W. Virginia v. Oklahoma

For most of their history, these two proud schools -- each of which lies on a different frontier of Jacksonian America -- have had little contact on the football field.  In 1958, Oklahoma smashed West Virginia 47-14.  In 1978, OU repeated the trick, winning 52-10.  But in 1982, West Virginia stunned the Sooners, winning 41-27 in Norman, Okla.  Finally, on January 2, 2008 West Virginia upset the Sooners in the Fiesta Bowl, rolling to a 48-28 win.  So that was it -- four games in 50 years, with a 2-2 record by both sides.

But after the 2011 season, West Virginia joined the Big XII Conference, meaning that this is the third year in a row that the Mountaineers and Sooners have met on the gridiron.  So far these games have been entertaining.  The 2012 match-up in Morgantown, W. Va. was a wild 50-49 win for the Sooners -- that game did not go to overtime; the teams scored 109 points in 60 minutes.  Last year, in Norman, the teams fought a defensive struggle, with OU grinding out a 16-7 win.

What will happen this year?  OU hasn't really been challenged so far, and this will be their first true road game -- a visit to Tulsa hardly counts as a difficult environment.  On the other hand, the Sooners are the number 4 team in the country, according to the AP Poll.  West Virginia put up a valiant effort in their opener against Alabama, losing 33-23 on a neutral field.  Since then, the Mountaineers have beaten Towson 54-0 at home and beaten Maryland 40-37 on the road.  Tonight WVU has a chance to break into the national spotlight by beating the Sooners before a very rabid crowd in Morgantown.  And the Mountaineers are good in UCFC play, with an all-time record of 16-9 in such games.  Readers of this blog will remember how WVU won the title in the 2012 Sugar Bowl and kept it through the first half of the 2012 season.

How to pick this game?  The over-under for the game is 65, and the Sooners are favored by 7 1/2 points.  That works out to something like a 36-29 win for OU.  That certainly makes sense on paper, but we haven't seen that many close UCFC games since the trophy went to the Big XII, and I wouldn't be surprised if the game broke dramatically in favor of one team or the other.