sPITT preview
9 months 3 weeks ago #375
by wvu4u2
sPITT preview was created by wvu4u2
Editor’s note: This is the third installment of a 12-part series previewing West Virginia’s football opponents for the 2023 season.
MORGANTOWN — The Backyard Brawl is heading back to Morgantown for the first time since 2011.
West Virginia will welcome rival Pitt to Milan Puskar Stadium for a night game on Sept. 16 in Week 3 of the 2023 season.
The Backyard Brawl is the longest-running series in WVU history, and this fall’s meeting will be the 106th. The Panthers lead 62-40-3, including a 38-31 victory over the Mountaineers in last year’s season opener at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh in the renewal of a series that began in 1895.
WVU surrendered the final 14 points, including a 56-yard interception return for a touchdown late in the fourth quarter, and fell in front of a crowd of 70,622 in a back-and-forth battle that never saw a point differential of more than seven.
Pitt went on to finish 9-4 overall and 5-3 in ACC play. The Panthers capped the campaign with a 37-35 victory over UCLA in the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl and with No. 22 national rankings in the AP and coaches polls.
Despite some turnover, including at quarterback, the Panthers are expecting to bring a Pittsburgh toughness again to 2023.
“We’re from a tough city. I look at myself growing up in Youngstown, Ohio, kind of growing up in a tough neighborhood, tough place, so for me, we embrace that toughness,” Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi said Wednesday at the ACC Football Kickoff in Charlotte, North Carolina. “That’s who I am, whether I was in East Lansing or Oxford, Ohio.
“It doesn’t matter where I’ve been, it’s been about toughness, and we’ve got a bunch of tough dudes here. We’re going to be tough in all three phases of our game, and, to me, it’s what you coach every day. Our guys practice hard, they play hard, they work hard every day, and it’s just part of our DNA.”
The Panthers gave up 24.3 points per game, finishing in the top 25 nationally in total defense with 329.9 yards allowed per game and No. 2 in sacks per game with 3.7. Pitt will have to deal with the loss of six defensive starters, including ACC Defensive Player of the Year Calijah Kancey, who was a first-round NFL draft pick by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Pitt has been aggressive on that side of the ball under defensive coordinator Randy Bates, as evidenced by the nation-leading 199 sacks over the past four seasons and the fact the Panthers have been in the top 12 nationally in rushing defense during that time, including last season when they finished eighth. Pitt was first in its league and third nationally with five defensive scores in 2022, and the Panthers led the country with 10 defensive touchdowns and eight pick-sixes over the past two seasons.
Pitt, which ended last year with five consecutive wins, averaged 31.3 points per game last year with Kedon Slovis at quarterback, but he has since transferred to BYU.
College football veteran Phil Jurkovec was brought in to fill that role after spending the last three seasons at Boston College and the two before that at Notre Dame. The 6-foot-5, 235-pound Pittsburgh native threw for 5,184 yards and 35 touchdowns while with the Eagles.
Jurkovec will also reunite with Frank Cignetti Jr., who enters his second season as Pitt’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Cignetti held the same position at Boston College the two seasons prior.
“The one thing I’ll tell you about our family and our football team is they bring everybody in, and it’s a lot easier to bring a guy in like Phil Jurkovec, our quarterback that’s a Pittsburgh native, Pine-Richland guy. He’s back home,” Narduzzi said. “When we look at bringing those guys in and you look at our roster of guys who we have brought in the portal, we’re bringing back guys that we previously recruited.
“We worked hard at getting him the first time and didn’t get him. The second time when he went to B.C., we wanted him bad, but we had a guy named Kenny Pickett, and I couldn’t guarantee him being the starter with Kenny Pickett being there. Then we got lucky, and we’ll get his last and final and best season he’s ever had.”
Pitt has to replace last year’s ACC leading rusher Israel Abanikanda, who accounted for 1,431 yards and 20 touchdowns on the ground a season ago, but the Panthers return second-leading rusher Rodney Hammond Jr., who rushed for 460 yards and five scores on more than 100 carries as a sophomore last year. Pitt will also be without Jared Wayne, its top receiver in 2022 with 1,063 yards and five touchdowns. The next three most productive pass catchers return, as do a trio of starters along the offensive line.
The Backyard Brawl will be WVU’s second Power Five opponent of the season. The Mountaineers open on Sept. 2 with a night game at Penn State and host FCS Duquesne the following week in the home opener.
The Sept. 16 meeting with the Panthers is slated to start at 7:30 p.m. and will be televised on ABC.
