Backyard Brawl, Pitt-WVU, Primetime TV Ratings Released

The Backyard Brawl is one of the best rivalries in college football and it showed in TV ratings that SportsMediaWatch.com released on Tuesday.

2.41 million viewers turned in to view Pitt and West Virginia battle it out in the 106th edition in the Backyard Brawl, for a 1.3 rating on ABC at 7:30 p.m. This is the most watched game for Pitt this season, ranked No. 9 in Week 3 overall and second in the ACC only to Florida State-Boston College, which kicked off at 12:00 p.m. on ABC.

It is the most watched Pitt game since Tennessee in Week 2 last season, which kicked off at 3:30 p.m. on ABC, bringing in a 2.4 rating and 4.46 million viewers nationwide.

Pitt lost to West Virginia last weekend, 17-6, with poor quarterback play from redshirt senior Phil Jurkovec the main takeaway nationally from the matchup.

Jurkovec, who didn’t speak to the media following the game and had a WVU defensive back disparage his performance postgame,  completed just eight of his 18 throws, only had 84 yards and threw three interceptions with 0 touchdowns.

His three interceptions are the most in a Backyard Brawl since Rod Rutherford threw three in 2003, although Rutherford also threw for four touchdowns in the 52-31 loss. His 84 passing yards are also the least in a Backyard Brawl since Pat Bostick threw for 67 yards in 2007. Bostick also won that game, as it ended in the famous 13-9 victory for Pitt who knocked off No. 2 WVU and stopped them from going to the BCS National Championship game.

Pitt also played Cincinnati in the River City Rivalry in Week 2, which was the first college football game to air on the CW Network. That game also ended in a loss for Pitt, 27-21, at Acrisure Stadium.

No. 17 North Carolina comes to Pittsburgh this Saturday, which will also take place in primetime at 8:00 p.m. on the ACC Network. Pitt is a 5.5 underdog against North Carolina and will look to avoid three straight losses for the firs time since 2020.

Pitt will face Virginia Tech on the road the following week, on Saturday, Sept. 30 at 8:00 p.m., making it four straight games in primetime.