Take a bow, Pittsburgh.
When the national spotlight shined bright on you, you delivered in the most emphatic way possible.
Thursday's revival of the Backyard Brawl was historic in more ways than just on field inside Acrisure Stadium.
It brought forward the best of the best that this city has to offer -- its passionate, devoted, and dedicated fanbase that understands moments and thrives when they're present.
If what I witnessed, experienced and, most importantly, felt on Thursday wasn't an indication of history, I'd love to know what was.
Don't just take it from me. Let the players and Pat Narduzzi tell you about it.
"I really felt like it really hit me once we came out the tunnel during 'Thunderstruck.' That was unreal," defensive end John Morgan said after the game. "The Panther Pitt was there during pregame warmups. You rarely see that from a school like this. It was amazing. It's definitely top 10 (environments for him) easily, probably No. 1."
It just might be No. 1 on mine, as well.
The roars reverberated the most when M.J. Devonshire created his Backyard Brawl moment with his game-winning pick six late in the fourth quarter.
All 70,622 of the fans inside Acrisure Stadium erupted so loud, I could visibly see my laptop screen shaking. The sound pierced the sky and could be heard from the North Shore, back through Oakland, on the South Side, and beyond to the rest of the Panthers faithful.
There sure wasn't the alleged 75% seat filling of the West Virginia faithful, as suggested by ESPN.
Here’s the graphic from ESPN: 75% West Virginia fans tomorrow night. I’m stunned by this. pic.twitter.com/Pi9PCKg2S5
— Andrew Fillipponi (@ThePoniExpress) August 31, 2022
I took a video of the crowd singing "Sweet Caroline" from my vantage in the press box. You know how this normally goes. Pitt fans chant "Let's go Pitt!" while West Virginia fans chant a should-be-censored version of it during the lyric breaks.
You be the judge on the split of Pitt and West Virginia fans and the volume of their chants:
I think it's pretty clear who the 75-percenters were, if that number isn't greater than it.
I'm sure you have heard of Narduzzi taking a flamethrower to ESPN -- on their own LIVE airwaves! -- regarding the alleged 75/25 split of West Virginia fans that were supposed to rule Acrisure Stadium.
"It was a great atmosphere out here, I can tell you that," Narduzzi told Scott Van Pelt on "SportsCenter."
"Our Panther Nation stood out. I saw some stat there was going to be 75% West Virginia fans. You guys messed that up on ESPN, for sure. It was certainly all Pitt here today, and appreciate what the fans did today. They helped us win that game. ... ESPN disrespected our fans, and they showed up today, and I love to see that."
Narduzzi even doubled down on that in his opening statement in the post-game press conference:
"What a ballgame. That was a Backyard Brawl for sure. First of all, you know, let's just start with the fans in that stadium today. That place was electric. Pitt fans showed up, like, big-time. Was kind of real upset the night before when we heard there was going to be 75% West Virginia fans, which I knew ESPN had some bad facts. But they disrespected our fans, and our fans showed up. They were unbelievable all day today, so I thank them first of all because they were critical in the victory."
Opine how you please about Narduzzi, but you have to admire him taking a stand and not being afraid to do so, when it comes to his school's fan base.
That crowd, regardless of fan ratio, broke the record for the most fans at an event in Pittsburgh sports history.
Think about how insane that is!
All of the classic and benchmark Steelers, Penguins, and Pirates games played in this city, and a college football game reigns supreme among those events in terms of attendance.
"That was definitely the best atmosphere I've ever played in," Devonshire said. "Shout out to the fans for coming out. I really appreciate them. Hopefully they'll be back next Saturday."
And, by the way, with for how heated the Backyard Brawl can get on and off the field, there were no fan fights caught on phone video or CCTV and posted to Twitter, and not one report came out regarding incident on the street -- at least that I've seen.
Tens of thousands of fans. Everyone kept it cordial. Everyone kept it classy. Everyone kept it about the greatest things that college football are built upon.
Before the game, a 30-second video from Pitt athletic director Heather Lyke played on the jumbotron with the following message:
"Panther fans, the Backyard Brawl is back. Our city and university have the privilege of hosting the return of one of college football's greatest rivalries in front of a national audience. Let's work together to represent Pitt and Pittsburgh at our very best. Be passionate. Be loud. But remember to be respectful and show class. Most of all, let's cheer on the Panthers to victory. Hail to Pitt."
Everyone listened.
And that's not just the perception. That's the reality.
I dug into the comments section from my game story from late Thursday night/early Friday morning. Here is a comment left by reader GT:
I'm a WVU alumnus, lifelong Mountaineer fan, and season ticket holder for 40-plus years. I live in Pittsburgh, love the city, and was at the game last night. Helluva game, evenly played, great crowd. Congrats to Pitt on the win. We really need to play this game every year. It's disappointing that we're no longer in the same conference. See you in Morgantown next year. Good luck the rest of your season.
First, what a classy gesture from GT.
