West Virginia wants to get Pitt, Virginia Tech, Virginia, and Penn State on Future Football Schedules

By Kevin Kelley -

West Virginia would like to get Pitt, Virginia Tech, Virginia, and Penn State on their future football schedules, WVU Director of Athletics Oliver Luck told the Bluefield Daily Telegraph.

“I would love to get Pitt back on the schedule, I would love to get (Virginia) Tech back on the schedule, I would to get UVa back on the schedule, another school that we used to play a lot, and even Penn State,” Luck said. “Is that possible? Well, it takes two to tango, but I think the good news is we will see some stronger non-conference schedules as we go forward.”

The comment came as Luck was discussing the need to strengthen their non-conference schedules in preparation for the College Football Playoff.

“My sense is that all the so-called power top-5 conferences will be upgrading their out-of-conference schedules. Luck said. “I think there is a trend toward upgrading that out-of-conference schedule and I am starting to see that and hear that from talking to other AD’s.”

When West Virginia moved to the Big 12 Conference in 2012, the Mountaineers left behind perhaps their fiercest rivalry – the “Backyard Brawl” with Pittsburgh. Now that the two schools are in different conferences, they will have to find a way to get the series started again.

Other hindrances to the game for West Virginia are that they play a tougher conference schedule now and they only have three non-conference games each season.

The return of the “Backyard Brawl” is certainly something that Pitt and WVU fans and most college football fans would like to see. The Mountaineers won the last meeting in 2011, but still trail 61-40-3 in the series that began in 1895.

West Virginia and Virginia Tech used to play for the Black Diamond Trophy, but haven’t faced off since 2005. WVU leads the series 28-22-1. Both schools used to be in the Big East, but the rivalry game fizzled out after Virginia Tech joined the ACC in 2003.

If the two schools do meet sometime soon, it will likely be at a neutral site rather than a home-and-home series. Luck made that suggestion in 2012 just prior to WVU facing James Madison at FedEx Field.

“In my discussions with (Athletic Director) Jim Weaver, our only opportunity to play a Virginia Tech might be this kind of game because they are not really interested in a home-and-home,” Luck said.

As far as West Virginia’s history with the Virginia Cavaliers, the two have only played 23 times. In their last meeting at the 2002 Continental Tire Bowl in Charlotte, the Cavaliers trounced the Mountaineers 48-22. Prior to that game, the two hadn’t met on the football field since 1985.

The final school that Luck mentioned he wants to add to their future schedules is Penn State. The two schools have met 59 times, but not since 1992 when the Mountaineers fell to the Nittany Lions 40-26 at home.

Right now, West Virginia has full non-conference schedules through 2016. And those schedules feature defending national champion Alabama, BYU, and yearly foes Maryland and East Carolina.

If the Mountaineers are going to add Pitt, Virginia Tech, Virginia or Penn State, it will most likely be after the 2016 season.

Comments (61)

Gee…VT isn’t interested in a home and home? Maybe because their players had to duck 2 liters filled with urine and batteries the last time they played there. Keep it classy Morgantown.

Miami had many things including a garbage can hurled at their cheerleaders over the years and the Canes said they would never play in Morgantown again. Miami leads that series 16-3 by the way before anyone starts crazy talk of being afraid.

Funny, now many of those guys live in trash cans… so we were just preparing them for life.

Miami still plays football ??

WVU almus live in trailor parks

West Virginia ever played football?

Undoubtedly some epic football games, but the criminal behavior by the WVU ‘fans’ is equally epic. I don’t know why anyone would schedule WVU; particularly for a game in Morgantown!

i agree…. VT would rather play easy games like James Madison… oh wait

I was thinking that WVU played James Madison last year and the game resulted in hundreds of innocent sofas were torched after the game in Morgantown.

First of all, those kinds of claims are wildly exaggerated and are just regurgitated because it puts WVU in the place they want them to be. Secondly, any incidents like that happened 10-20 years ago. Grow a pair and play us in Motown on a saturday night.

Why would you want to play in Detroit? Are you afraid of Morganton too?

Wildly exaggerated? Ten years ago?? Hardly.
The Charlestown Daily News, CBS Sports and half the other newspapers in the country reported on the aftermath of the LSU game a year and a half ago where a car with 4 LSU fans leaving the Puskar stadium parking lot was attacked:

“Smith also confirmed that her daughter was in the car and is 22 weeks pregnant.  The rock that was thrown through the window to start the incident landed in the pregnant woman’s lap.  After three men dragged her husband from the vehicle, the beating didn’t stop until the woman began screaming that she’s pregnant.

