was a lot of talk that he wouldn’t be staying at West Virginia. As it turned out, I think he was there another few years and left and went to Florida State.
“Whenever I see Coach Bowden now we always talk about that,” Wannstedt said.
“I think that is an indication that records don’t really mean anything; it’s kind of a game in its own self,” Wannstedt said.
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| Freshman quarterback Pat White has helped West Virginia's offense averge 43 points per game in its last three outings against Louisville, Connecticut and Cincinnati.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
Wannstedt is impressed with how quickly White has matured, “I’m shocked,” he admitted. “Where did this guy come from? That was my first reaction. There wasn’t much conversation at all about him. When the season started it was about Adam Bednarik and all of the sudden he gets banged up or whatever happens and Pat goes in there and has done a fantastic job. It’s a credit to him and the coaches for how quickly they’ve gotten him ready.”
“We kind of had an idea with Adam and Pat that we thought they’d get the majority of reps with the first team and they did,” said Rodriguez. “Playing them in the game at the same time was difficult earlier in the season but as I’ve said before, if they were good enough to win with and were prepared that we’d try to get them both into the game and it’s worked out great for both those guys.”
Pitt has averaged just 78.3 yards per game in its four road-game losses and has attempted an average of 35.8 passes per game, with a season-high 59 pass attempts in the Rutgers loss. The most points Pitt has put on the board on the road this year was 29 in a 37-29 setback at Rutgers.
“For whatever reason we’ve played a little better at home,” said Wannstedt. “Some of the things that have happened to us on the road are the reason we haven’t come up with the wins there.”
“West Virginia comes up here and recruits Pennsylvania,” Wannstedt says. “We know that. They always have. In my opinion we don’t have competition here – Penn State, and every once in a while Notre Dame or somebody. But there shouldn’t be and there won’t be much other competition.”
West Virginia has 14 players from Western Pennsylvania on its roster and 23 from the state. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, none of West Virginia’s 14 Western Pa players were offered scholarships by Pitt.
“The bigger the game, the more important the special teams,” he said. “If something bad happens for either team on special teams, in a game like this, it’s tough to overcome. In certain situations with a team of lesser talent you might be able to overcome a kickoff run back or a punt block or something like that. Not against West Virginia. We’ve got to go down there and play as good on special teams as we’ve played all year. They’re too good to give them anything.”
