Backyard Brawl The Backyard Brawl is an football rivalry between the University of Pittsburgh Panthers and West Virginia University Mountaineers . The term " Backyard Brawl " has also been used to refer to college basketball games played annually or semi - annually and may also be used to refer to other athletic competitions between the two schools . It is a registered trademark for both universities , and refers to the close proximity of the two universities , separated by 75 miles ( 105 km ) along Interstate 79 . The football rivalry is the 14th oldest in the United States and is typically shown on national television . In the past , the Backyard Brawl has been seen on ABC , CBS , ESPN , and ESPN2 . Through the 104 games played between these two schools , Pitt leads the series 61 – 40 – 3 . On Saturday , December 1 , 2007 the 100th edition of the Backyard Brawl took place at Mountaineer Field in Morgantown , West Virginia . The 4 – 7 Panthers upset the 2nd – ranked Mountaineers 13 – 9 , knocking West Virginia out of the BCS National Championship Game . The game was one of the most important Backyard Brawls , one of the biggest upsets for the Pittsburgh Panthers , and one of the biggest upsets of the season , voted as the " Game of the Year " by ESPNU . The Mountaineers got revenge when the series returned to Morgantown in 2009 , upsetting the No . 8 Panthers 19 – 16 on a game - ending field goal . The 2009 Backyard Brawl was the most watched game in the history of ESPN2 . History . The football series was first played in 1895 , and the game has historically been one of the more intense rivalries in the eastern United States . The rivalry between the two schools is due mainly to proximity . WVU ' s campus in Morgantown , West Virginia is only about 70 miles south of Pittsburgh ( via Interstate 79 ) , and the two schools often compete for the same recruits . The 1921 edition of the Backyard Brawl was the first college football game broadcast on the radio when Harold W . Arlin announced the 21 – 13 Pittsburgh victory on KDKA . Since 1962 , the series has alternated between Pittsburgh and Morgantown on a yearly basis . Before that , the games were held in Pittsburgh on an almost regular basis , with Morgantown occasionally hosting the game . At one point , Pittsburgh hosted the game 11 years in a row ( 1919 – 29 ) and also hosted eight straight contests between 1938 – 48 . ( There were no matchups from 1940 – 42 . ) In contrast , the most consecutive games West Virginia has hosted were four in a row from 1895 – 1901 , with one of those games held in Fairmont , West Virginia , now the home to Fairmont State University , and one in Wheeling , West Virginia . The most consecutive games played in Morgantown , three , were held from 1932 – 34 . West Virginia started out the series leading , 5 – 1 . Pittsburgh won four games in a row from 1904 – 08 ( there was no game played in 1905 ) to tie the series at 5 – 5 . In 1909 , the teams played to a 0 – 0 tie , making the series 5 – 5 – 1 . The following year , Pittsburgh won 38 – 0 , taking a 6 – 5 – 1 lead in the series , and has led ever since . Since the series began interchanging annually between Morgantown and Pittsburgh in 1963 , the Mountaineers have held a 25 – 22 – 2 advantage over the Panthers . On November 25 , 2004 , the Backyard Brawl series saw its 97th game , surpassing the 96 – game Penn State – Pittsburgh football rivalry as Pittsburgh ' s most – played rivalry game . Pittsburgh celebrated the event with a 16 – 13 win at Heinz Field . The Mountaineers and the Panthers wore Nike Pro Combat System of Dress , uniforms designed to pay respect to Pittsburgh ' s steel industry and West Virginia ' s coal mining industry , for the 2010 Backyard Brawl . According to the Pittsburgh Tribune Review , West Virginia wore a shade of white " that looks as if it has a fine layer of dust on the jersey " and has accents in university gold that " references the canaries used long ago to test toxicity in mines . " The helmet has a thin yellow line , designed to look like " the beam of light emitted by a miner ' s headlamp . " Meanwhile Pitt wore smoky college navy and black jerseys and pants with metallic team gold numerals " to represent the brilliant glow of a blast furnace , " according to a Nike website , and matching helmets with a gold stripe and logo " evocative of steel I - beams " and resembling a hard hat . West Virginia won the game in Pittsburgh 35 – 10 . In 2011 , the rivalry took on a new