It’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” vs. “Rocky Mountain High” and you have to figure John Deutschendorf, Jr. — aka John Denver — will be looking down upon Folsom Field Thursday night. Two schools representing two states JD held in high regard face off in what we may as well call the John Denver Bowl.

He lived, you know, in Colorado and he was here in Morgantown for the opening of the Mountaineer Field in 1980 to sing “Take Me Home, Country Roads.”

The song, of course, has become the state anthem in West Virginia, if not its official state song. (In Colorado “Rocky Mountain High” is one of two official state songs.)

In West Virginia it has come to stand not only for the beauty and lore of the state, but for triumph on the football field, a song WVU players and fans sing at the end of each home victory, the one legacy from Rich Rodriguez that should last forever.