Wren Baker discusses Alabama series, Backyard Brawl

West Virginia Athletic Director Wren Baker was not surprised by the news that the SEC will move to a nine-game conference schedule.

The move which takes effect in 2026 could have a direct impact on the Mountaineers’ schedule considering that year is the start of a home-and-home with Alabama. The Crimson Tide are scheduled to come to Morgantown Sept. 5, 2026, and the Mountaineers are set to return Sept. 4 the following year.

There have been no updates as to the status of the game given the news, but Baker is aware and wasn’t caught off guard. He said that he had conducted multiple conversations over the spring and summer with a lot of different opponents planning for the future.

And the plan is to circle back to see where the status of the series is at.

“We don’t want any instability in our non-conference schedule so I think it would be really important for us to try to solidify that sooner rather than later,” he said.

Baker has made it clear during his tenure that if a team is playing nine conference games against power four opponents, the right number in the non-conference is one.

So, this development certainly could trigger some other conversations.

On the topic of another non-conference game, Baker was asked about the status of the Backyard Brawl against Pittsburgh given the comments by Panthers head coach Pat Narduzzi that the two teams should play every year. And Baker revealed that he had actually approached the Athletic Director of the Panthers about doing just that.

“I actually had reached out to the athletic director at Pitt to extend the series so they knew fully well we were trying to extend the series and that didn’t come up until they decided to make that comment,” he said.

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