MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The 107^th renewal of the Backyard Brawl takes place this Saturday, Sept. 14, at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh.
 
It will be West Virginia's second visit to Acrisure since the resumption of the series in 2022, following an 11-year hiatus, and the 65^th time the game will be played in the Steel City. Forty-one meetings have taken place in Morgantown, and one was played in Fairmont, West Virginia, back in 1898.
 
Two years ago, M.J. Devonshire's ricochet interception return for a 56-yard touchdown was the deciding score in Pitt's come-from-behind, 38-31 victory over West Virginia. The Mountaineers were leading 31-24 with the ball at midfield with about five minutes remaining when the wheels came off.
 
After the interception, West Virginia moved the ball to the Panther 22 and appeared to complete a fourth-down pass to Reese Smith at Pitt's 1, but the replay official overturned the call on the field. Pitt was awarded the football, and it ran out the clock. The largest crowd to ever attend a sporting event in Pittsburgh, 70,622, many West Virginians, watched the game.
 
Last year, WVU saw its starting quarterback Garrett Greene limp off the field with a sprained ankle on the third play of its opening offensive possession and the outcome was placed in the hands of backup Nicco Marchiol, who deftly steered the Mountaineers to a 17-6 victory. Both teams generated just 211 yards of total offense in a tight, defensive struggle.
 
Based on the way the two teams are playing right now, an offensive shootout could be in the offing this Saturday.
 
West Virginia (1-1) scored on seven of its nine offensive possessions, and Oliver Straw punted just once in last Saturday's 49-14 victory over UAlbany. The Mountaineers' other unsuccessful possession against the Great Danes was the result of sophomore Jahiem White fumbling at the conclusion of his 36-yard run.
 
"We've got an opportunity to be a really efficient offense," West Virginia coach Neal Brown said Monday. "We've got playmakers at running back, tight end and receiver. And our quarterback is a proven player, and that was much more in line with what our expectations going into the year were than what we put on film versus Penn State. 
 
"Now, we've obviously got a much higher-level opponent in Pitt this week, so now the goal is consistency, and we've got to take care of the ball. We still fumbled the ball last week, which we cannot do to have the success that we need to," Brown added.
 
Greene was an efficient 17 of 23 through the air for 236 yards and three touchdowns, completing passes to 10 different targets. He also ran seven times for 68 yards and a touchdown.
 
Last Saturday, junior CJ Donaldson Jr. matched his career-high 125 yards generated two years ago in his college debut at Pitt, while White contributed 100 yards on just 10 attempts. Both scored touchdowns.
 
"Offensively, it all starts with their quarterback, Garrett Greene," Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi said. "I think, and Donaldson in the backfield, with Jahiem White in the backfield as well, they like to run the ball. They are going to throw RPOs, and we're going to see all that."
 
The one glaring issue for WVU was a pass defense that gave up 306 yards through the air, including several chunk plays.
 
That was a repeat of West Virginia's week one loss to eighth-ranked Penn State when the Nittany Lions completed 12-of-18 passes for 235 yards and four touchdowns.
 
"Our defensive pass coverage was not good enough and our corners didn't play at a good enough level – and it wasn't ability based – it was more technique and not being disciplined with our eyes," Brown explained. "Then, our underneath defenders didn't get to their correct spots. The schematics are fine; we've just got to get to our landmarks, and we didn't do a good enough job of that in the game (last) Saturday."
 
Pitt (2-0) will clearly try and take some shots downfield to test West Virginia's secondary.
 
The Panthers are coming off their biggest comeback victory in 53 years last Saturday at Cincinnati. Pitt trailed the Bearcats 27-6 with 4:50 left in the third quarter before rallying for a 28-27 triumph on Ben Sauls' 35-yard field goal with 17 seconds remaining.
 
Alabama transfer Eli Holstein completed 20-of-35 passes for 302 yards and three touchdowns against Cincinnati, one week after passing for 336 yards in the Panthers' season-opening win over Kent State. The last Pitt freshman quarterback to throw for more than 300 yards in his opening two games was Alex Van Pelt, whose 366 yards passing helped the Panthers tie West Virginia 31-31 in Morgantown in 1989.
 
