MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – It's about time to play a football game, and not just any old football game either. The Backyard Brawl returns after 11 long years of hibernation – the longest such pause in the 104-game history of the series dating back to 1895.
 
That first game was played in Morgantown, not Wheeling as listed in some publications, a 10-0 West Virginia victory over what was then known as Western University of Pennsylvania. For many years, Pitt didn't count those WVU-WUP scores, which tacked on a few extra victories to West Virginia's win total.
 
There were some brief pauses between 1910-13 and 1913-17, and a four-year interruption between 1939-43 when Pitt was clearing room on its schedule in hopes of a Western Conference invitation (Big Ten) that never came, but from 1943 until 2011, these two teams played annually.
 
And, from 1963 on, the games were played on a home-and-home basis.
 
The record? West Virginia 25 wins, Pitt 22, with two ties.
 
The point differential in those 49 games? Three points, in West Virginia's favor.
 
Pitt won seven games in a row from 1976-82 with WVU narrowly avoiding a 10-game losing streak when Bill McKenzie won the 1975 game with a field goal on the final play, and Pitt averted an eight-game losing streak in the 1990s when the Panthers upset West Virginia 41-38 in triple overtime in the first overtime game ever played at Mountaineer Field in 1997.
 
After Pitt claimed back-to-back victories in 2007-08, West Virginia responded with three consecutive triumphs in 2009, 2010 and 2011 before conference realignment interceded.
 
That's where we left off until this Thursday night when the two meet for the 105^th time at 68,000-seat Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh.
 
"We're looking forward to kicking off the 130^th season of Mountaineer football with the 105^th Backyard Brawl on Thursday night," West Virginia coach Neal Brown said.
 
Pitt is coming off its best season in more than 40 years. Coach Pat Narduzzi's Panthers won 11 of 14 games, including an ACC-championship-game victory over Wake Forest. Quarterback Kenny Pickett, a Heisman Trophy finalist in 2021, is now a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers, so Pitt will pin its 2022 hopes on USC transfer Kedon Slovis (6-foot-3, 215 pounds), a two-year starter for the Trojans with two seasons of eligibility remaining with the Panthers.
 
Ironically, Slovis was coached at USC by West Virginia's first-year offensive coordinator Graham Harrell, so the two know each other very well. West Virginia's defensive coaches will assuredly tap into Harrell for some insight on Slovis, while Pitt's defensive coaches will pick his brain to try and learn a little bit more about Harrell.
 
Not that Pitt's defense needs much help. The Panthers are returning what college football expert Phil Steele believes is one of the best defensive lines in the country, second only to Clemson in his opinion. Pitt's front is reminiscent of some of the Panthers' great fronts of the past.
 
Steele has senior Habakkuk Baldonado (6-foot-5, 260 pounds) rated the ninth-best defensive end in this year's NFL Draft. Baldonado, who wears No. 87, is paired with senior Deslin Alexandre, whom Steele has No. 59 on his list of pro defensive ends.
 
The two starters with their hands on the ground are junior Calijah Kancey and either seniors David Green or Devin Danielson. Steele has Kancey No. 51 on his defensive tackle list while Danielson is rated No. 87.
 
This group helped generate 54 sacks last year and has limited opponents to an average of less than 100 yards rushing in each of the last two seasons.
 
Getting movement up front in the running game and protecting quarterback JT Daniels when he drops back to pass will be big chores for West Virginia's experienced offensive line.
 
"Defensively, to me, that's the staple of their program," Brown said. "They make it difficult to run the football, and their D-line is very talented. If you look at them, they do a nice job of moving Kancey around and his first step is really tough. Their other inside guy, Green, is a nice player who maybe gets overlooked some; he does a really nice job, and they're good on the edges."
 
Behind Pitt's front four is an experienced secondary with some key performers returning, including first team All-ACC safety Brandon Hill (5-foot-11, 195 pounds). Corners A.J. Woods (5-foot-11, 195 pounds) and M.J. Devonshire (5-foot-11, 190 pound) had more than 400 snap's-worth of experience last year, but Devonshire is currently listed No. 2 on the depth chart behind senior Marquis Williams (5-foot-9, 180 pounds).
 
