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MORGANTOWN -- They call it "The Backyard Brawl" but we should never forget that it really is football.
Or, for our purposes, FOOTball, but even on the day the 107th Backyard Brawl is to be played, the placekicker becomes a key factor.
For West Virginia, that is Michael Hayes, who well could figure in the outcome of the game, not only with field position from kickoffs, but in the final score for this has all the makings of a field-goal game.
History suggests it could happen. They have played 106 prior games and 18 of them have been decided by three points or fewer, with WVU winning eight of them, Pitt winning seven and three ending in ties.
And that doesn't even count the 1967 game that WVU won, 15-0, with Ken Juskowitz accounting for all 15 points with five field goals.
Hayes transferred to WVU from Georgia Southern and will be looking to take his place alongside such placekickers as Juskowitz, Jay Taylor, Tyler Betancourt, Pat McAfee, Paul Woodside and Josh Lambert, who have all played roles in the outcome of Backyard Brawl games.
It isn't that he dreams about winning the Brawl with a field goal as the final gun goes off.
"I'm not a big dreamer," he admitted in an interview session on Monday. "I sleep fine at night. It takes me three alarms to get out of bed in the morning.
Dreams, of course, go both ways -- sweet dreams like kicking a winning field goal or nightmares like missing one.
Hayes can live without either.
I've never had a nightmare or a dream of kicking a game winning field goal, but if God wants to put one in my head tonight, I would accept that," he said.
"He understands why one might have such a dream, though.
"There's a lot of emotion that goes into this game and that's something I didn't realize until playing last year at home," he said. "I realize what we are going into at Pitt. The energy is different. You can sense that, but the same excitement will come out of us."
His goal has been to not let that affect his preparation for the game.
"I prepare the same for every game regardless of who the opponent is," Hayes said. "This is my first time going to their stadium. I'm excited to play in that venue and excited for the atmosphere. Something I tell myself is to try to be as emotionless as possible. We talked about that in the specialist room. As a specialist, you don't want to get too high or too low."
Even during the game he tries to tune out any distractions, and that includes his family.
"My parents and girlfriend both get mad at me because I won't even turn around and look at them when I'm on the field," he revealed. "I try not to even acknowledge who's in the stands. In that time when you are going out on the field, you don't even have time to think about what's going on. It's like I black out when I go out there."
This is a little different in that what once was Heinz Field has a reputation of being tough to kick in because of the winds.
Hayes scoffs at that.
"I've been told about that. It's windy here every game," Hayes said. "As you could see on TV or at the game, that ball was moving this past weekend. It's where we're at. We're up north. I'm ready for it. I know what I'm walking into. That's something that I'm well aware of. I'm still going to play to the best of my ability, trust my swing and trust my technique and everything that I've been doing the past 10, 11 years that I've been kicking."
And the fact that he has to kick off grass at Pitt rather than turf isn't of concern to him.
"I'm a southern boy. That's all we have down south. I never even played on turf until I got into college. In high school our practice field was pretty much dirt at some points in the season," he said. "I have experience playing in bad conditions."
His kickoffs may prove to be more of a problem than his field goals, as in two games he has yet to send one into the end zone, making WVU just one of five teams in college football not to reach the end zone.
A year ago he sent 20 balls into the end zone, but this may be due to a hip flexor injury and a pair of herniated disks that he has fought back from.
"The hip flexor is something that's been reoccurring since I came from Georgia State," Hayes said. "It's something I have to rehab over and over with my body getting older and where I'm at in my career. With the back, the doctors said it could be some genetics as well from my parents. They've both had hip surgery and some back issues throughout their athletic careers. But I'm pretty close to 100%. I'm feeling good and ready to help the team throughout the rest of the season and stay on top of what I do have going on with my body."
This has not bothered his accuracy. For his career he is 31 of 38 in field goals and 97 of 98 in PATs but he knows he has to get the kickoffs deeper.
"My job is to put the ball in the end zone and I need to do a better job of that, playing the wind and trusting my abilities," Hayes said. "The coaches make it very clear if the ball is not in the end zone to give our (gunners) time to get down the field and to have good hang time and accuracy to give them a chance. Those guys have my back and I have their back when that ball doesn't go in the end zone."