Pitt, WVU coaches employing mind games, motivational tactics in advance of Backyard Brawl
The message appeared to have multiple layers in its intent from Pat Narduzzi.
As the Pitt football coach stood at his podium to open his Monday morning press conference before this Saturday’s game at West Virginia, he read a list of results from Week 1 of the college football season.
They were halftime and final scores. All of them illustrated how MAC schools either won games or kept them close in Week 1. These were the games Narduzzi said he told his team about in advance of their game against Central Michigan last week.
“They trust in what we’re talking about. They get it. Bought in,” Narduzzi said. “We could have been in that spot. That’s what I’m most proud (of) about our guys. They bought in. … They take coaching. They do what you ask them to do. They did exactly like we as a staff asked them to do. “
A motivational ploy to not underestimate the Chippewas in advance of last Saturday?
Sure.
Perhaps a reminder to the media this week as they evaluated why CMU had the game within a touchdown in the third quarter until Pitt pulled away 45-17?
That couldn’t hurt.
A less-than-subtle message to his players that Ohio might be a good team and West Virginia didn’t lose to a random non-power school last week?
Ding, ding, ding! Monty, I think we have a winner behind door No. 3!
Who is to say you can’t use the same motivational tactic two weeks in a row? Tweak the lyrics, change the melody, but it’s basically the same song, and Narduzzi is attempting to convey the same message.
Why not? Play the hits, Pat.
For the first two weeks of the season, versus Central Michigan and Duquesne, it was, “Don’t take these guys lightly because of the conferences where they play.”
This week, the message is “Don’t take these guys lightly because of who just beat them from one of those conferences.”
If Narduzzi perhaps felt he was being too subtle, he laid it on a little thicker a few minutes later when he was directly asked if he is concerned about the Panthers overlooking the Mountaineers after their 17-10 loss to the Bobcats.
“No, we won’t have that problem. That won’t be a problem here,” Narduzzi insisted.
“They had a tough loss. They will be prepared. Rivalry will get them prepared. They’ll have a week of practice. We’ll get their best game, like we always do. They’ll be intense, tough, physical. They’ll play fast. That’s what we expect. Whether they won or lost, I’m expecting the same thing. I think we’ll face even an angrier team, angrier fan base.”
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In the past, employing such motivational tactics — even the suggesting that they may need to be employed — would be wildly unnecessary going into a Backyard Brawl game. When the rivalry was played every year, whether they were Big East foes or independents, “The Brawl” was its own motivation.
Well, except maybe that 13-9 situation a few years back.
Now, though, with both teams in separate conferences and the game occurring more sporadically over the years, there is some sense that it may not have the starch it once did — especially because of a volatile transfer portal (highlighted by 51 on WVU’s roster) and the knowledge that the annual game is going dormant again until 2029 after Saturday’s final horn.
For fourth-year seniors on the teams, though, they’ll at least be going through an old-fashioned natural cycle of the rivalry, as this is the fourth consecutive year of the rivalry with Pitt winning the two games at Acrisure Stadium last season (38-34) and in 2022 (38-31). The Mountaineers won in Morgantown (17-6) in 2023.
Narduzzi isn’t concerned about his roster needing a history lesson on the way things used to be.
“Our guys know. They don’t need (Pat) Bostick coming in and talking about the old heydays,” Narduzzi said, eyeing the former Panther QB in the crowd. “They know what it’s about. They’ve heard enough. I’ll say a few words. They’ll know after I get done.”
Pat Narduzzi alluded to the immortality within grasp for players who make big plays in the Backyard Brawl:
"Legends and heroes are made in this game. ... People will remember you forever for those big plays. You become a legend in this game."
— Justin Guerriero (@GuerrieroTrib) September 11, 2025
For his part, Mountaineers coach Rich Rodriguez dangled the idea that across athletics, the games between Pitt and WVU may mean even more in Morgantown than they do in Oakland.
“It’s always, to me, the biggest game on your schedule when you’re at West Virginia. I don’t know if Pitt would tell you that, but I know from our standpoint and our fans’ standpoint, Pitt’s the biggest game we play,” Rodriguez said via On3sports.com.
“There’s a lot of intensity with it. There never seems to be any love lost between the fanbases.”
If any of the many newcomers on the WVU roster don’t have a sense of the Brawl, Rodriguez wasn’t afraid to spice it up by making a few notable comparisons to when he was coaching at Michigan and Arizona.
“At Arizona, it was the in-state thing (against Arizona State). Michigan-Ohio State, obviously, that one. But I’ve told people everywhere I’ve been that I’ve been in a bunch of rivalries. There’s none that’s more intense than this.”
If the Mountaineers are dragging after the defeat in Athens, then this game should be the perfect remedy to perk them up.
In fact, Narduzzi went so far as to call that defeat an “advantage” for the Mountaineers when it came to the motivational ploy aspect.
Possibly. But not to the point that they should beat Pitt Saturday.
Panthers win 23-19.
Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via X. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.
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