The best thing about the UCFC is that the champion, whoever it may be, cannot hide for very long. Sooner or later, you have to put that big golden trophy on a train and head to a very hostile environment, where a significant challenger is waiting. Since taking the trophy in last season's Orange Bowl, the West Virginia Mountaineers have defended the title against Marshall (69-34), James Madison (42-12), Maryland (31-21), and Baylor (70-63). With the exception of a few anxious moments toward the middle of the Baylor game, Mountaineer Nation has had little cause for alarm during these games. But today they face a very different challenge. Today WVU will be in Austin, Texas to face an undefeated group of Longhorns who will be urged on by over 100,000 screaming fans.
This game, between the number 8 Mountaineers and the number 11 Longhorns, is -- at least on paper -- the most attractive UCFC game since Auburn beat Oregon for the 2010 National Title. For the first time this year, WVU will not be on cable, as this is the national game for Fox.
This is only the second time in history that WVU has played Texas -- their only other matchup was a 7-6 win for the Mountaineers back in 1956. But WVU showed last week that they are very comfortable playing the type of high-scoring passing game -- it always looks like eight-man football to me -- that has become the dominant style in the Big XII. The real question for tonight is whether all those pretty patterns will work so well on the road against a team of first-class athletes.
Vegas is not convinced that WVU will be quite so efficient against the Longhorns. UT is a 7-point favorite in a game featuring an over-under line of 74 1/2. Those odds would suggest a UT win by a score of something like 41-34. I do think the Longhorns will win, and my guess is that they will score more than 41 points. But Geno Smith and the Mountaineers have been remarkably efficient so far this year, and I am eager to see how they do on such a big stage.
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