Top 5 rivalries that were ruined by college football realignment

2. Backyard Brawl

In terms of pure hatred and a good, old-fashioned rivalry, one of the worst victims of college football realignment was the Backyard Brawl.

There have been 104 meetings between Pitt and West Virginia with maybe the most well-known coming back in 2007 when the unranked (4-7) Panthers upset the second-ranked Mountaineers in the 100th edition of the game and denied them a berth in the BCS National Championship game.

What’s cool about the Backyard Brawl is that most of the matchups between the Panthers and Mountaineers happened when they weren’t in the same conference.

Pittsburgh was an independent until 1990 and West Virginia moved around until 1991 when it joined the Big East, a year after Pittsburgh did. That made the rivalry even better because when two rivals are in the same league, it only adds meaning to it, especially when championships and bowl berths are on the line.

After Pittsburgh moved to the ACC that game hasn’t happened since. Yet, in some good news for fans of college football rivalries, the Panthers and Mountaineers wil meet on Sept. 3 for the first time in 11 years.

They will also play until 2025, so even though realignment ended it as a year-to-year rivalry, for now, it’s not completely dead.