Score Predictions for West Virginia vs. Pitt

Picking this week's game between the Mountaineers and Panthers.

Christoher Hall - West Virginia on SI

The West Virginia Mountaineers and Pitt Panthers are ready to do battle in Acrisure Stadium on Saturday for the 107th all-time meeting. Pitt leads the all-time series 62-41-3, but West Virginia has a 26-23-2 record in the game since 1963.

Who wins this year's edition of the Brawl? Here are our picks.

Schuyler Callihan: West Virginia 31, Pitt 27

Entering the 2024 season, I felt pretty confident about West Virginia's chances to win this game. Although I'm still rocking with them, I do believe Pitt has a chance to win this year's Brawl. They feature an uptempo offense, something WVU has yet to see, and have one of the most dynamic players currently in all of college football in Desmond Reid.

The Mountaineers struggled to defend the pass a week ago against UAlbany, allowing 306 yards in the air to Myles Burkett. If the linebackers fail to successfully execute their drops and the defensive backs don't contest the ball well enough, Jordan Lesley's unit could be in for an extremely long day.

Neal Brown could go uptempo as well to equally wear out Pitt's defense, but I think he understands that controlling the clock and keeping the defense off the field as much as possible is their best path to winning this game. Ideally, the Mountaineers would like to keep this game in the 20s but the offenses are too high-powered for that to happen. WVU wins, but it will be a nail-biter.

Prediction record: 2-0.

Christopher Hall: West Virgina 34, Pitt 10

While last year's score may not have indicated the whooping the Mountaineers put on the Panthers in Morgantown last season, the final tally on Saturday will reflect the superior program in 2024.

West Virginia quarterback Garrett Greene left the game after the sixth play in last year's Backyard Brawl and forced the Mountaineer offense to play conservative with backup quarterback Nicco Marchiol at the helm without a viable option behind the redshirt freshman.

The Mountaineers were poised to lay a hurtin' on Pitt until Greene's departure and WVU has been waiting to display its superiority over the Panthers since 2022.

Pitt may be 2-0 on the season but the two programs they faced (Kent State, Cincinnati) thus far combined for a total of four wins last season and it took late game heroics last week to escape with a win at Cincy. Additionally, Pitt only claimed three wins a season ago.

The West Virginia offense has not shown its full arsenal through two games. The Mountaineers never got into a rhythm against a focused, fired up Penn State squad to open the season and they played rather vanilla last week versus FCS foe Albany.

The Mountaineer defense started slow through two games, it was to be expected, and it may have its lapses in the Backyard Brawl, but I suspect the play will begin to evolve against Pittsburgh.

Pitt received every bounce and 50/50 call in 2022 and WVU head coach Neal Brown has not forgotten and neither have the Mountaineers who suited up in the return of the rivalry.

West Virginia comes out determined and focused as it prepared for a daunting Big 12 schedule. Mountaineers roll 34-10.

Prediction record: 2-0.

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