Five Takeaways From The Backyard Brawl 2024
The Backyard Brawl is a college football rivalry game between the Pittsburgh Panthers and the West Virginia Mountaineers. The two schools are separated by just 75 miles and it feels like even less. Two blue-collar towns that do not like each other, and the football game always reflects that.
The revival of this rivalry was much needed and it hasn’t disappointed in the past three seasons. This year, Pitt erased a ten-point deficit in four minutes to win 38-34. Here's what the 2024 game taught us.
5. CJ Donaldson Loves Playing In Pittsburgh
Another Backyard Brawl in Pittsburgh, another dominant performance by Mountaineers running back CJ Donaldson. In 2022 when the rivalry was in Pittsburgh, he rushed the ball seven times for 125 yards and a touchdown. This year, he took 19 handoffs for 79 yards and a touchdown while also catching a touchdown. The kid loves playing at Acrisure Stadium. He could have Steelers colors in his future.
4. Pitt Finally Found A Good QB In The Portal
After the trials and tribulations following the Kenny Pickett era at Pitt, they endured some rough transfer quarterbacks. Kedon Slovis and Phil Jurkovic didn’t work out, but Eli Holstein seems to be a different breed through three games. Holstein transferred to Pitt from Alabama this offseason.
The Backyard Brawl was just his third career college start but it didn’t look like it. In his three games as a Panther, he has thrown for 300+ yards and three touchdowns in all of them. More importantly, he’s led Pitt to a 3-0 start. In this game, he went 21 for 30 for 301 yards and three touchdown passes. He also rushed the ball 14 times for 59 yards. The kid has stones and he showed them on Saturday.
3. Desmond Reid Is A Star
Once Rodney Hammond was ruled ineligible for the season, Pitt turned to Western Carolina transfer Desmond Reid to lead them on the ground. He hasn’t let them down. Coming into this game, Reid was the nation’s leader in all-purpose yards per game. In this game, he didn’t light the world on fire in that category, but he caught two huge touchdown passes. He shows shades of Alvin Kamara.
Last week in Pitt’s thrilling comeback against Cincinatti, Reid rushed for 148 yards and received another 106 yards with a touchdown. In week one Reid rushed for 145 yards and a touchdown. The kid has shown that he can carry the load for the Panthers. They say great things come in small packages.
2. The Backyard Brawl Is An Underrated Rivalry Game
Most rivalry games in college football are being played for some piece of weird hardware that is a trophy for the game. Not the Backyard Brawl. This game is fueled purely by hate and just the satisfaction of winning the game is enough for either side. 2024 marked the 108th meeting between the Panthers and Mountaineers. The Panther lead the series 62-43, with the teams taking part in three ties over the years. Respect the Backyard Brawl.
1. Neal Brown Needs To Go
How do you blow a 10-point lead with four minutes to play? Ask Neal Brown. Under his coaching, West Virginia is now 1-2 in Backyard Brawl’s. He’s only 32-31 total as the Mountaineers head coach. West Virginia fans are fed up with the guy. If you don’t think so, type his name into X.
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