look with the high powered offenses of Todd Graham and Dana Holgorsen coming to Pittsburgh and West Virginia , respectively . Holgorsen , formerly the offensive coordinator at Oklahoma State , and Graham , formerly the head coach for the Tulsa Golden Hurricane , had offenses ranked 6th and 8th , respectively , in the nation in the 2010 season . West Virginia defeated Pittsburgh 21 – 20 . For the 2012 season , West Virginia moved to the Big 12 Conference while Pitt will move to the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2013 . The 2012 season was the first time the two teams did not meet since 1942 . Location . The location of the Backyard Brawl has varied much throughout its history . The very first football game took place in Wheeling , West Virginia in 1895 . The next meeting , in 1898 , was held in Fairmont , a short distance south of Morgantown . The third and fourth contests were held in Morgantown . The year 1902 marked the first time the game was held in Pittsburgh , at Exposition Park , the North Shore home of the Pittsburgh Pirates . 1910 was the first time the Backyard Brawl was held on the Pittsburgh campus , at brand - new Forbes Field . The series was held here for eight of the next nine years , until the opening of Pitt Stadium in 1925 on the opposite end of the University of Pittsburgh campus . Pitt Stadium hosted 5 straight games , until in 1930 , the Backyard Brawl found itself at yet another new location , Mountaineer Field , on the campus of West Virginia University , which had opened in 1924 . Another change in location occurred in 1981 , when the game was played at a new Mountaineer Field in Morgantown . In 1998 and 2000 , the game was played at Three Rivers Stadium . The most recent change took place in 2002 , when the Backyard Brawl was played for the first time at Heinz Field , the new , full - time home of the Panthers , a year after it was opened . Football game results . " Pittsburgh victories shaded in ██ blue . West Virginia victories are shaded ██ gold . " Basketball . The basketball rivalry between the two schools began on February 17 , 1905 . The teams began competing annually since 1918 , and have played each other at least once every season since then . Pitt began playing basketball in the Big East Conference in 1982 – 83 , with the Mountaineers joining in 1995 – 96 . The basketball rivalry has heated up over the last several years as each team has been among the best in the country and the games have taken on added significance . On February 9 , 2006 , for the first time in the history of the series , in the 169th edition , Pitt and WVU were both nationally ranked as they squared off in Pitt ' s Petersen Events Center . Pitt won , but a few weeks later , the two ranked teams played at WVU Coliseum with the Mountaineers winning . In the 2008 – 09 season , the Panthers swept both games during the regular season and came into the tournament ranked No . 2 , but were upset by the Mountaineers in the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament . During a February 2010 game when Pittsburgh visited West Virginia , several times during the course of the game , West Virginia fans threw objects at the Pittsburgh team . A Pittsburgh assistant coach was injured when an object was thrown at him . The actions received widespread attention . During the second half of the game , coach Bob Huggins used a microphone to address the fans . West Virginia University President Jim Clements issued an apology to the University of Pittsburgh community . Additionally , West Virginia vowed to address security , as the incident closing followed similar occurrences in games against Syracuse and Ohio State . This game was followed with a rematch nine days later in Pittsburgh , and while there were no off - court incidents , the game proved to be one of the most memorable in the history of the series as the 25th ranked Panthers upset the fourth ranked Mountaineers 98 – 95 in the first triple overtime basketball game to be played between the two schools . The 2011 – 12 season marked the end of the Brawl within Big East conference play . Pitt and WVU traded road wins , with Pitt winning in Morgantown 72 – 66 , and WVU winning at the Petersen Events Center for only the second time ever 66 – 48 . The future of the rivalry is in question as WVU will play in the Big 12 in 2012 – 13 and Pitt will eventually play in the ACC . In women ' s basketball , West Virginia leads the modern series , begun in 1975 , 25 – 18 .