Pittsburgh head coach Pat Narduzzi, left, celebrates with quarterback Eli Holstein, right, after defeating West Virginia in an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Matt Freed)

The biggest game on West Virginia’s schedule isn’t a Big 12 conference game. It’s the third game of the season against Pitt in the 108th Backyard Brawl. That’s not an opinion; looking at the ticket prices, WVU’s priciest home game is the Backyard Brawl, which is as low as $260 right now.

Speaking with former players and fans, the Week 3 matchup is the must-see game. ESPN’s Pat McAfee and Kirk Herbstreit even talked about potentially having College GameDay from this year’s Backyard Brawl if everything goes right.

After this year, the Backyard Brawl is shelved. The rivalry won’t return until 2029. It’s a lot less of a hiatus than the 11-year gap from 2011 to 2022, but still, the season will feel incomplete.

Pitt’s head coach, Pat Narduzzi, has been vocal about regional rivalry games with West Virginia and Penn State, and talked about the importance of the regional games at ACC Media Days this week.

“With the way the college landscape is going, conferences have kind of exploded, and we have teams from the West Coast in the Atlantic Coast Conference,” Narduzzi said. “I think those regional rivalry games are critical.”

However, the regional rivalry games are becoming harder and harder to occur. With conference shuffling, rivalries have been lost. Oklahoma State vs. Oklahoma was a yearly thing, but once Oklahoma left the conference, it’s harder to make the game happen since it’s used as an out-of-conference game.

There’s also the issue of money, and how out-of-conference opponents are scheduled years in advance. WVU’s three out-of-conference games are set up until 2030, and already have one opponent for 2031.

Narduzzi said during his press conference that he wanted to play West Virginia every year, and still does, even with the Mountaineers not being on Pitt’s schedule until 2029. The players and fans want to see it, but with all the outside factors, it’s hard to make it happen.

“Our players look forward to playing West Virginia every year,” Narduzzi said. “That’s a rivalry game that’ll end after this year. In three years, it picks back up. So, we do have a four-game stretch. If you guys have any power to see if we can get them in the next three years, we are willing to make some movements in our schedule and try to get that done. I would love to play them every year.”

Due to scheduling issues, Narduzzi’s wish won’t happen. The two schools could technically fit the Backyard Brawl into their schedules, but WVU already has a couple of big games in its place, and the pay-to-play game with smaller schools, which those smaller institutions rely on financially. They’d need to cancel one of the games. Then there’s the required nine Big 12 games, so realistically, it’s a longshot.

At least for WVU, the three years without the Backyard Brawl won’t be a snoozefest. WVU has a home and home with Alabama over the next two years, and plays Virginia in Charlotte in 2026. Then in 2028, WVU plays Tennessee in the Duke’s Mayo Classic. WVU definitely has entertaining games on its schedule in place of the Backyard Brawl.

However, those games don’t have the same luster as the Backyard Brawl. What’s positive is there’s mutual interest in keeping the rivalry a yearly game, and so far, it’s scheduled in three of the four years starting in 2029.

It’s only a couple of years of a break, but the Backyard Brawl will be missed by fans, players and coaches.

“That’s what the game is all about, those regional rivalries,” Narduzzi said. “It brings fans in. The fans love it, the players love it, it’s intense. There’s no love lost. That’s what it’s all about. That’s college football.”