Up Close and Personal
November 26, 2008 11:25 AM | General
November 26, 2008
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Dave Johnson’s introduction to the Backyard Brawl came while covering a punt during his freshman season. The year was 1979 and the place was old Mountaineer Field in Morgantown.
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| Offensive line coach Dave Johnson as a West Virginia player in 1980.
WVU Sports Communications photo |
“Hugh Green hit me so hard I didn’t know what happened,” Johnson laughed. “He blindsided me. It was actually flagged because he got me from behind. I remember lying on the turf at old Mountaineer Field looking up and seeing that flag on the ground and thanking the good Lord that somebody saw him hit me because I didn’t see him.”
It wasn’t like Johnson didn’t know about the Backyard Brawl having grown up in Pittsburgh and playing high school ball at Penn Hills. Several of his high school teammates wound up playing at Pitt.
“I have football reunions with them,” Johnson said. “Tommy Flynn and Bill Fralic are guys I went to high school with.”
Johnson is many years removed from his last Backyard Brawl as a Mountaineer player in 1982 and he is one of nine members of Bill Stewart’s West Virginia football staff that has experienced the Backyard Brawl as a player.
Pitt head coach Dave Wannstedt and offensive coordinator Matt Cavanaugh have also waged combat for the Panthers in the annual border war.
Having been removed from the Backyard Brawl for so long, Johnson admits he’s interested to see if the game still has the same emotion it had when he played in the early 1980s.
“I’m anxious to see that part of it again,” Johnson said.
Johnson has participated in other great college football rivalries as a member of the University of Georgia’s coaching staff. He’s seen first-hand the Florida-Georgia and Georgia-Auburn games and he believes the Backyard Brawl is every bit as intense.
“It’s as heated as any,” Johnson said. “You can sense it in the guys. Not having school this week helps but they’re really putting in a little extra to make sure they are prepared.”
Johnson said he will talk to some of his players individually about the meaning of the game and some of his personal experiences.
“They’re just so far removed from it and I don’t know how much they will get out of it,” Johnson said. “But I will share a few things with them more or less about the emotion of the game.”
Like Johnson, Doc Holliday has a unique perspective of the Backyard Brawl having played or coached in the game for 25 consecutive years from 1975-99. Holliday was also involved in the Florida-Florida State and Florida-Georgia rivalries as a member of Urban Meyer’s Florida coaching staff.
“It’s just an hour up the road,” Holliday said of the uniqueness of Backyard Brawl. “It’s like Florida-Florida State. It’s Pitt-West Virginia and anytime you get schools that close together you’ve got the passion. The fans are so passionate about their teams. It’s a fun thing to be a part of.”
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| Doc Holliday was involved in the Backyard Brawl for 25 consecutive years from 1975-99 as a WVU player and assistant coach.
WVU Sports Communications photo |
Holliday said it was even fun for him when he was a player facing the best college football team in the country as a sophomore linebacker in 1976.
“I chased Tony Dorsett around for a few years and I never did catch him,” Holliday said. “Back in the 70s Pitt had such strong teams. They won the national championship in ’76 and we played them up there and I don’t think I ever laid a hand on him.”
Holliday remembers other great Backyard Brawls.
“We beat them here in ’75 and that was a great win. (Randy) Swinson caught that pass and (Bill) McKenzie kicked the field goal,” Holliday recalled. “There have been a lot of great memories and there have been a lot of great games through the years and it’s a game I always look forward to being a part of.”
Like Holliday, Johnson had the misfortune of going up against some of the greatest Panther teams in school history.
“Rickey Jackson was a load – he was hard to block. Billy Maas, Greg Meisner - and Sal Sunseri was an All-American at that time. I have a picture on the wall in my office blocking (Jeff) Pelusi.
“They were tough. There were some battles there,” Johnson said.
Holliday remembers Don Nehlen eventually leveling the playing field in the mid-1980s as West Virginia’s recruiting improved and Nehlen began adopting some of the things he learned from the Michigan-Ohio State series when he was a member of Bo Schembechler’s Michigan staff.
“Prior to that Pitt always had awful good players. The same goes with Penn State,” Holliday said. “(Joe) Paterno made the statement one time that West Virginia will beat them when they get better players. The same goes with Pitt. I think we finally caught up with them a little bit recruiting wise and we finally beat them. This is a player-driven game.”
Which means Friday’s Backyard Brawl is not the only Backyard Brawl West Virginia and Pitt will play this year. The Backyard Brawl actually goes right up until signing day in February.
Dave Wannstedt has admitted that last year’s 13-9 upset victory over No. 1-ranked West Virginia gave his recruiting program a huge boost. Immediately after that game a couple of outstanding high school prospects considering both schools made commitments to Pitt.
A few years earlier, Wannstedt made a statement that he intended to build a wall around Western Pennsylvania with the goal of not letting outside schools like West Virginia steal the area’s top prospects. Former West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez remembered that statement and brought it up after one victory in Morgantown.
As the school’s recruiting coordinator, Holliday understands well the importance of keeping a strong West Virginia presence in Western Pennsylvania.
“We’ve always battled up there,” Holliday said. “Years ago it seemed like there were a lot more players up in that area and you were battling for more of them. Over the years we’ve had our share of kids from Western Pennsylvania and the ones we’ve gotten have always been awfully good for us.”
Players like Dave Johnson.
“There is some added sense of pride so you’re going to take your licks when you go home if you lose,” Johnson said. “That’s what makes it fun. That’s what separates college football from professional football.”
And that’s also what separates the Backyard Brawl from so many other great college football rivalries.
