Dave Wannstedt couldn’t stand that John Denver song. You know, the one about West Virginia: ‘Take Me Home Country Roads.’ It played for five straight days leading up to the Pittsburgh-WVU games back when Wannstedt was an offensive lineman for the Panthers in the 1970s, and he was getting sick of it come game time.

Thirty years later, John Denver has passed, but the Backyard Brawl endures. Pitt visits Morgantown, W.V., on Thanksgiving Day for the 98th meeting of the two Big East schools, the 14th oldest college rivalry in the United States.

The Backyard Brawl gets it name from the proximity of the two campuses, which are about 90 miles apart. Both schools feature strong football histories, including Pittsburgh’s 1976 national championship and West Virginia’s national prominence throughout the late 1980s and early ’90s. The Panthers have also tallied five straight bowl appearances while the Mountaineers have all but sealed their fourth consecutive bowl game this season.

But regardless of either team’s fate – the Mountaineers are fighting for the Big East championship this season while Pitt looks to avoid a losing campaign – the Backyard Brawl is a rivalry where the records can be thrown out and the biggest implication is border bragging rights.

‘No matter when we play Pitt, our guys know it’s a rivalry game,’ West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez said. ‘There will be a lot of talk around campus and to our players about how we have to play well against Pitt.’

The rivalry is turned up a notch considering both Rodriguez and Wannstedt are alumni of their respective schools and played in the games when the rivalry was at its peak. Rodriguez was a defensive back for the Mountaineers from 1982-1984.

Wannstedt’s favorite memory was the 1973 matchup when the Panthers dominated the Mountaineers in a game he said the Panthers needed to win to get the season going in the right direction. It was an important year for Pitt because of the arrivals of head coach Johnny Majors and eventual Heisman Trophy winner Tony Dorsett. The win over the Mountaineers helped propel Pitt to a Fiesta Bowl berth.

Wannstedt also remembers sitting in the stands watching Pitt come back against West Virginia, but groans at recollections of West Virginia upsets.

‘I’ve been involved in games on both sides of the fence, and I know how our fans react and I know how their fans react,’ Wannstedt said. ‘That’s what college football is all about. It’s exciting, and right now there’s no question this is our big game, our rival game. It always probably has been, but now there’s no question this is our rivalry.’

It’s exciting for the first-year college head coach Wannstedt, who came from the NFL, where he coached in rivalries like the Chicago Bears-Green Bay Packers and Miami Dolphins-New York Jets. But Wannstedt admits those weren’t the same.

‘This is unique for me because whether it was the Jets or the Dolphins – which is a big rivalry – you show up there and you were never a part of the history of the game,’ Wannstedt said. ‘You’re told about it, you see it on TV, read about it in a magazine or a book, but there was no real, live experience to reference it.’

Rodriguez said he enjoys the intensity of the games and all the great players and games that have taken place. But he’s also wary of putting too much pressure on his team and making too big of a deal about the game.

‘We try to approach every game like it counts as one and we’re in an 11-round season,’ Rodriguez said. ‘We don’t try to put too much emphasis on one game. That’s a dangerous thing for a coach to put too much emphasis on any game, including a rivalry game.’

The focus should be on his seniors, who will play their final game at Mountaineer Stadium. But there’s no getting around the importance of the game to the teams, the fans and even the conference, Rodriguez said.

‘With the restructuring of the Big East and new teams going and new teams going out,’ Wannstedt said, ‘the one constant has been Pitt-West Virginia.’

Houston, we have a bowl game

The Big East announced Tuesday it will send a representative to the Ev1.net Houston Bowl starting in the 2006 season, continuing for the following four seasons. It will play against a Big 12 team. The game is played annually in Reliant Stadium, the retractable-roofed home of the NFL’s Houston Texans.

The affiliation will give the Big East an automatic bid in a fourth bowl, meaning half of the eight teams in the conference will play postseason football. The Big East also has deals to send representatives to a Bowl Championship Series game (Orange, Rose, Fiesta or Sugar bowls), the Gator and/or Sun Bowl and the Meineke Car Care Bowl.

The Big East continues to receive criticism for its bowl affiliations, with critics insisting the conference isn’t worthy of BCS distinction. But Rodriguez, for one, is tired of hearing the questions.

‘It’s old news,’ Rodriguez said. ‘There’s no question the Big East is one of the six best conferences in the country. Not only do I think the Big East is one of the six best conferences in the country but in the next few years, we could move up in that respect.’

Game to watch

Pittsburgh at West Virginia

Thursday, Nov. 24, 8 p.m., ESPN

The Backyard Brawl is perennially a good game, but West Virginia’s spot at the top of the Big East makes the game even more significant. Pitt and surprising South Florida stand in the Mountaineers’ way of a Big East championship. With growing intrigue for the Dec. 3 WVU-USF game, the Mountaineers need to be sure not to look past Pitt, winners of four of its past five games.

Around the conference

South Florida running back Andre Hall rushed for 222 yards and three scores in a 27-0 win over Syracuse on Saturday, but it wasn’t enough for sole possession of the Big East Offensive Player of the Week award. Hall shared it with Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, who continued to torch defenders with 315 yards and three touchdowns in a 56-5 win over Rutgers. … West Virginia linebacker Kevin McLee was the top defensive player after forcing a fumble and grabbing an interception in a 38-0 win over Cincinnati. … The Special Teams Player of the Week was Pittsburgh’s Josh Lay, who returned a blocked field goal for a touchdown in Pitt’s 24-0 win over Connecticut. … Despite a 5-3 record with a win against No. 18 Louisville, USF only received one vote for the Associated Press Top 25 poll. Two of the Bulls’ losses have come against Top 5 teams.

Published on November 14, 2005 at 12:00 pm