MORE FROM PITT'S WIN OVER WEST VIRGINIA - The Panther-Lair Post-Game: Breaking down Pitt's win in the Brawl | Box score: Pitt 38, WVU 31 | Slideshow: Photos from the Backyard Brawl | Five takeaways from Pitt's win over WVU | Narduzzi: 'That was a brawl, for sure'

The return of the Backyard Brawl more than lived up to expectations.

In a back-and-forth affair that featured six lead changes, four ties and no scoring advantages greater than seven points, Pitt and West Virginia faced each other for the first time in 11 years and reminded everyone just what had been missing in the absence of the rivalry between two teams separated by less than 80 miles.

And if the game started slow, with each team scoring one touchdown and one field goal in the first half, the final 30 minutes more than made up for it as the No. 17 Panthers defeated the Mountaineers 38-31.

For awhile, it looked like West Virginia had the momentum, closing the first half with a game-tying field goal and taking the lead with a one-play touchdown drive early in the third quarter after a blocked punt.

Then it looked like Pitt was in control, answering the Mountaineers’ quick score with a pair of touchdown drives that gained 127 yards on seven plays to take the lead back.

WVU went back on top to open the fourth quarter, blasting through Pitt’s vaunted run defense for a pair of touchdowns to go ahead one more time.

And finally, with a large percentage of the largest crowd in Pittsburgh sports history - 70,622 - on life support, the Panthers came alive. A couple well-placed passes and a nifty catch-and-run through the WVU defense tied the score; then M.J. Devonshire made the play of the game when he grabbed a tipped pass that went off the hands of the intended receiver and took it 56 yards to the house for the winning score.

Of course, there was one more cardiac event left in the game for the home team when WVU drove inside the 30 before a would-be fourth-down completion at the 1 was overturned, securing the victory and a 1-0 record for Pitt.

Along the way, there were plenty of teaching points for Pat Narduzzi and his staff to bring to the players in the aftermath. Pitt’s vaunted run defense gave up 190 rushing yards to the Mountaineers, driven largely by CJ Donaldson - a 240-pound freshman listed on WVU’s roster as a tight end - who had 125 yards and a touchdown on seven carries. New starting quarterback Kedon Slovis was sacked five times, and Pitt’s offensive line has a lot of progress to make in both the run and the pass.

There was a blocked punt. There were dropped passes. There was miscommunication and loss of composure and poor execution. There were first-game jitters.

But there was also intensity. And emotion. A lot of emotion.

There were 11 years of pent-up aggression, unleashed by players who never participated in the Backyard Brawl and likely have little or no connection to the history of the series. But when they stepped on the field at Acrisure Stadium, with the crowd and the former players and the energy, the rivalry came alive again.

There are seven more games in the Pitt-West Virginia series currently scheduled, with three more in the current run though 2025 and four more from 2029-2032. By the time the second run starts in 2025, few players from the current rosters will still be in college. But after the return of the Brawl - complete with post-game animosity - there’s no doubting that all participants on both sides understand what the rivalry means.

“The Backyard Brawl, that’s a good name,” senior linebacker SirVocea Dennis said, “because boy, that was a brawl tonight.”