New Backyard Brawl Logo is Released

A new backyard brawl logo was released 105 days out from 105th game and the renewal of the historic and bitter rivalry between Pittsburgh and West Virginia. The schools will play on Thursday, Sept. 1 at Heinz Field and will face off eight times in the next 11 seasons with games alternating home sites between Pitt and West Virginia.

The logo also reveals that the rivalry will not have a naming right’s sponsor like the Pitt and Penn State 2016 rivalry renewal did when it was branded the Peoples Natural Gas Keystone Classic. While obviously a sponsor would bring additional income for Pitt and West Virginia, fans of both schools are certainly appreciative of a more traditional approach to the rivalry.

This year’s meeting will be the 105th meeting between the two schools. They are each the most played opponent in their schools’ history with West Virginia slightly edging out Penn State (100 games) as Pitt’s most played rival and Pitt topping Syracuse (61) as West Virginia’s most played opponent. It’s the 14th oldest in college football history, with the first game coming in 1895. That game was an 8-0 victory for West Virginia over Western University of Pennsylvania, Pitt’s name at the time.

Pitt leads the rivalry 61–40–3, but West Virginia saw more success in the more recent games winning six of the last 26 contests. The two teams met every season from 1943-2011, but were forced to end their rivalry when the schools left for the ACC (Pitt) and Big12 (West Virginia). West Virginia is currently on a three-game winning streak.