Clemson v. West Virginia

The mountain folk of West Virginia and the upstate farmers of South Carolina have not always agreed. In 1860, South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union, while the West Virginians left the Old Dominion rather than break with the United States. For more than a century after that, West Virginia tended to vote with the big industrial states of the North, while South Carolina was the most conservative state in the South. But since Ronald Reagan made the GOP into a haven for white working-class voters, West Virginians and South Carolinians have been more likely to work together than to oppose each other.

Of course, that still doesn't mean that they see eye-to-eye on the football field, and we should see a spirited game tonight as two of the angriest fan bases in America meet head-to-head. The Tigers and the Mountaineers have met only once before, when Clemson beat West Virginia 27-7 in the 1989 Gator Bowl. They have never met for the UCFC.

Whoever wins this game will get to keep the title until next August, and will set the table for next year's UCFC battles. So this is a very important game for all of us who care about the UCFC. Vegas has made Clemson a three-point favorite, and that sounds about right to me. But both of these teams have been all over the place this year, so we won't know what to expect until the game gets started.