The national oddsmakers were split when the first Backyard Brawl odds earlier this week, but as game day has arrived, West Virginia is now expected to come away with a win.
WVU is now set as nearly a field goal favorite over Pitt tonight — with kickoff scheduled for 7:30 p.m. under the lights at Milan Puskar Stadium.
DraftKings has moved the line to hold WVU as 2.5-point favorites, with bets for either side to cover holding -110 odds. The over/under is set at 47.5 points, with either option holding -110 odds. A bet on Pitt to win outright holds +114 odds.
FanDuel continues to hold WVU as a 2.5-point favorite (with -104 odds for Pitt to cover, and -118 odds for WVU to cover), and like DraftKings, sets the over/under at 47.5 points. Both bets currently hold -110 odds. A bet on Pitt to win outright holds +126 odds.
Both Pitt and West Virginia are entering the week at 1-1, with wins over FCS opponents, and neither side has looked particularly effective this season.
West Virginia lost a Week 1 matchup against Penn State in Happy Valley, falling apart in the fourth quarter against the Nittany Lions, before rebounding with a 56-17 win over Duquesne over the weekend.
Pitt had a lot of questions to answer heading into the Backyard Brawl today after a lackluster showing against Cincinnati last weekend, and there wasn’t a lot of time to answer those questions this week in practice. But Pitt is certainly excited to travel down to Morgantown.
“I told them after last, it’s another rivalry,” M.J. Devonshire said this week. “I’ll be walking around saying, ‘West Virginia doesn’t care. If you’re having a bad day, they don’t care. If you won or lost last week, they don’t care.’ They’re trying to beat you whether you won by 100 or lost by 100 the week before. That’s the type of team they are, and that’s the type of game they’re preparing to play. And you gotta be prepared for that.
“We’ve adapted to that, and we know that it is what it is, you gotta move on. The sun came up, and we got another opportunity to play football.”
There will be a lot on the line for both Pitt and West Virginia this weekend, and it should be a wild night in Morgantown. After all, it is the first Backyard Brawl in Morgantown since the 2011 season.
Pitt has a chance to shake off any lingering concerns from a bad Cincinnati loss by leaving Morgantown early Sunday morning with a win.
If the Panthers cannot run the ball, than we lose, and the OC should be fired. Narduzzi has had horrible OC’s, and needs to take more control insisting on a balanced attack! The new QB will become injured as a result to this pass happy moronic OC. Please wake up Pat!