That bad blood between WVU and Pitt? I found the source of it

With a new Backyard Brawl football series between WVU and Pitt on deck, fans will be inundated with recollections, stats and stories.

On Oct. 8, 1921, for instance, the Brawl was the first college football game broadcast live on the radio with Harold W. Arlin announcing a 21–13 Pittsburgh victory on KDKA.

The last game? WVU won, 21-20, in 2011. The Mountaineers have won the last three.

But you know the friction between the two schools?

I found out from where that was born.

And you won’t be surprised.

It existed in the series’ very first game.

You read correctly.

WVU and Pitt couldn’t even get through a single game without hard feelings.

No lie.

I started researching the Backyard Brawl in Wikipedia (dangerous I know) before following the links within.

There I found gold.

But I guess I should frame this. The first game between WVU and Pitt in football was held on Oct. 26, 1895, in Morgantown. Pitt, though, was called the Western University of Pennsylvania at that time and doesn’t include the game’s score in its latest media guide.

Perhaps it’s because no one could even agree on the final score.

No kidding. The score was either 10-0 or 4-0. It’s said older Pitt media guides have it as 8-0.

Just tag it “Bone of Contention 1.”

Because there were many according to archived accounts. Wikipedia summarized the game, which was composed of 25-minute halves, as “hotly contested and not without disputes.”

Start by Googling the “1895 Western University of Pennsylvania football team.”

If you continue researching, you’ll reach an article by E.V.D. Johnson of the Western University Courant. In it, he was talking about a subsequent WUP game to be held in Wheeling against the Wheeling Tigers. He wrote that many WUP students would be going with the team to that game after bad blood in Morgantown.

“The action of the foot-ball authorities of the University of West Virginia, if it were they, in sending the score of the U. W. V. – W. U. P. game to the papers as 10 to 0, when it was really 4 to 0, is certainly not to be commended,” says the article. “There was a dispute about a touch-back but this point was settled in the presence of both teams and both teams should have abided by this decision.

“Another objectionable feature of the game at Morgantown was the names which were called at certain members of our team by some of the semi-civilized rooters. Our team deserves a great deal of credit for keeping the score as low as it did. After riding in the train for six hours, they had but half an hour to eat their dinners, get into their togs and line up for play.

“All told the team was in Morgantown two hours and a half. If no better arrangements than these can be made, it is our opinion that W. U. P. would do well to discontinue athletic contests with the school up the river.”

One game and there was a call for the series to end. One game.

Of course, there are always two sides to every Backyard Brawl.

In a “Special Dispatch to the [Wheeling Daily] Intelligencer,” the headline read, “Western Penn Foot Ballists Defeated by West Virginia” with the sub-head that “Morgantown Team Is Stronger.”

Said the special dispatch:

“Stinging over their defeat in base ball last spring the Western University of Pennsylvania sent its foot ball team up to Morgantown yesterday to have some fun with our team. They had it, all they wanted of it, and went back home without coming anywhere near scoring. The game was a walk-over for West Virginia University and our team showed what has all along been claimed for it, that it is as good as any of them in these parts. The score was 10 to 0. It could easily have been 40 to 0 if W. U. P. had not delayed the game by senseless kicking so that there was only about twenty-five minutes of actual play. It was agreed to play twenty-five minute halves so that W. U. P. could catch the afternoon train home.”

Pitt, always participating in senseless kicking…

The dispatch continued:

“Only once did Western University of Pennsylvania have the ball before Raue got it on a bad punt by Ranking behind the goal. They claimed West Virginia University was not entitled to anything for this, but finally agreed it was a touchback. The rules, however, are plain, and it was clearly a touch-down. Score, 10 to 0.”

The author’s name was not listed but note the decision to correct the score.

“The second half was a farce,” said the piece, “The [WVU] line was invincible and repulsed every attack made on it. Last night the students engaged a band and celebrated the victory in their usual noisy style.”

If that doesn’t make you chuckle nothing will. (I doublechecked. There was no mention of burning couches.)

So, the intense heat within the Backyard Brawl?

Its roots indeed run deep.

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Mitch Vingle covered sports in West Virginia for 38 years. Follow Mitch on Twitter at @MitchVingle and be sure to check out the rest of Wheelhouse Creative’s website for your marketing and advertising needs. If interested, call us at 304-905-6005.