Last year, Pitt ruined West Virginia's national championship hopes, upsetting the Mountaineers, 13-9, on the final day of the season. The Panthers were 29-point underdogs, had already clinched a losing record and played the game without any pressure.

West Virginia, on the other hand, had everything to lose and, as the game wore on, played like a team that wasn't able to handle the pressure.

At noon today, the two teams will meet at Heinz Field in the 101st edition of the Backyard Brawl, and this time around, realistically, there isn't anything major on the line for either. Both teams already have clinched a winning record and a bowl spot.

West Virginia (7-3, 4-1 in the Big East) can win the Big East's automatic BCS berth, but the chances of that happening seem remote as it is dependent on last-place Syracuse (3-8, 1-5) upsetting first-place Cincinnati (9-2, 5-1) tomorrow at Cincinnati's Nippert Stadium. The Bearcats are 22-point favorites.

That means today's game will be a good old-fashioned, hard-fought Backyard Brawl with the only thing on the line being some bragging rights and perhaps some positioning for a spot in the Big East's bowl lineup.

Pitt middle linebacker Scott McKillop said that should make for an interesting game because both teams will be equally focused and both will be able to play without anything hanging over their heads.

He said the win was a result of a perfect storm of events breaking Pitt's way, but, if the Panthers (7-3, 3-2) are going to win this year, they are going to do so because they are actually a pretty good team on more equal footing with West Virginia.

"Going into last year's game, everyone said we had no chance, we were 50-point underdogs -- I'm exaggerating; I think it is was 30 -- but we really had nothing to lose," McKillop said. "We weren't going to a bowl game, so, if we went in there and lost, nobody expected us to win anyway. So, we went in there playing with nothing to lose and we had a lot of luck that day and everything went our way.

"We had some success last year, but I think we're more experienced as a team [defensively] this year and we know what to do: It all starts with execution and tackling. They make a lot of people miss, and we have to make tackles in the open field to win."

West Virginia coach Bill Stewart earlier this week quashed any talk about the Mountaineers needing to get "revenge." Like McKillop, Stewart said both teams are playing for pride, and that should make for a great game.

"[Pitt is] a fun football team to watch. I don't know if they're a fun football team to play," Stewart said. "But they're at the same ledger we are, 7-3. And all I know is they're up, 60-37-3 [in the series], and for West Virginians, that doesn't set well. Last year was a tough one for the Mountaineers. They beat us in our own backyard, but this is a new year.

"It's going to be a dandy. I hope we're in it."