The man suffered a broken nose, a crushed eye socket and a fractured frontal bone in the middle of his forehead.

The pregnant woman suffered bruising on her arms, legs and shoulders; fortunately, their unborn child was unharmed.”

And you wonder why no one wants to play down in Morgantown?

Jamie, I’m tired of having bottles, cans, spit and beer lobbed at me by these WVU morons, just because I’m a fan of the other team. People aren’t afraid to play the team, they’ve just had enough of the jackasses that follow WVU. As far as this criminal behavior getting better in recent years, you’re just plain WRONG. A friend of mine had his RV destroyed at the last game in Morgantown (2011) by a mob of WVU ‘fans’, because it had a Pitt logo painted on the side. It will never get better, as long as the WVU fans are ignorant enough to dress their toddlers in T-Shirts that read, “Eat Sh!t Pitt.” (Observed just last year, at a Pittsburgh Pirates baseball game.) As Graham Nash sang, “Teach Your Children Well.”
Pitt will renew the rivalry with Penn State, in place of the one with WVU; it’s heated, but the fans on both sides know how to control themselves.

Hold the phone!!!!!!!! You might want to take the earplugs out and the blinders off!!!!!!! Bashing occurs on both sides!!!!!! Little angels my!!!!!!! Wake up!!!!!!

I understand that this year WVU will be playing both William and Mary on the same day. WVU could have had games with FSU in 2012 and 2013…but they chose to basically cancel the series to keep a games like Marshall and William and Mary, Georgia State James Madison.

I am sure all of those teams listed by Oliver Luck are quite aware of WVU choosing to cancel the FSU series to play the powers houses listed above. It might take a while to get past that decision.

Yeah, I saw that on TV as the urine and batteries were being tossed at the cheerleaders *sarcasm*. Look, urfinished, you can lie all you want but people with common sense know that if that really happened, it would have been all over TV and the internet, but nice try.

@JBM……you’re forgetting one important fact about the LSU story. It also stated that the attack had nothing to do with the game and that the attackers were not fans of WVU.

Oh please. Jim you can try to spin it all you want. Both the Charleston newspaper and the CBS Sports blog noted that the incident happened in one of the WVU stadium parking lots. And you want everyone to believe that some random gang of nonWVU fans roams the WVU parking lots to attack visiting fans after the game? Of course I’m not sure how you could be so sure that the attackers weren’t WVU fans since no one was ever arrested by the WVU or Morgantown police.

How’s this “spin” for you? “The mother-in-law of the man who was injured confirmed that the four individuals who were assaulted were LSU fans, although there was nothing on the vehicle identifying it as being fans of the school. “It was just a random act of violence,” Helen Smith, the mother-in-law, told the paper.”

It’s funny how all of the fans from the Big 12 that came to Morgantown over the past year had nothing but praise for the WVU fans.

I live in CA but have family in WV and have gone to probably a dozen games in Morgantown between 1986 to 2000 and heard these horrible stories but never saw anything remotely bad from the fans. I am sure some of these things happened but overall it seemed to be a pretty good crowd.

I live in the state of WV and trust me those claims of couch burning and trash throwing is not a lie! Now granted after the beating that WVU took their first year in the big 12 after they thought they was coming in and going to own it might change some of the fans attitudes. But we shall see how things are from now on. I may not be a WV but I know their fans are at least way better then bama fans who try and rape passed out guys and girls of rival teams.

I dont have a problem playing in WVU. I love the rivalry. Im a Pitt fan, so there hatrid is all in good fun. I went to a few games in morgantown. The fans hated me, and my group but again all in good fun. I did get hit with a full unopened can of beer (Miller Lite) walking in to the stadium throw from 20 or so feet away,. which was perfect because I didnt get hurt, and I needed a cold one. Some WVU fans actually got a kick out of if. We did have to have a police escort out to the gate post game.

WV should have just joined the ACC if they wanted to get all those teams on thier schedules !

WVU would have been better suited for the ACC and I think eventually that is where they would have ended up if they had not joined the Big 12. I think last season really woke WVU up to be in a real conference instead of a watered down Big East the past several years. I think their fans are happy to be out of the Big East but it cannot be easy for them to travel to away games now.

