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Line Opens with West Virginia as Road Favorite in 2024 Backyard Brawl in Pittsburgh

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WVU Football Hershey McLaurin in Baclyatrd Brawl

Even though the 2024 Backyard Brawl will be played in Pittsburgh, the initial betting line has WVU as a slim favorite. According to FanDuel, West Virginia is a 3.5-point favorite over Pitt.

Now 1-1 after a a 49-14 win over Albany, the Mountaineers travel north up Interstate 79 to Pittsburgh to face Pitt at Acrisure Stadium. This year’s Brawl will serve as a rubber match for the recent series of the rivalry, with WVU coming off a 17-6 win in Morgantown in 2023.

Pitt enters the game 2-0 and riding high after completing the Panthers’ biggest comeback since 1971 in their 28-27 victory over Cincinnati out of the Big 12.

After Brown leads his Mountaineers back to Pittsburgh to face Narduzzi and his Pitt Panthers on Sept. 14 and they play again in 2025, the rivalry will go on a break for a few years before making another return.

WVU won the 2023 Backyard Brawl as a form of revenge for the 2022 defeat. West Virginia managed to win an ugly game despite losing star quarterback Garrett Greene to an injury early in the game.

“We should play the Pitt game every year. I’m all in on the Backyard Brawl,” said WVU head coach Neal Brown leading up to the 2023 contest.

Eventual consensus All-American Beanie Bishop and the WVU defense picked off former Pitt quarterback Phil Jurkovec three times en route to the  17-6 victory. Pitt leads the all-time series that dates back to the 19th century 62-41-3, granted a majority of the games took place in Pittsburgh during the early days of the rivalry.

For a related story, Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi offered his appreciation to WVU as a willing rival in July.