W. Virginia v. James Madison (in Landover, Md.)

WVU and JMU are not that far apart -- only 168 miles -- but they are very different institutions. WVU is soaked in the long and complex history of its sports-obsessed state, while JMU has only been playing football since 1972. The Mountaineers and the Dukes have met only once before. That was in 2004, up at Morgantown, WV, and the Mountaineers rolled to a 45-10 victory. They will be heavily favored to roll up a similar margin today -- or they would be, if anyone were giving odds on the game (I couldn't find any on the usual web pages).

For reasons that I don't fully understand, this game is being played at FedEx Field, home of the Washington Redskins. FedEx Field, which sits out in the suburbs of Prince George's County, Maryland, is almost uniformly hated by Redskins fans, who miss watching the Skins at RFK. They regularly share stories about how terrible it is to get to FedEx Field, how poor the atmosphere is once you arrive, and how long it takes to get home. And that's when the Redskins are there. The DC Metro Area is not exactly a hot-bed of college football (Saturday is when Washingtonians normally run errands), so I don't think you'll see a lot of the locals heading out to old FedEx to watch the Mountaineers and the Dukes. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if the stadium were only about half-filled.

That would be a big break for the Dukes, who need all the breaks they can get. But WVU looked awesome two weeks ago against Marshall, and I will be stunned if JMU can stay within 20 points of the Mountaineers.