Backyard Brawl Between WVU-Pitt Garnered Strong TV Ratings

The Backyard Brawl is one of the best rivalries in college football and it showed in TV ratings that SportsMediaWatch.com released on Tuesday.

2.41 million viewers turned in to view West Virginia and Pitt battle it out in the 106th edition in the historic rivalry for a 1.3 rating on ABC at 7:30 p.m. WVU won the game 17-6. The ratings were solid despite a delay in the start time due to the previous game between Alabama and USF going long.

West Virginia Gets Job Done, Imposes Will on Pitt to Win Backyard Brawl

This is the second time WVU played in a highly watched nationally televised game this year. The other, of course, being the Mountaineers’ loss to Penn State on NBC to kickoff the season.

West Virginia won the Backyard Brawl, the program’s first win over Pitt since 2011. The stories from the game included Garrett Greene leaving the game with an injury and Nicco Marchiol leading the charge for WVU and Pitt quarterback Phil Jurkovec’s struggles.

Jurkovec, who didn’t speak to the media following the game and was trashed by cornerback Beanie Bishop, completed just eight of his 18 throws, only had 84 yards and threw three interceptions.

WVU DB Beanie Bishop Blasts Pitt QB Phil Jurkovec, Calls Him Bad at His Job

His three interceptions are the most in a Backyard Brawl since Rod Rutherford threw three in 2003, although Rutherford also threw for four touchdowns in the 52-31 loss. His 84 passing yards are also the least in a Backyard Brawl since Pat Bostick threw for 67 yards in the infamous 2007 contest.