I wouldn’t want to play at Morgantown either, after the way our ignorant, goofy STUDENTS & FANS behaved at the last time we played these teams!! I was at the ‘LAST’ games we played these teams, and I was so imbarresed, I couldn’t wait to get to my car and just go home!!! WE WILL NOT HAVE ANY HOME & HOME WITH THESE TEAMS UNTIL, WE STRAIGHTEN OUT OUR IGNORANT & DUMB-ASS FANS, WHO THINK THEY HAVE TO GET DRUNK AND THROW OR BURN THINGS TO HAVE A GOOD TIME!! PERIOD!!!!!!!!!!! A DISGUSTED WEST WIRGINIAN!!

Larry W. please learn how to spell and use punctuation correctly before posting again.

If memory serves, WVU petitioned the ACC for membership before being accepted into the Big XII. The ACC voted us down and it is my understanding the descending votes came from UVA, Va Tech and Duke. With the Big East crumbling, WVU had few options at the time.

exactly. Yes, I would have loved to see WVU go to the ACC but they really had no choice but to join the Big 12 and get the heck out of the watered down Big East!

it’s because they didn’t meet the academic standards for the acc. a decent school, but their admission standards aren’t the most stringent.

Look, all we ever got from Pittsburg, NY and VTec was a beat up team whether we won or not. Personally it is under the arm Pitt. I would not go see either of the three teams we once played. Lets keep on this quality path Mr Luck has designed for WVU better for all concerned. Pointmaster

Pointmaster; I’m hoping you’re not a WVU English major. Please learn how to spell and to construct a coherent sentence before posting again. By the way, thanks for deciding not to show up at any of the stadiums of the teams you attempted to identify!

Of all opponents mentioned, I would rather play The Hoos because we really owe them after that 2002 fiasco! Actually, we’ll always be in command since 1863 when we were supposed to pay them 18 million to receive freedom to become our own West Virginia and didn’t…Montani Semper Liberi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don’t blame VT for not wanting to restart the rivalry. Traveling to WVU is like walking into a hornet’s nest, and it’s ridiculous that the fanbase hasn’t changed in eight years.

maybe you can bring some of the Asian student population with you the next time you visit us in Motown VT, this way you’ll feel alot safer with all those weapons

Take it from someone born and raised in Morgantown, and went to WVU in the ’60’s…it is really just like any other college campus on gameday.
Things do sometimes get out of hand, but that stuff happens everywhere.

In my personal experience, if you come to watch the game and keep your mouth in check, you will be just fine. Most of the good ‘ole country ass whippings are administered to those who come looking for them!

I personally sat in Frank Bemer’s restruant one evening a few years back while he was doing his radio show and he indicatd that Tech would love to renew the series. I bet the Tech players don’t have any reservations about playing in Morgantown! So…if the whiny Hokie fans don’t want to go to Morgantown to see the game, who cares…let ’em stay home!
WV only allots a very few tickets to visitors anyway.

It amuses me when a bunch of folks who never played the game at any level go to a football game, get drunk and think they are bad.

In summary…go the the game…wear your colors…cheer for your Hokie birds, but get out of line and trouble is easy to find in Morgantown!

If you are out of order and looking for trouble

The REAL reasons WVU wants these games is:
a) likelihood of home-and-home to fill its stadium since the Big 12 can’t send over enough fans (this is WVU’s problem, not their opponents), and
b) to reduce the travel costs throughout the season since the fools that joined the Big 12 “fergit” the cost to charter a plane out to those schools, and
c) early season television revenues which they will not get by scheduling weak BCS and paying for dive FCS schools to come to Morgantown.
You do sow what you reap…

I know WVU needed out of the Big East. But the Big 12 made no sense at all and now their fans cannot even really travel as much to away games.

So, WVU wants desperately leave the big east. they leave with a multi million dollar fine. Now Luck uses the “I want” this and that to play old rivalries. Sometimes ya just can’t have it all, Ollie! Oh maybe you can if you throw enough money at all of your wishes. Money talks and you should keep on getting Yur wishes granted as long as you carry the weight at WVU. Remember “football is the only sport at WVU!” quote you, O Luck.

Plenty of people get attacked at FSU football games as well. You don’t even want to know what happens to some of the rival fans before, during, and after the games. But, shhhhhhhhh….we can’t say anything bad about FSU or Tallahassee.

For a BIG XII conference the ooc schedule looks like far east or if you look to the Rockies far away in the west of the Pacific Ocean.

