Backyard Brawl Preview: Pittsburgh at West Virginia

The 102nd meeting of the “Backyard Brawl” takes place Friday night in Morgantown, West Virginia as the Mountaineers host the No. 8 Pittsburgh Panthers in a prime college football betting matchup (7:00 p.m. ET, ESPN2).

The Panthers will try and avoid looking ahead to next week’s game against Cincinnati that will determine the conference champion and a BCS bowl berth.

This game is listed as a pick’em and the total for the game is set at 49 at SBG Global.

Pittsburgh has won the last two meetings against West Virginia including two years ago when they kept the Mountaineers out of the national championship.

“It’s definitely a fun game to play,” Pittsburgh defensive lineman Jabaal Sheard said. “It’s a loud stadium. The fans hate you. They’re yelling at you. It’s really something down there. That really gets your emotions going and gets you ready to play.”

That win in 2007 was a huge game that turned things around for the Panthers. Since that time Pittsburgh has gone 18-5. On the flipside, since that loss the Mountaineers have never been the same.

Pittsburgh has been winning this season with a balanced offensive attack led by running back Dion Lewis and quarterback Bill Stull. Lewis leads the Big East with 129.1 rushing yards per game.

West Virginia has a star running back in Noel Devine who has rushed for over 1,000 yards this season. He is the main offensive weapon for the Mountaineers who also have quarterback Jarrett Brown. West Virginia has not lost at home this season and is trying to go unbeaten at home for the first time since 1993.

Here are the college football betting stats for Friday’s game:

The Panthers are 6-1 ATS in their last seven conference games. The Panthers are 10-4 ATS in their last 14 road games.

The Mountaineers are 2-5 ATS in their last seven conference games. The Mountaineers are 2-8 ATS vs. a team with a winning record. The Mountaineers are 1-4 ATS in their last five games overall. Even though West Virginia is unbeaten at home straight up, they are only 1-4 against the spread.

The under is 6-1 in the Panthers’ last seven conference games. The under is 5-2 in the Mountaineers’ last seven conference games. The over is 17-7 in the Mountaineers’ last 24 games in November.

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