The Panther Chronicles: Second thoughts on the brawl

I'm not going to recap the game but I'm going to talk about my thoughts on the potentially last backyard brawl. A while ago I posted an article on why the backyard brawl should not be discontinued. I am having second thoughts now and Its because im wondering if it truly is better for Pitt to have them on schedule every season. So unlike my last blog post, let's take a look at why it would be better for Pitt to end the backyard brawl.


Pitt has this stigma of being West Virginia's little brother. I hate that so much. The sad truth is that Pitt really is the little brother. West Virginia has dominated the series lately and even when Pitt does pull out a victory, its by the skin of their teeth. Pitt loses recruits to WVU because of this stigma and if Pitt did not have this stigma hanging over its head then WVU would not be able to come into Western PA and out-recruit Pitt like they have since the early 90's.

It's obvious that West Virginia fans want Pitt as a rival more than Pitt wants West Virginia. That's not to say that there aren't Pitt fans out there that see the Mountaineers as the main rival - there are plenty that do and the more time goes by without playing Penn State, the more fans get on that bandwagon. But lots of Pitt fans (such as me) would much rather have a rivalry with Penn State. The bottom line is that majority of Pitt fans hate Penn State more than they hate West Virginia. Honestly Pitt fans dont hate WVU they hate the fans. Pitt fans hate the fact that Mountaineer fans bring 20,000 some fans to Heinz field and how they come in, start fights, bully people, and trash the parking lots like filthy pigs. I have such a disdain for WVU fans (I know all fans arent like this) that whenever Pitt beats WVU,  I rejoice over the fact that their fans are in complete and utter misery...and that's wrong of me. The only reason I am so invested in the brawl is because of my hate for the WVU fans and I should want to have a rivalry with them because it benefits Pitt.


The perfect rival for Pitt is Penn State not West Virginia. By leaving West Virginia off the schedule that means there would be an open slot for the nittany lions. Heck, I would even take Notre Dame before West Virginia. Just to have a home and home series with Notre Dame is something special. Having a home and home series with West Virginia is not special.




All in all I'm thinking of just getting rid of the headache that is Hoopie University is not such a bad idea after all. If Pitt can get Penn State or Notre Dame to replace WVU then im all for it. Pitt fans will forget about the last 3 straight loses to WVU (but always remember 13-9)  if it can get a real school like PSU or Notre Dame to be its rival. Another thing is that Pitt is going to have 3 non-conference games open, but the word inside Pitt administration is that 2 of the 3 games available are going to be filled by teams that seem "winable" aka Youngstown State and Buffalo. Pitt athletic director Steve Pederson has said that he doesn't sense much support from Pitt fans and school officials to keep the brawl alive and he has to do whatever makes "sense" for Pitt, and if it doesnt make sense it doesnt make sense. As much as I dislike Steve Pederson I think he is right. And if I'm agreeing with Steve Pederson then I guess thats saying something.......................