The Panthers had to dip into the transfer portal to help out at linebacker, where Notre Dame transfer Shayne Simon (6-foot-3, 235 pounds) edged out Missouri State transfer Tylar Wiltz (6-foot-1, 210 pounds) for the starting money linebacker job.
 
Brown singled out star linebacker Bangally Kamara (6-foot-2, 225 pounds) and mike linebacker SirVocea Dennis (6-foot-1, 230 pounds) in his introductory remarks during Monday's news conference.
 
On the other side of the ball, Pitt's offensive line returns intact with senior Carter Warren (6-foot-5, 325 pounds) anchoring the position at left tackle. This group has a combined 145 career starts and will form a nice wall to protect Slovis, who passed for more than 7,500 yards with 58 touchdowns during his three seasons at USC.
 
Junior Israel Abanikanda (5-foot-11, 215 pounds) leads a talented Panther backfield that returns three 500-yard-plus rushers from a year ago and now includes Notre Dame transfer C'Bo Flemister (5-foot-11, 200 pounds), listed No. 4 on the depth chart.
 
First-year Pitt offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti Jr., the son of former West Virginia coach Frank Cignetti Sr., will likely be calling lots of running plays to test a Mountaineer run defense that allowed 249 yards on the ground in last year's Guaranteed Rate Bowl loss to Minnesota.
 
When Cignetti calls passes, it will likely be shots down the field to either last year's No. 2 receiver Jared Wayne (6-foot-3, 210 pounds) or to a pair of transfers Konata Mumpfield (6-foot-1, 180) and Bub Means (6-foot-2, 215 pounds). Mumpfield starred last year at Akron while Means began his collegiate career at Tennessee before moving on to Louisiana Tech last season.
 
"Bub Means was somebody we were very familiar with when we tried to recruit him at Troy," Brown said. "We thought we had a chance to get him until Tennessee took him late."
 
Last year's Biletnikoff winner, Jordan Addison, considered one of the top returning wide receivers in the country, opted to transfer to USC in the offseason.
 
However, sophomore Gavin Bartholomew (6-foot-5, 255 pounds) gives Pitt some impressive size at tight end and could also be a factor in Cignetti's attack.
 
"They have a new coordinator with coach Cignetti, but I thought he did a really good job the last couple of years when he was at (Boston College)," Brown said. "He's done this at the NFL level and the collegiate level for a long time."
 
Pitt will have a new punter and long snapper on special teams, but kickers Ben Sauls (5-foot-10, 185 pounds) and Sam Scarton (6-foot-1, 195 pound) return. Scarton was a third-team All-ACC choice after converting 17 of his 21 field goal attempts, while Sauls averaged 62.9 yards on his 104 kickoffs.
 
Abanikanda and senior Vincent Davis (5-foot-8, 180 pounds) are listed as Pitt's kickoff returners, while Mumpfield is expected to handle punts.
 
"They've got a history of fielding consistent special teams, and they're really athletic and aggressive," Brown noted. "I thought a big piece of their championship season last year was on special teams."
 
In all, Pitt returns 49 lettermen from a year ago, broken down to 27 on defense, 20 on offense and two on special teams.
 
"They've got some transfers and we got some transfers," Narduzzi said. "We got new guys that they're looking at tape from somewhere else so it's a ton of unknowns. It's one of the hardest games to prepare for (the opener) because you have to prepare for so much offensively and defensively.
 
"What did they put in during the offseason? Who knows. We don't know. We got wrinkles and I'm sure they will have wrinkles. That's what makes openers so much fun."
 
"It's a tough opener, and we need to be ready - and we will be ready," Brown added. "I have a lot of respect for their program and what they've done."
Thursday night's game will kick off at 7 p.m. and will be televised nationally on ESPN (Matt Barrie, Louis Riddick and Harry Lyles Jr.).
 
ESPN College GameDay's crew will also make a stop in Pittsburgh before traveling to Columbus, Ohio, for Saturday night's Ohio State-Notre Dame game.
 
The West Virginia-Pitt game was announced a sellout earlier this month.