MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (òòò½ÊÓƵ News) òòò½ÊÓƵ” Think back a few weeks, back to when Pitt's men's basketball team came to the Coliseum to renew the Backyard Brawl in that sport, to the pregame business around town, to the sold-out arena, to the excitement it generated everywhere.
Now multiply it five-fold, for next season's football schedule will open with the renewal of that sport's Backyard Brawl, according to the schedule that was released by West Virginia and the Big 12 on Wednesday.
Now, it's true the game is going to be played at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, but anyone who knows anything about West Virginia's trek north for that game knows that it figures to be like a home crowd for the Mountaineers.
Despite a very attractive schedule that also includes a game at Black Diamond rival Virginia Tech, the Brawl will be the cornerstone upon which the season will be built.
òòò½ÊÓƵœI know our fans will be excited to have two rivalry games that they can drive to at Pitt and Virginia Tech,òòò½ÊÓƵ Lyons said.
The schedule begins with the Pitt game on Sept. 3. There are no times or television schedules yet available for any of the 12 games.
The season begins with the 105th playing of the Backyard Brawl, the longest-running series in òòò½ÊÓƵU history. It marks the first time òòò½ÊÓƵU and Pitt have played since 2011 and the first time since 2010 at Heinz Field. The Mountaineers have won seven of the past 10 games in the series, dating back to 2002, including the last three.
The Virginia Tech series was renewed this season for the 52nd time with the Mountaineers stunning the 15th-ranked Hokies, 27-21, on Sept. 18 in Morgantown.
The other non-conference game other than Pitt and Virginia Tech matches òòò½ÊÓƵU with Towson on Sept. 17, a week after opening the conference season at Mountaineer Field with Kansas, a resurgent team òòò½ÊÓƵU defeated to end this regular season.
The schedule also offers up an assurance that both Oklahoma and Texas will remain in the conference in 2022, as each is included on the conference schedule.
The Mountaineers will travel to Texas on Oct. 1 to face the team it loves to beat and will entertain a new-look Oklahoma team on Nov. 12 with whomever the jilted Sooners name to replace coach Lincoln Riley, who stunned everyone by jumping to USC right after Oklahoma State stunned them in the regular-season finale.
This figures to be Oklahoma's final trip to Morgantown, and the Mountaineers would like to give them nothing more than their first conference loss to òòò½ÊÓƵU as a going away gift on Mountaineer Week.
Other key home dates include Oct. 29 against TCU with its new coach as the celebration of Homecoming; a Thursday, Oct. 13, revenge game against Baylor, which plays Oklahoma State in this year's Big 12 Conference title game and another revenge game against Kansas State on Nov. 19.
Road conference games are Texas (Oct. 1), Texas Tech (Oct. 22), Iowa State (Nov. 5) and Oklahoma State (Nov. 26).
The top two finishers in the regular-season standings will compete for the conference title in the Big 12 Football Championship Game, which is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 3, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
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