Rich Rodriguez faces Pitt for first time since 2007 loss that derailed WVU's national title hopes

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The celebration by Pittsburgh in the adjacent visitor’s locker room pierced the somber mood at Rich Rodriguez’s postgame news conference in 2007 as West Virginia’s coach struggled to find the words for “our worst game offensively in years.”

That December night, the Mountaineers botched their chance to advance to the BCS championship game, ruined on their home field by the archrival and heavy underdog Panthers.

Two weeks later, Rodriguez was gone, taking the head coaching job at Michigan.

Now in his second stint with the Mountaineers (1-1), the 62-year-old Rodriguez will face Pitt (2-0) in the Backyard Brawl on Saturday for the first time since that 13-9 debacle.

“That’s a lifetime ago," Rodriguez said Tuesday. "Is it a sore spot when it’s brought up? Yeah. It was the worst moment of my professional career from a game standpoint. I tried to move past it a long time ago.

"From that regard, it’d be good to get a win. It’s not going to ease the pain from that. It will still always be there. That’s a part of life.”

As a member of the Big East, the Mountaineers were 10-1 and ranked No. 2 in the BCS computer rankings heading into the 2007 Backyard Brawl. Pitt was 4-7.

Quarterback Pat White, who had surpassed 200 rushing yards in his previous two games against the Panthers, dislocated the thumb on his non-throwing hand early and was never a factor. Pittsburgh’s defense under coach Dave Wannstedt shut down everything the Mountaineers tried. Losses by West Virginia and top-rated Missouri a day later cleared the way in the computer rankings for Ohio State to face eventual-winner LSU for the national title.

Days after the Pitt loss, Rodriguez denied he was interested in leaving. “Sorry but you all are stuck with me here,” he said.

As West Virginia began preparations for the Fiesta Bowl against Oklahoma, speculation started that Michigan was interested in Rodriguez to replace the retiring Lloyd Carr. After returning from a plane trip to Ohio, Rodriguez simply said that he was “going to practice.” Two days later, Michigan announced his hiring.

Rodriguez was fired by the Wolverines after three seasons. He also was let go after six years as coach at Arizona. Rodriguez spent one season as an assistant coach at Mississippi and Louisiana-Monroe, then went 27-10 in three seasons at Jacksonville State before returning to his alma mater with remorse for leaving the first time.

When Rodriguez took over for the fired Neal Brown last December, West Virginia had undergone its worst six-year stretch under one coach in six decades. The Mountaineers haven’t been to a major bowl in 14 seasons and haven’t been ranked since 2018.

Some fans who were outraged and felt betrayed over Rodriguez’s 2007 exit still aren’t convinced that his rehiring was the right move. A loss at Ohio last week didn’t help, and the Backyard Brawl will be a litmus test of their loyalty.

For 80 newcomers on West Virginia’s roster, it will be their first experience.

“This is not going to be a hard game to motivate for,” Rodriguez said. “If you have to, something’s wrong.”

Rodriguez went 4-3 against Pittsburgh from 2001 to 2007. He coached in big rivalries later at Michigan against both Ohio State and Michigan State, and in the Territorial Cup between Arizona and Arizona State. The stakes may not be as huge every year between Pitt and West Virginia versus those other games, but Rodriguez argues that the Backyard Brawl between schools 75 miles apart stands out.

“There’s none that’s more intense than this,” he said.

Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi is 2-1 against West Virginia since the series resumed in 2022. He was an assistant with Michigan State when the Spartans won all three meetings against Rodriguez during his stay at Michigan from 2008 to 2010. Narduzzi also was an assistant at Cincinnati in 2005 and 2006 when the Bearcats lost to West Virginia.

“We’ll get their best game, like we always do,” Narduzzi said. After West Virginia's loss at Ohio, “I think we’ll face even an angrier team, angrier fan base.”

After this season, the Backyard Brawl won’t be played again until 2029. But it didn’t have to be that way.

Last month when the Southeastern Conference announced it would start a nine-game league schedule, Alabama and West Virginia agreed to cancel their home-and-home series in 2026 and 2027. West Virginia then immediately announced home games against Coastal Carolina next year and Southern Miss in 2027.

Some had hoped that the Mountaineers would fill that void with Pitt, but they didn’t.

“I know if we knew that was going to happen, that would be our first call,” Narduzzi said.

West Virginia said it wanted to avoid scheduling more than one major non-conference opponent as it had done in the previous several seasons, and it already had Virginia on the schedule for next year. The Southern Miss matchup allows the Mountaineers to have seven home games in 2027.

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