WVU’s Loss to Ohio Blows Shot at College GameDay for Backyard Brawl

West Virginia was in prime position to host ESPN's College GameDay next weekend when Pitt comes to town for the Backyard Brawl, but with today's 17-10 loss to Ohio, that's no longer happening. The show announced they'll be headed to Knoxville for Tennessee vs. Georgia.

All of the buzz surrounding Rich Rod's return and a shot at redemption for the 2007 loss has certainly taken a hit, but if they're able to find a way to take down the Panthers next Saturday, it will lessen the sting of this loss to the Ohio Bobcats. The problem is, they have some quarterback concerns heading into and may be without some key players, such as running back Jahiem White.

WVU has hosted GameDay twice — back in 2011 when No. 2 LSU came in to town with Tyrann Mathieu and a defense littered with NFL talent, and in 2014 when No. 7 TCU made the trip in. West Virginia lost both of those games, falling to LSU 47-21 and 31-30 to the Horned Frogs.

The Mountaineers had a 30-28 lead late in the fourth quarter against TCU and tried to run out the clock by handing the ball off a number of times, but the Horned Frogs' defense wasn't allowing it to happen. Trevone Boykin made a big play in the pass game and set up kicker Jaden Oberkrom for a game-winning field goal as time expired.

WVU's two other appearances as the featured game on GameDay were in 2017 at TCU and 2022 at Pitt, both also resulting in losses in heartbreaking fashion. The no pass interference call on the TCU defender who yanked David Sills's jersey really hurt WVU at the end of the game, especially when the officials said he was the one guilty of interference. And of course, the ball bouncing off a wide-open Bryce Ford-Wheaton and into the hands of a Pitt defender for a pick-six delivered another gut-punch to Mountaineer Nation.

The Mountaineers and Panthers will kick things off at 3:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.

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