The Backyard Brawl between Pitt and West Virginia will be played Nov. 28 (the day after Thanksgiving on WTAE) at Heinz Field this year but it won't be the season finale for either team, it was revealed yesterday when the Big East Conference announced its football schedule.

Pitt will finish its season Dec. 6 at Connecticut and the Mountaineers will play host to South Florida, in a game most people think will be for the Big East title.

The Panthers will play six home games and six road games while West Virginia plays seven at home and five on the road.

The two schedules are broken down like this:

Pitt will play host to Bowling Green (Aug. 30), Buffalo (Sept. 6), Iowa (Sept. 20), Rutgers (Oct. 25), Louisville (Nov. 8) and the Mountaineers. It will play on the road at Syracuse (Sept. 27), South Florida (Oct. 2), Navy (Oct. 18), Notre Dame (Nov. 1), Cincinnati (Nov. 22) and Connecticut (Dec. 6).

West Virginia will play host to Villanova (Aug. 30) , Marshall (Sept. 27), Syracuse (Oct. 4), Rutgers (Oct. 11), Auburn (Oct. 23), Cincinnati (Nov. 8) and South Florida. It will play on the road at East Carolina (Sept. 6), Colorado (Sept. 18), Connecticut (Nov. 1), Louisville (Nov. 22) and Pitt.

All of Pitt's games are on Saturdays except the South Florida game (Thursday night) and the West Virginia game (Friday).

Both teams will play at least four games on national television.

West Virginia will play two key, non-conference, ESPN-televised games on Thursday nights -- at Colorado and at home against Auburn.

The Mountaineers, expected to rank among the Big East and national favorites, will have a 15-week season, with breaks built in before Colorado, Auburn and Louisville, after which they'll have only six days to prepare for Pitt.

"Our schedule, once again, is not only attractive but tough, featuring conference rivals and outstanding non-conference opponents," new coach Bill Stewart said in a news release. "The overall schedule will provide many challenges, and I think our fans and supporters will enjoy it."

The Texas-Texas A&M rivalry will move back to its traditional Thanksgiving slot for the next two years.

The longtime Thanksgiving event was moved to the day after in 1996. The switch back accommodates a Thanksgiving night ESPN broadcast, Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds said.

Texas and Texas A&M have played on Thanksgiving 60 times in a rivalry that dates to 1894.

"I am very excited about playing our Texas game on Thanksgiving night," new Texas A&M coach Mike Sherman said. "This tradition-rich rivalry between two great universities deserves this type of exposure."