Jared MacDonald covers WVU athletics. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow @JMacDonaldSport on Twitter.
MORGANTOWN — The Backyard Brawl is heading back to Morgantown for the first time since 2011.
West Virginia will welcome rival Pitt to Milan Puskar Stadium for a night game on Sept. 16 in Week 3 of the 2023 season.
The Backyard Brawl is the longest-running series in WVU history, and this fall’s meeting will be the 106th. The Panthers lead 62-40-3, including a 38-31 victory over the Mountaineers in last year’s season opener at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh in the renewal of a series that began in 1895.
WVU surrendered the final 14 points, including a 56-yard interception return for a touchdown late in the fourth quarter, and fell in front of a crowd of 70,622 in a back-and-forth battle that never saw a point differential of more than seven.
Pitt went on to finish 9-4 overall and 5-3 in ACC play. The Panthers capped the campaign with a 37-35 victory over UCLA in the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl and with No. 22 national rankings in the AP and coaches polls.
Despite some turnover, including at quarterback, the Panthers are expecting to bring a Pittsburgh toughness again to 2023.
“We’re from a tough city. I look at myself growing up in Youngstown, Ohio, kind of growing up in a tough neighborhood, tough place, so for me, we embrace that toughness,” Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi said Wednesday at the ACC Football Kickoff in Charlotte, North Carolina. “That’s who I am, whether I was in East Lansing or Oxford, Ohio.
“It doesn’t matter where I’ve been, it’s been about toughness, and we’ve got a bunch of tough dudes here. We’re going to be tough in all three phases of our game, and, to me, it’s what you coach every day. Our guys practice hard, they play hard, they work hard every day, and it’s just part of our DNA.”
The Panthers gave up 24.3 points per game, finishing in the top 25 nationally in total defense with 329.9 yards allowed per game and No. 2 in sacks per game with 3.7. Pitt will have to deal with the loss of six defensive starters, including ACC Defensive Player of the Year Calijah Kancey, who was a first-round NFL draft pick by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Pitt has been aggressive on that side of the ball under defensive coordinator Randy Bates, as evidenced by the nation-leading 199 sacks over the past four seasons and the fact the Panthers have been in the top 12 nationally in rushing defense during that time, including last season when they finished eighth. Pitt was first in its league and third nationally with five defensive scores in 2022, and the Panthers led the country with 10 defensive touchdowns and eight pick-sixes over the past two seasons.
Pitt, which ended last year with five consecutive wins, averaged 31.3 points per game last year with Kedon Slovis at quarterback, but he has since transferred to BYU.
College football veteran Phil Jurkovec was brought in to fill that role after spending the last three seasons at Boston College and the two before that at Notre Dame. The 6-foot-5, 235-pound Pittsburgh native threw for 5,184 yards and 35 touchdowns while with the Eagles.
Jurkovec will also reunite with Frank Cignetti Jr., who enters his second season as Pitt’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Cignetti held the same position at Boston College the two seasons prior.
“The one thing I’ll tell you about our family and our football team is they bring everybody in, and it’s a lot easier to bring a guy in like Phil Jurkovec, our quarterback that’s a Pittsburgh native, Pine-Richland guy. He’s back home,” Narduzzi said. “When we look at bringing those guys in and you look at our roster of guys who we have brought in the portal, we’re bringing back guys that we previously recruited.
“We worked hard at getting him the first time and didn’t get him. The second time when he went to B.C., we wanted him bad, but we had a guy named Kenny Pickett, and I couldn’t guarantee him being the starter with Kenny Pickett being there. Then we got lucky, and we’ll get his last and final and best season he’s ever had.”
Pitt has to replace last year’s ACC leading rusher Israel Abanikanda, who accounted for 1,431 yards and 20 touchdowns on the ground a season ago, but the Panthers return second-leading rusher Rodney Hammond Jr., who rushed for 460 yards and five scores on more than 100 carries as a sophomore last year. Pitt will also be without Jared Wayne, its top receiver in 2022 with 1,063 yards and five touchdowns. The next three most productive pass catchers return, as do a trio of starters along the offensive line.
The Backyard Brawl will be WVU’s second Power Five opponent of the season. The Mountaineers open on Sept. 2 with a night game at Penn State and host FCS Duquesne the following week in the home opener.
The Sept. 16 meeting with the Panthers is slated to start at 7:30 p.m. and will be televised on ABC.
Jared MacDonald covers WVU athletics. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow @JMacDonaldSport on Twitter.
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