MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The last time Rich Rodriguez opposed Pitt, it became what the West Virginia football coach calls the worst moment of his career.
A four-touchdown favorite entering the 2007 matchup with the Panthers, WVU suffered a 13-9 loss that cost it a berth in the National Championship and led to Rodriguez leaving for Michigan later that December.
Eighteen years later, Rodriguez is back for his second stint in Morgantown, and while circumstances pale in comparison to the head coach’s last meeting with the Mountaineers’ top rival, his team could use a positive resultafter struggling mightily offensively last Saturday in a 17-10 loss at Ohio.
The Mountaineers and Panthers clash at 3:30 p.m. Saturday from inside Milan Puskar Stadium in a contest airing on ESPN.
“Some of these guys weren’t born probably,” Rodriguez said of players in the 108th edition of the Backyard Brawl from the last time he was involved in it. “For me, there really isn’t [lingering effects]. If it was two or three years, it would be more on my mind, but that’s a lifetime ago. Is it a sore spot when it’s brought up? Yeah. It was the worst moment of my professional career from a game standpoint. I tried to move past it. It would be good to get a win. It’s not going to ease the pain. It’ll still always be there. That’s part of life.”
That WVU dropped the 2007 contest to the Panthers by a score reflected in today’s date (9/13) was among the more intriguing aspects of the Mountaineers’ schedule when it was released for 2025.
Rodriguez had hoped his team would enter the matchup 2-0, but after scoring three points on its final 11 possessions and going scoreless over its last six at OU, the Mountaineers have major offensive concerns. Those only grew with the announcement earlier this week that both tailback Jahiem White and wideout Jaden Bray will miss the remainder of this season after both suffered significant injuries inside Peden Stadium.
For WVU, which was limited to 250 total yards and 8 rushing yards from the second quarter on a week ago, there is a need for improvement across the board, and most importantly at quarterback. Nicco Marchiol struggled to get the unit in rhythm in the most recent outing and was spelled by Jaylen Henderson for a pair of forgetful series.
Rodriguez says the offense as a whole must present a much higher level of execution against an aggressive Panthers’ defense.
“Their guys up front and linebackers can all run and big, tall corners that press you and try to take away the easy stuff. We know how hard they’re going to play, so a lot of it this week is getting us right as best we can and Saturday, they have to give our best shot,” Rodriguez said. “For us to win the game, we have to give them our best version, which we haven’t done yet.”
With White sidelined the rest of the way, Rodriguez stressed there are opportunities to be a featured ball-carrier, though West Virginia has no proven tailback at this level.
Outside of Cam Vaughn, the team is also searching for more playmaking from its receivers, while the offensive line has failed to perform at a high level with consistency.
Defensively, WVU has yet to allow a second-half point this season and is surrendering only 10 points on average.
The Mountaineers have forced five turnovers, including interceptions on three straight second-half possessions last week, only to see the offense sputter and fail to generate a first down after each occasion.
Defensive coordinator Zac Alley has his work cut out in trying to slow a talented Panthers’ offense led by quarterback Eli Holstein and tailback Desmond Reid. That duo was instrumental in Pitt’s 38-34 come-from-behind win over WVU last season and has helped the Panthers amass 106 points over their first two games this season against Duquesne and Central Michigan.
Holstein’s completed 36-of-51 passes for 519 yards with eight touchdowns and two interceptions.
“He’s a NFL guy and can make all the throws,” Rodriguez said. “He’s one of the top quarterback prospects in the country coming out. I don’t know if he’s lost a game as a starter. He’s off to a great start.”
Seventeen Panthers have caught at least one pass and Reid is one of three players with six receptions thus far.
While Rodriguez is known for a fast-paced offense predicated on tempo, Pitt will utilize it as well.
“They want to do it as much as they can. They want to go fast,” Alley said. “They are trying to score and score all the time. They were up 30 or whatever it was on Central Michigan and they’re slinging it like they’re down 15. It gets offenses in rhythm, defenses off balance per se, and the more snaps you get, the more opportunities you have to score.”
This is the first experience for Alley and an abundance of WVU players in a rivalry played every season from 1943-2011 and not again until 2022. This marks the fourth straight season the Panthers face West Virginia, but the final one until 2029 when the series resumes for at least eight consecutive years.
“It’s one of the greatest rivalries in all of our sports against Pitt. Obviously the location between the two is close and there’s a lot of intensity with it,” Rodriguez said. “There never seems to be any love lost between the two fan bases. To me, it’s the biggest game on your schedule when you’re at West Virginia. I don’t know if Pitt would tell you that or if that’s what they think, but I know from our standpoint and our fans’ standpoint, Pitt is the biggest game we play.
“You hope they feel it not just this week, but probably since they’ve been here. I’m sure they’ve heard it. I’m going to obviously mention it, but we’re going to do our process in practice and everything the same as we always do. That doesn’t change. They’ll probably see an added intensity if that’s the case. We’re pretty intense anyway. They all understand the importance of it and certainly you’ll see it on Saturday.”