Oklahoma St. v. W. Virginia

Well, things have gotten wacky in the Big XII, and the Unofficial College Football Championship has been swept up in that madness.  Since conference play began, the UCFC holder has taken the Big Gold Trophy on the road for four games in a row.  Here's how it's gone (home teams listed first):

9/20:  W. Virginia 33 - 45 (4) Oklahoma
9/27:  Texas Christian 37 - 33 (4) Oklahoma
10/11:  (5) Baylor 61 - 58 (9) Texas Christian
10/18:  W. Virginia 41 - 27 (4) Baylor

So that's three consecutive losses by top-10 teams on the road, and each of those losses handed the UCFC to a new team.  Meanwhile, the Big XII standings were further scrambled when Kansas State upset Oklahoma 31-30 last week in Norman.  Going into today's play, the Big XII looks like this:

(11) Kansas State:  3-0, 5-1
W. Virginia:  3-1, 5-2
(12) Baylor:  3-1, 6-1
Oklahoma St:  3-1, 5-2
(10) Texas Christian:  2-1, 5-1
(17) Oklahoma:  2-2, 5-2
Texas:  2-2, 3-4
Texas Tech:  1-3, 3-4
Iowa State:  0-4, 2-5
Kansas:  0-4, 2-5

After beating each other up for the last few weeks, it now appears that the Big XII may be on the outside looking in when the new playoff games kick off on New Year's Day.

But the folks in West Virginia and Oklahoma State are not thinking about the playoffs right now.  The Mountaineers have won three games in a row and have only lost to Alabama and Oklahoma.  OSU has only lost to Number-2 Florida State and Number-10 Texas Christian -- although they were humiliated (42-9) by the Horned Frogs in Fort Worth last week.  But the Cowboys are back home today, and both WVU and OSU are still on pace to reach a very good bowl if they can keep winning.  So this is a huge, huge game -- not only because of the UCFC, but for what it will mean inside the Big XII.

This is only the sixth meeting between the Mountaineers and the Cowboys, and WVU leads the all-time series 3-2.  Last year, in Morgantown, WVU beat OSU 30-21 -- but the year before, in Stillwater, OSU won 55-34.  (One thing that never changes in the Big XII -- lots and lots of points).

Vegas sees this game as a pick-em, with an over-under of 66 points.  Personally, I will be surprised if these teams combine for fewer than 66 points.  But I agree that the game itself could go either way.