Let's play two

Pitt, WVU nearly scheduled home-and-home series for '03

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PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Pittsburgh coach Walt Harris said Monday the Panthers sought to play rival West Virginia on Aug. 23 at Heinz Field in a nationally televised game to open the college football season.

However, West Virginia officials said discussions about playing in the BCA Classic did not advance beyond the preliminary stage and contracts were never close to being signed.

After the early talks with Pittsburgh and West Virginia did not advance, promoters lined up a Kansas State-California matchup Aug. 23 in Kansas City.

The game, held annually to benefit the Black Coaches Association, would not have counted in the Big East Conference standings. It also would have created a rarity in college football, a home-and-home series involving nationally known schools in the same season.

The two schools will play the rivalry game known as the Backyard Brawl on Nov. 15 in Morgantown, a rematch of the Mountaineers' 24-17 victory in Pittsburgh last season. That game drew an announced crowd of 66,731, the largest for a football game since Heinz Field opened in 2001.

Harris suggested Monday that Pittsburgh was willing to play the game, but West Virginia wasn't.

"I don't know, you'd probably have to ask them," Harris said when asked why the game wasn't scheduled. "We agreed to play, yes. We were looking forward to the opportunity of playing a preseason game, we have a good football team and we're always trying to gain opportunities in the national limelight. We thought it was an excellent cause, and we welcomed the competition."

Mike Parsons, the West Virginia associate athletic director who handles the Mountaineers' scheduling, said there were preliminary talks with the Big East about a possible game, but nothing more.

"We had some discussions, but it seems we're having discussions about these games every other year," Parsons said. "Now that there's only one of these games, promoters throw out all kinds of scenarios.

"We never felt it reached a serious level of conversation. There were all kinds of issues and concerns that would have to be resolved, and some that would never be resolved."

West Virginia was concerned that playing Pitt twice would substantially hurt the gate for the game in Morgantown. Also, it would have taken away some of the buildup for the Mountaineers' opener against Wisconsin on Aug. 30 in Morgantown.

"Pitt game is our second-leading game right now in sales ... it might not be the second game," if the teams also played in Pittsburgh, Parsons said.

There also were concerns that playing two difficult games in consecutive weeks before Labor Day would be an overly difficult start to the Mountaineers' season. That wouldn't have been a concern for Pitt, which doesn't play until Sept. 6, then opens with three consecutive games against Mid-American Conference schools.

"The lay of the land wasn't even," Parsons said.