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West Virginia Mountaineers vs Pittsburgh Panthers
The memories are still fresh in Morgantown. They remember the 2007 edition, the 100th edition, of the Backyard Brawl between Pittsburgh and West Virginia. The West Virginia Mountaineers only needed a victory to head to the BCS title game, but their rivals, who did not have much to play for except to be the spoilers stepped up and knocked them off, ruining any hopes of a title.
The roles are reversed this year—sort of. The Pittsburgh Panthers (9-1, 5-0) probably will not have a chance to play for the BCS title game with one-loss unless a ton of undefeated teams lose over the next two weekends, but Pitt can clinch a BCS bowl game with a win against West Virginia (7-3, 3-2) on Friday in Morgantown and a home game against the undefeated Cincinnati Bearcats next week.
The fifth-ranked Pitt has won the last two Backyard Brawls and West Virginia does not want that streak to continue, especially on their home turf. They won in the upset at Lane Stadium 13-9 two years ago and won 19-15 last year as well.
Since the upset two years ago, when Pitt was 4-7 heading into the game, the Pittsburgh Panthers have gone 18-5, including a home victory over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, 27-22, on November 14.
Pitt was on a bye last week.
The Mountaineers nearly knocked off the Bearcats in their last game in Cincinnati, being edged out, 24-21, when they scored with 39 seconds left to close the gap to three but were unable to recover an onside kick.
West Virginia is undefeated at home, 7-0, and can finish their season perfect at home for the first time since 1993. Pittsburgh’s only loss was on the road to North Carolina State on September 26.
The Mountaineers finish their regular season next Saturday at Rutgers.
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