The “Backyard Brawl” was the perfect start to the college football season.

Week 0 isn’t terrible. But that’s exactly as meaningless as it sounds. Nobody should mark the start of the football season by Vanderbilt blowing out Hawaii.

The Thursday before the Week 1 Saturday, however, should be the official the start of the season every single season, as it certainly marked college football being “all the way back” on Thursday night, as said by Matt Barrie of ESPN.

Furthermore, there are two teams that should play on this Thursday to kick off the season every year: The Backyard Brawl between West Virginia and Pittsburgh.

The revival of a rivalry halted for 11 years by conference realignment, combined with the 2022 showdown being the 105th anniversary of the brawl, creates enough buzz on it’s own.

Then, there was the game itself.

It was 60 minutes of scintillating and sensational football that truly marked the return of America’s favorite sport.

The stadium was packed, bad blood was present and players got lit up all night in a hard-hitting affair.

Add in the fact that Pitt QB Kedon Slovis exclaimed “F*** West Virginia” at a pep rally and this game had all the making of two teams looking forward to the opportunity to renew the rivalry in prime fashion.

The QBs – Slovis for the Panthers and J.T. Daniels for West Virginia – was the renewal of a rivalry between the two in it’s own right as well, as the two had previously duked it out for the USC starting role before both eventually ending up in the transfer portal.

The game had plenty of big plays and lead changes. It also had players step up when it mattered most.

The play of the night, obviously, was when Daniels threw a ball that went right through his receiver’s hands and into the hands of Pittsburgh, who would return the interception for a pick six that would give them a 38-31 lead with time running in short supply for the Mountaineers.

The hosting Pittsburgh faithful went nuts when this happened. The place was electric.

What better way to begin the football season – as well as prepare for the long-awaited return of the first football Saturday of the year – than by having two old rivals trade leads for 60 minutes, and it coming down to one soul-crushing and electrifying play?

They should do this every year, every Thursday before Saturday of Week 1.

It would be tough to do this with other rivalries, such as the Iron Bowl between Alabama and Auburn and The Game between Ohio State and Michigan, because of the game traditionally being at the end of the year.

Other beginning-season rivalries would not be as interesting or as heated of competitions.

Who cares about the two playing in different conferences?

I truly believe they could make this happen every year, and it would benefit all involved.