They need to play these schools to have any ability to recruit in the east/Mid Atlantic. No natural recruiting base with 2/3 of conference opponents in OK and TX. And other 1/3 in the upper plains. Not enough talent in WV to be competitive in the MAC let alone the bigxii.

Btw…really don’t care about WVU. Only interested in thread because of their fans boorish behavior when they used to travel to UofL. The worst mouths, aggressive behavior and over consumption of alcohol. Feel bad for th kids and coaches. not the fans. Would not comment but it definitely is a “be careful what you ask for” event when it came to realignment. Really pleased with the way things ended up shaking out. :)

From the looks of most of these posts, you folks need to go to school and learn grammar and spelling. I’ll wager few of you passed the 12th grade and never even went to the school you supported, if you did maybe you should review what you were supposed to learn…. just sayin And for the ass-hat who said that WVU alums only live in trailer parks, come on down to my place and you can stay in my guest house behind the pool

I do not believe “just sayin” is correct grammar either. Well maybe it is for someone who lives in West Virginia. Second, You know having a guest house and pool in West Virginia really isn’t that big of a deal. The land is much cheaper. A New York town house is worth twice as much as you house in the middle of nowhere. You should not throw rocks if you live in a glass house.

I haven an i-pad and i need not going to school and learn to read and write, i have got an app that read and write for me, iam from alabama, you…

I am a student at WVU and have never seen anything worse than a couple couch fires. Any incidents that are being referred to here are most likely the work of native west virginians who possibly may not have attended WVU at all. After all there are no professional sports teams in WV. Also I heard that LSU isn’t the safest place to be at any time let alone during a football game. People just love to hate WVU I guess…

My favorite teams are WVU and anybody who beats Pitt. I now love the Big 12 competition, even though we need to get more competitive for new revivals. Outside the conference a good series should include adjacent states like Pitt, Virginia, Kentucky, and even Ohio, but keep the Big 12 full schedule which is the best conference we could belong to.

Tony – Thanks for continuing to be concerned about the team from the ‘big city’ to your North. Despite WVU winning 7 of the last 12 meetings, I’m guessing that you’re upset about the fact that Pitt leads the series, 61-40-3. (By the way, Pittsburgh is a city, not a state. Even the WVU Geography Department knows that!)

Yes, Miami still plays football. BTW, how many national titles has WVU won?????? You cannot erase history when it is convenient for you to do so! Miami would still beat on WVU every single year like they always did.

I am a wvu fan and have been since I was 13 years old (now 29) going to games, tailgating outside the stadium, and simply enjoying the festivities. In all that time I have never seen more than a few couch fires. Nobody in the big 12 has complained about visiting us at home. After leaving a water downed big east, how many conference titles has vt and Miami won? BCS bowl games? I would love to see those former big east teams play Bob Stoops, Mack Brown, and Bill Snider. I would pay handsomely to see that butt whippen.

Lol at all the shit talk. Wvu just wants some competition in non conference games yea their fansare crazy but you shouldnt talk shit about their program. They’ve been damn good past few years. They choked last year yea.

WVU has won how many BCS games? Miami, VT, UVA and PSU how many have you won? As far as any sporting venue, when tensions run high, incidents will happen. It happens at WVU, it happens at LSU and Alabama. When WVU played Auburn at Auburn, Auburn University created a text message security policy because of fan safety. So give me a break, any game you go to dressed in opposite colors you increase your chance of getting hurt. FYI don’t be an idiot and leave a Pitt sticker on your camper and expect it to be OK in the rivals backyard. Duh!!!!!!

I attended my first WVU football game last year. While I have loved the Mountaineers for years I have been away too much to get to games. Some of the behavior from the WVU fans is appalling. However, there are ten good fans for every bad one. All the visiting team fans I spoke with all had good things to say about the town and the hospitality. The worst thing I personally witnessed were some really obnoxious and rude WVU fans taunting the Texas Tech players as they exited the tunnel onto the field. I thought they were going to jump the wall onto the backs of the TT players. It seriously was embarrassing the way they acted. No wonder our fans get a bad name. No one remembers the tens of thousands who come to the games and act like real fans but they will ALWAYS remember ONE or TWO jackasses who heckled an opposing team or fan. As far as the assaults, those happen at ALL sporting events. I grew up in Huntington and it has happened after Marshall games too (even though most of my friends in Huntington won’t admit it). Pro football games you have people being stabbed and such. Stuff is going to happen everywhere…….not just Morgantown.