Music supersedes hatred in Backyard Brawl culture

For the players in the fray, the Backyard Brawl is war. For the fans that pack the bleachers, one of the oldest rivalries in college football offers a chance to win a year of bragging rights. But for the marching bands, it’s a chance to soak in the atmosphere. 

Last season, Pitt traveled to West Virginia for the Backyard Brawl. Typically, the Pitt marching band doesn’t travel for away games, but considering Morgantown’s proximity to Oakland and the gravity of the rivalry, the band makes an exception for the Backyard Brawl.

“At the beginning, we were all sort of hesitant because we won the year previous,” Andrew Miller, a junior natural science major in the trombone section of the Pitt band, said. “It was nice because you could feel the game day atmosphere, especially because against West Virginia it gets a little more intense compared to other games. On the coach bus, you could feel the energy. We were all mentally preparing ourselves for that game.”

But the tensions between the Pitt and West Virginia bands aren’t nearly as high as they are with the fans.

“Even though the fans get heated towards each other, the West Virginia band was surprisingly nice,” Miller said. “We have a mutual relationship with the WVU band. We know our fans get excited during the game, but at the end of the day we are all fans supporting our team, and protecting each other was more important to us.”

During the Backyard Brawl, some fans act more than excited. The Pitt band’s main concern is to keep morale high, but the program heavily prioritizes its members’ safety. 

“The [band] directors prepare in advance,” Miller said. “Both bands stay 45 minutes to an hour after the game to let the fans leave and the outside stuff happen. Then we leave. That way if anything happens after the game, the band won’t be involved.”

Miller remembers actual brawls between heated fans after the Backyard Brawl concluded in 2022. Pitt’s marching band was extra careful in Morgantown as the visitors. 

“It was crazy because at the Backyard Brawl two years ago we had to stay two hours after because it was such a heated game,” Miller said. “When WVU wins, the fans are a little bit calmer, but when they lost that game I could tell they were more upset.”

Previous Backyard Brawl competitors echo that their desire to “not lose” was greater than it is to win.

“The Pitt people always viewed Penn State as the game that they wanted to win most. West Virginia was the game they didn’t want to lose. There’s a big difference there,” West Virginia’s director of athletics content John Antonik said in an article published by ESPN. 

During the game, the Pitt band is just as vulnerable as the players to taunting from West Virginia fans.

“During the pregame stuff, it was surprising that [the fans] were mostly courteous,” Miller said. “It wasn’t until the game started when we were in the stands that they said the typical stuff … When we started losing, it got more heated. Punches were never thrown, but they were heckling us.”

The Pitt band tries its hardest to protect the new members from the nastiness of opposing fans, but no system is perfect. Words travel a lot further than punches do.

It sounds stressful, but in Miller’s opinion, traveling on the road for a game is an incredible experience.

“It’s nice that we both [Pitt and WVU’s bands] support our teams at the end of the day,” Miller said. “We’re always going to want [our school] to win. At the same time, we try to maintain positivity with the other bands because we know how much they’re working to keep morale up and they know how much we’re working.”

As a junior on the pre-physician assistant track, Saturday’s Backyard Brawl in Pittsburgh is possibly Miller’s last. Miller’s first Backyard Brawl in 2022 was his first game with the Pitt marching band.

Now, two years later, Miller can’t wait to return to the atmosphere of the Backyard Brawl in Acrisure Stadium.

“Honestly, the memories [are what I’m looking forward to],” Miller said. “The Backyard Brawl was my first game ever marching on the field. That day solidified that I made the right decision coming to Pitt … It’s like a mini-homecoming.”