Second, good on you, Pittsburgh. Because that's what this is about.
ESPN brought its "College GameDay" show into town on Thursday for the first time since 2005.
2005!
I'm willing to bet, based on the environment from Thursday, that it won't be 17 years in between the show's next visit.
Now, I won't be naive and say that Panther football is soon to upend the Steelers as the king of the sport in this city. That's just never going to happen.
But, did Pittsburgh reaffirm its moxie as a college sports town?
I think you all answered that question on Thursday.
Megan Morgan, the wife of my "H2P Podcast" co-host Gary Morgan, is the General Manager of the restaurant Hello Bistro in Oakland. Here's what she e-mailed me about the flow of the day:
You could feel the energy at 8 am on Forbes Ave. From students to the professionals, everyone was excited for 7 pm. We at Hello Bistro had an extra spring in our steps as well as our guests. Parents were in town to head to the game as well. Even the few WVU fans and families we served were revved and ready.
That's what this is about.
Pittsburgh is not a "college town" in the sense of a Morgantown, a Chapel Hill, or an Ann Arbor, but it is a city that can provide the same experiences cherished by West Virginia, North Carolina, or Michigan.
And at the end of the day, isn't that all we want?
In my combing of your comments from the Backyard Brawl's Live File and through the post-game story, I wanted to pull a few which talked about their experiences with the game, whether they were at Acrisure Stadium or elsewhere.
■ From wcollins43, in the game story comments:
WVU grad and fan. Was at the game. Fantastic atmosphere. I felt like fans of both teams were just happy to be facing each other again. It's hard to explain the excitement in the air from both fans. I was telling some Pitt fans as I was leaving that I don't hate Pitt and it was great we are facing each other again. One thing we can both agree on is that Penn State sucks. I'm still buzzing from last night but this might of been the most fun I had a football game in my life.
■ From BigFiddy, in the game story comments:
One of the greatest games I’ve ever seen. It was beyond belief. If u thought the Clemson game was electric last year, this was 1,000,000 times better. I’m proud of the team, the fans and the city. Season ticket holder since Heinz opened. Best game I’ve seen there.
■ From jtownjohn, in the game story comments:
Great coverage this morning. I have had Pitt tickets since the Stadium opened, well, a lot longer than that actually. That return had the stadium physically rocking. Our group never remembered feeling that stadium floor actually rolling beneath us as everyone on the Pitt side was jumping with the TD and every big play after. Again, wonderful coverage.
■ And, a reply from rocco14 directly to jtownjohn:
I came to say just this. On top of being at nearly every Pitt game, I’ve been to an awful lot of Steelers games there, too. I don’t recall ever feeling the stadium physically shaking like that before. What a tremendous atmosphere!
■ From LaurenChiTown, in the Live File:
Exciting to watch this out on the west coast with my five year old son. He was cheering his head off. Huge game for Pitt - fires them up for the season and on a national stage. I have a feeling there is whole new crop of young Pitt fans out there. This was that type of game. These games are like phoning home for those of us born and raised in Pittsburgh but living far away now.
To summarize: "This might have been the most fun I had at a football game in my life." ... "Best game I've seen there." ... "That return had the stadium physically rocking." ... "What a tremendous atmosphere!" ... "These games are like phoning home..."
I love this stuff. This is why college football rules.
You don't need the 100,000-plus seats or the acres of tailgating space or the once-a-year visit from Lee Corso and Co. to recognize a great college football environment. You just have to pay attention and recognize what you're feeling.
In a big picture sense, think about what Thursday's game did for the recruits in attendance. Do you think they took notice of that environment? Especially considering this game will be played in eight of the next 11 years, including in each of the next three.
My gut says they noticed.
Whether that's at "The Ac" (I'm sorry -- David Green said it, and I can't stop repeating it) or in your own living room hundreds of miles away, the passion for Panthers football is beyond palpable. It might have reached unfamiliar heights on Thursday.
Pitt (Read: The great E.J. Borghetti, the university's Executive Associate Athletic Director of Strategic Communications who celebrated the start of his 25th season inside the Panthers press box on Thursday) provided some metrics on their ticket sales that I want to share:
■ Pitt was just short of a 100% rate of season ticket renewals for 2022.
■ Season sales increased by 45%.
■ All active Panther Club members and season-ticket holders were able to buy additional single-game tickets for this year, including for the Backyard Brawl.
Lyke revealed at the Pitt kickoff luncheon last Friday that the remaining 200 standing-room only tickets for the Backyard Brawl were sold out in less than 3 minutes.
Pitt's football team is doing their part, with a fresh ACC Championship banner unveiled on Thursday by Kenny Pickett, a 1-0 record in tow, an emotional Brawl victory, and much, much more to look forward to this season beginning next Saturday against Tennessee.
Its fans, as tried and true as they come, are returning the favor.
And, on Thursday, they turned the energy up to an 11 out of 10.
That's what this is about.
