WVU Football
Pat McAfee, Nick Saban Talk Importance of Backyard Brawl Rivalry
During Saturday’s edition of College GameDay, Pat McAfee and Nick Saban discussed the importance of the Backyard Brawl rivalry between West Virginia and Pitt.
Both McAfee and Saban have ties with the rivalry as McAfee kicked for the Mountaineers in the 2000s and Saban is a West Virginia native.
“This is the biggest event of the year if you’re from West Virginia,” Saban said. “I grew up chanting ‘beat the hell out of Pitt’ and I’m not changing that today.”
“It was everything emotionally to everyone in the state. It was the pride of the Mountaineers. When you played Pitt, you needed to win that game,” Saban added.
We’ve got a MASSIVE one today..
THE BACKYARD BRAWL
ATTA BABY COACH SABAN 👏#CollegGameDay pic.twitter.com/YbWENSR0xe
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) September 14, 2024
“The thing about this game is, there are players for Pitt who accomplish nothing in their careers. Won zero bowl games, got blown out, no conference titles. Terrible college football players is how people would describe their stories. They beat West Virginia though, all of a sudden they’re heroes forever around Oakland in Pitt’s campus,” McAfee said. “Same thing for West Virginia, even though we normally accomplish a lot of things. I’ve obviously been on both ends of this entire thing but this is a massive one. Your entire career’s legacy can rely on this game, knowing from experience.”
“I hope the Mountaineers get a big-time dub. If they don’t— Neal [Brown] needs to win this one,” McAfee concluded.
I hope the Mountaineers get a BIG TIME dub
Watch your mouth @KirkHerbstreit 😂😂#CollegeGameDay https://t.co/MMEnOitf5I pic.twitter.com/3ZBLVwBM1I
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) September 14, 2024
McAfee certainly knows how the Backyard Brawl can affect a player’s legacy. The all-time scoring leader for the Mountaineers missed two field goals in the 2007 edition of the brawl, resulting in a Pitt upset win over then-No.2 WVU 13-9, keeping the Mountaineers out of the National Title game.
The 107th edition of the Backyard Brawl will take place at Acrisure Stadium at 3:30 p.m. as West Virginia looks to take back-to-back games in the series.
