WVU freshman wide receiver (11) Ric’Darious Farmer takes a pass behind the line of scrimmage for a 10-yard gain against the University of Albany on Saturday. David Pennock

MORGANTOWN — Pre-game emotions will be sizzling tomorrow at newly named Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, Pa.

West Virginia University and the University of Pittsburgh will once again shake their fists at one another, their respective fan bases will hurl invectives back and forth and a close and interesting football game will unfold in front of them.

West Virginia won last season, 17-6. The Mountaineers eventually sailed into Duke’s Mayo Bowl and defeated the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to finish with a 9-4 overall record. The Panthers slinked into the off season with a 3-9 record.

So far this year, West Virginia is 1-1, losing to Penn State and last week trimming Albany as expected. Pitt has beaten Kent State and last week edged Cincinnati by one point.

It’s already been an anything-but-business week for Panther athletics, as Panther athletics director Heather Lyle was fired on Monday.

WVU sophomore wide receiver Rodney Gallagher III makes a catch over the middle in the first quarter against the Great Danes of Albany. David Pennock

This lengthy series has seen Pitt play the Mountaineers in the last 70 years at Forbes Field, Pitt Stadium, Three Rivers Stadium, Heinz Field and, currently, at Acrisure Stadium.

The pesky Panthers lead the series, 62-41-3.

On another historical note, the first-ever college football game ever broadcast on the radio came in 1921, when Harold Arlin called Pitt’s 21-13 win over the Mountaineers on KDKA in Pittsburgh.

Both sides can proudly recall many highlights of this sometimes captivating series.

In 1951, the Old Ironsides Trophy was introduced involving WVU, Pitt and Penn State. It is no longer one of the “spoils” between the three schools.

With Garrett Greene lead blocking, WVU running back Jahiem White hurdles past Albany defensive back Kevon Angry on Saturday. David Pennock

It was in 1975 that West Virginia walk-on kicker Bill McKenzie became a never-to-be forgotten hero in Mountaineer lore when he kicked a closing-seconds field goal in a 17-14 WVU win at creaking Mountaineer Field. The still-echoing post-game celebration in the stadium was one of the longest ever seen in “Mountaineer Land.”

Top-ranked Pitt survived another last-seconds WVU field goal try in 1982, when a long attempt hit the crossbar and bounced away giving the Panthers a 16-13 win.

A fuming bunch of Mountaineer fans and players were forced to swallow a gruesome loss in 2007 when No. 1 ranked WVU lost to Pitt, 13-9, in the last days of Coach Rich Rodriguez-clouded era as head coach. The Mountaineers did not reach the coveted national championship game in losing to the 4-7 Panthers.

Rodriguez soon went off to Michigan, where he was later fired, before resurfacing at Arizona. Removed from that position, he now coaches at Jacksonville State in Alabama. Many long-time Mountaineer fans can count the days since Rodriguez’s last appearance on the WVU sidelines.

Pitt was ranked No. 8 in 2009, when WVU drove a game-deciding field goal through the Panthers’ collective hearts in a 19-16 win.

Once trailing by 10 points, the Mountaineers prevailed, 21-20, in 2011. That one-point victory sent WVU off to the Orange Bowl where it literally drubbed Clemson and scored a robust 70 points.

These rivals, separated by scant mileage along a well-traveled Interstate, often recruit the same athletes and know each other only too well.

Both sides need this game to buoy their respective seasons. The beer will be consumed and the epithets will be sailing through the air again.