Holstein has benefited from new offensive coordinator Kade Bell's no-huddle, fast-paced attack the Panthers adopted following last year's abysmal 3-9 season. Bell, from Western Carolina, brought some of his weapons with him, including dynamic 5-foot-8, 175-pound all-purpose back Desmond Reid, who currently leads the country in all-purpose yardage averaging 244 yards per game.
 
Reid generated 234 all-purpose yards and scored two touchdowns against Kent State, including a 78-yard punt return, and followed that up with 148 yards rushing and 106 yards receiving against Cincinnati, becoming the first Panther back on record to have more than 100 yards rushing and receiving in the same game.
 
Reid was one of Bell's big weapons at Western Carolina last year when he ran for 897 yards in only eight games, including a career-high 211 yards on just 15 carries against Tennessee-Chattanooga.
 
Former Akron transfer Konata Mumpfield is a familiar name to Mountaineer fans. He caught five passes for 71 yards in Pitt's 2022 victory over West Virginia and led the Panthers last season with 44 catches for 576 yards and five touchdowns. He shows 10 catches for 179 yards and three touchdowns so far this season.
 
Kenny Johnson, a 6-foot-1, 200-pound sophomore from York, Pennsylvania, is another worrisome weapon in the passing game. His 22 career catches for 227 yards includes seven receptions for 105 yards and a touchdown so far this year. He is also a factor in the return game with 181 kickoff return yards.
 
Tight end Gavin Bartholomew, at 6-foot-5, 250 pounds, presents issues as a pass receiver and a blocker. His 2024 stats include seven catches for 91 yards and a career stat line that features 74 catches for 1,026 yards and seven touchdowns.
 
Pitt's offensive line is highlighted by massive tackles Ryan Baer (6-foot-7, 325 pounds) and Branson Taylor (6-foot-6, 330 pounds), both of whom Brown believes are pro prospects.
 
Defensively, the names and numbers to watch are No. 3 Donovan McMillon, 6-foot-2, 205-pound senior safety and a former Florida transfer, No. 9 Kyle Louis, 6-foot, 225-pound sophomore star linebacker, and No. 2 Nate Matlack, 6-foot-5, 250-pound senior defensive end and former Kansas State transfer.
 
McMillon leads the Panthers with 19 tackles and has Pitt's lone interception.
 
Louis has logged 14 tackles, a pair of tackles for loss, a sack and four quarterback hurries, while Matlack is the team leader with two sacks. Pitt, as it has consistently done under Narduzzi, is getting to the passer with eight sacks in two games and eight different players getting in on the action so far.
 
"Schematically, they are really sound, and they play extremely hard," Brown said. "They've done a great job with their pressure packages. They're going to move their front and kind of slice the front and make it difficult to run the ball, and then they're going to play really close coverage, so you've got to be really accurate with your passes and you've got to win versus man coverage."
 
In Narduzzi's 10 seasons at Pitt, the Panthers have had five or more sacks in a game 29 times and are 27-2 in those contests.
 
Pitt's other trademark is limiting teams to less than 100 yards rushing. The Panthers have done that 48 times under Narduzzi, winning 36 of those contests. Pitt held Kent State to just 31 yards in its season opener, but did allow Corey Kiner to run for 149 yards last weekend in Cincinnati.
 
Saturday's game will kick off at 3:30 p.m. and will be televised nationally on ESPN2 (Mike Monaco, Kirk Morrison and Dawn Davenport).
 
Mountaineer Sports Network coverage begins with the Go-Mart Mountaineer Tailgate Show at 12:30 p.m. leading into regular network coverage with Tony Caridi, Dwight Wallace and Jed Drenning at 2:30 p.m. on stations throughout West Virginia, online via WVUsports.com and the popular Varsity Network and WVU Gameday apps.
 
"Now, it's onward and upward," Brown said. "It's the Backyard Brawl; it's a big game and it's our second opportunity in a big game and we've got to perform much better than we did during the first one."
 
"I think you can throw every record out," Narduzzi added. "We could be 0-2, they could be 0-2, it doesn't matter. This will be a knock-down, drag-out battle at Acrisure Stadium on Saturday. They'll be ready; we'll be ready. We're excited for it, and I know our team is excited for it."
 
This is the final nonconference tilt of the season for West Virginia before beginning Big 12 play next Saturday at home against Kansas. The Panthers have one final non-league tuneup against Youngstown State before starting ACC play at North Carolina on Oct. 5.