In this latest version of the Big East, there is no doubt that the Keg of Nails Backyard Brawl is the big rivalry game.
Take a close look at the revamped Big East and you’ll see one glaring void in the conference: The absence of a handful of intense and storied rivalry games. But there is one, and no one has to explain to Pittsburgh coach Dave Wannstedt or Rich Rodriguez, his counterpart at West Virginia, what Thursday night’s “Backyard Brawl” in Morgantown means.
Wannstedt was a three-year starter at tackle for the Panthers from 1971-73. Rodriguez was a defensive back for the Mountaineers from 1981-84.
It’s the first time since 1965 that a Pittsburgh graduate is coaching his alma mater and a West Virginia guy is at the helm for the Mountaineers in the game.
Though the Hoopie head coach is trying to downplay the head coaches as former players angle a bit.
“I remember walking around campus and the ‘Beat Pitt’ shirts — or things more colorful than ‘Beat Pitt,’ ” Rodriguez said. “But, being honest with you, I don’t think it’s any different if I wasn’t an alumni. I think too much has been made of this. Maybe the fact I experienced it as a player makes good copy.”
Rivalry games, though, mean that fans have strong memories of games attended for good — 1997, triple-OT win in Morgantown — and bad — the shellacking the following year at 3 Rivers. So do the players memories of the games they were in.
Former Pitt quarterback Rod Rutherford stopped by Monday to see some of his former teammates and to spin tales about recent Backyard Brawl games against rival West Virginia.
Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt wondered if, 20 years from now, Rutherford will be telling the same stories.
“Everyone’s got a Backyard Brawl story, and they get better as the years go on,” Wannstedt said.
Like the one Pitt quarterback Tyler Palko can tell about last year’s 16-13 Pitt victory over No. 21 West Virginia, a Thanksgiving night game televised nationally. The Mountaineers lead 10-0 and 13-9 only to lose on Palko’s 2-yard scoring run with just over five minutes remaining, putting Pitt into the BCS bowl berth that West Virginia seemed to have secured.
Wannstedt, a Pitt player from 1970-73, can tell stories himself about the Pitt-West Virginia series — now, with Penn State gone, the only remaining rivalry on Pitt’s schedule that has been played every season since World War II.
Wannstedt, as a freshman linebacker, was around for one of Pitt’s most improbable victories in the series, a 36-35 decision in 1970 in which Pitt trailed 35-8 at Pitt Stadium.
I just don’t see the comparisons to NFL playoff games.
West Virginia Coach Rodriguez agrees that these are the games the players remember.
“I tell our players that the rivalry game is one they’ll remember the most after they’ve graduated,” he said. “They’ll recall all of them 5, 10, 15 or 20 years hence.”
When he was a student-athlete in the early 1980s, the head coach recalled, there was more talk about the rivalry games on campus and less media hype.
“At that time, we were not in the Big East,” he said. “There were no talk shows or the Internet. So it was a little bit different.
“There are so many experts now, and they can tell you what you could or should have done. Everything is under more scrutiny now.”
Ah yes, the lament of media saturation.
