Football Wednesday, Presented by the West Virginia Lottery
August 31, 2022 03:00 PM | Football
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Junior wide receiver Bryce Ford-Wheaton gets us prepped for the 105th renewal of the Backyard Brawl at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh in today's Football Wednesday, presented by the West Virginia Lottery.
Here are some of the notes Bryce highlights in today's game preview:
* The 2022 season marks West Virginia's 130th season of football. The Mountaineers are the 15th winningest program in college football
* The 2022 year marks the 43rd season of competition for West Virginia at Milan Puskar Stadium. WVU has a 189-72-4 (.721) all-time mark at the facility, which opened in 1980
* West Virginia is one of three Power 5 schools to open the 2021 and 2022 seasons on the road at a Power 5 opponent (Penn State, Notre Dame). WVU opens the 2023 season at Penn State, and will be the only school to open three straight years at a Power 5 opponent
* WVU is 5-1 in games played on Sept. 1, including 1-1 in games played away from home. The last time WVU played on that date was in 2018 vs. Tennessee in Charlotte (W 40-14)
* The Mountaineers are 37-32-3 in games played on Thursdays, 13-12 in games played on Thursday nights and 11-8 in games played on ESPN on Thursday night. WVU has won 10 of the last 14 games played on ESPN on Thursday night and 11 of the last 16 games played on Thursday night
* West Virginia is 156-160-12 against schools from the state of Pennsylvania, including 73-121-5 against Power 5 schools
* The Backyard Brawl against Pitt is West Virginia's longest-played rivalry, with the 2022 game being the 105th meeting of the two schools. WVU's next longest series are against Syracuse (60), Penn State (59) and Virginia Tech and Maryland (53)
* West Virginia is 91-34-4 all-time in season openers (17-5 since 2000/31-10-1 since 1980)
* West Virginia is 64-59-2 in road openers, including 19-14-1 when WVU opened its season on the road
* WVU is 32-13 in nonconference games since 2010, including 8-11 on the road. The Mountaineers are 70-29 since 2000, including 23-22 away from home
* The Mountaineers are 94-14 since 2002 when winning the turnover battle
* Since 1963, WVU has posted a 25-22-2 mark in the Backyard Brawl. The 1963 contest marked the start of the series being played on a home-and-home basis
* The Mountaineers have posted an 18-9-2 mark in the Pitt series since Hall of Fame Coach Don Nehlen had his first full recruiting cycle
* West Virginia posted a 14-7 record against Pitt while both were members of the Big East Conference and holds a 16-8-1 mark in the last 25 games of the series
* Three starters from WVU's offensive line are from West Virginia, including Zach Frazier (Fairmont) Doug Nester, (Kenova) and Wyatt Milum (Kenova). That marks the first time since the 1995 opener against Purdue that the Mountaineers have started three native sons on the OL (Buddy Hager (Man), Joe DeLong (Oak Glen) and Bryan Washington (Moorefield))
* Pitt and West Virginia rank among the Top five in the Power 5 with the number of returning starts (Pitt 130/WVU 106) and Top 10 in games played (Pitt 166/WVU 124) from its starting offensive line
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. and the game 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.
Here are some of the notes Bryce highlights in today's game preview:
* The 2022 season marks West Virginia's 130th season of football. The Mountaineers are the 15th winningest program in college football
* The 2022 year marks the 43rd season of competition for West Virginia at Milan Puskar Stadium. WVU has a 189-72-4 (.721) all-time mark at the facility, which opened in 1980
* West Virginia is one of three Power 5 schools to open the 2021 and 2022 seasons on the road at a Power 5 opponent (Penn State, Notre Dame). WVU opens the 2023 season at Penn State, and will be the only school to open three straight years at a Power 5 opponent
* WVU is 5-1 in games played on Sept. 1, including 1-1 in games played away from home. The last time WVU played on that date was in 2018 vs. Tennessee in Charlotte (W 40-14)
* The Mountaineers are 37-32-3 in games played on Thursdays, 13-12 in games played on Thursday nights and 11-8 in games played on ESPN on Thursday night. WVU has won 10 of the last 14 games played on ESPN on Thursday night and 11 of the last 16 games played on Thursday night
* West Virginia is 156-160-12 against schools from the state of Pennsylvania, including 73-121-5 against Power 5 schools
* The Backyard Brawl against Pitt is West Virginia's longest-played rivalry, with the 2022 game being the 105th meeting of the two schools. WVU's next longest series are against Syracuse (60), Penn State (59) and Virginia Tech and Maryland (53)
* West Virginia is 91-34-4 all-time in season openers (17-5 since 2000/31-10-1 since 1980)
* West Virginia is 64-59-2 in road openers, including 19-14-1 when WVU opened its season on the road
* WVU is 32-13 in nonconference games since 2010, including 8-11 on the road. The Mountaineers are 70-29 since 2000, including 23-22 away from home
* The Mountaineers are 94-14 since 2002 when winning the turnover battle
* Since 1963, WVU has posted a 25-22-2 mark in the Backyard Brawl. The 1963 contest marked the start of the series being played on a home-and-home basis
* The Mountaineers have posted an 18-9-2 mark in the Pitt series since Hall of Fame Coach Don Nehlen had his first full recruiting cycle
* West Virginia posted a 14-7 record against Pitt while both were members of the Big East Conference and holds a 16-8-1 mark in the last 25 games of the series
* Three starters from WVU's offensive line are from West Virginia, including Zach Frazier (Fairmont) Doug Nester, (Kenova) and Wyatt Milum (Kenova). That marks the first time since the 1995 opener against Purdue that the Mountaineers have started three native sons on the OL (Buddy Hager (Man), Joe DeLong (Oak Glen) and Bryan Washington (Moorefield))
* Pitt and West Virginia rank among the Top five in the Power 5 with the number of returning starts (Pitt 130/WVU 106) and Top 10 in games played (Pitt 166/WVU 124) from its starting offensive line
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. and the game 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.
Players Mentioned
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