Saturday is a day Missouri and West Virginia will meet on the football field.
They will meet at noon in Morgantown to kick off the college football season with all the high hopes and pomp that usually surrounds an opener.
This, however, is about the day they were supposed to meet - but did not.
WVU defensive coordinator Tony Gibson surely remembers. Ditto Missouri head coach Barry Odom, who was an assistant athletic director for football operations at his school.
Former Mountaineer athletic director Ed Pastilong certainly remembers.
"Opening up with Missouri has brought the memory back to me - and probably to some others," Pastilong said Thursday.
See, West Virginia and Missouri were on a collision course - to play for a national championship.
The year was 2007. WVU was a Big East power under Rich Rodriguez. Mizzou, now in the Southeastern Conference, was playing in the Northern Division of the Big 12.
Much was going right for the teams. On the national scene, Appalachian State was upsetting Michigan in the Big House. Notre Dame was stumbling under Charlie Weis, losing to both Navy and Air Force. Nebraska was 5-7. Florida State finished 7-6.
Then, during the season, No. 3 Oklahoma and No. 4 Florida lost. Kansas State beat No. 7 Texas by 20. No. 12 Georgia went down. No. 5 Wisconsin lost.
West Virginia lost too. Ranked No. 5 in late September, the Mountaineers fell to South Florida.
"Fortunately, though, from the South Florida loss on, we were winning," Pastilong said. "And, as is always the case, it's more important to win at the end. You want to go undefeated, but, if you don't, lose early and win late."
That, West Virginia did. Wearing new gold uniforms, the Mountaineers lit up opponents behind quarterback Pat White, running backs Steve Slaton and Noel Devine and fullback Owen Schmitt.
Meanwhile, Missouri was being led by QB Chase Daniel, now playing for the Philadelphia Eagles, and wideout Jeremy Maclin, now playing for the Kansas City Chiefs. Coached by Gary Pinkel, the Tigers rolled to the Big 12 Championship game.
Overall, 2007 was a crazy season. Upstart South Florida made it all the way to No. 2 before Rutgers, led by Ray Rice, knocked off the Bulls. Kentucky at one time was No. 7. Oregon, led by QB Dennis Dixon, became a household name.
Then a whole lotta shaking went on. Oklahoma had its title hopes dashed when Texas Tech, led by QB Graham Harrell, stunned the Sooners. LSU was set to be ranked No. 1 - until Arkansas, led by back Darren McFadden, beat the Tigers.
All of a sudden, Missouri was ranked No. 1 and WVU was ranked No. 2 - with the regular season almost complete.
Had Mizzou won the Big 12 Championship by exacting revenge on Oklahoma for a regular-season loss, it would have been in the Bowl Championship Series title game.
Meanwhile, all West Virginia had to do was beat a 4-7 Pittsburgh team at Milan Puskar Stadium in Morgantown. The Mountaineers were 28-point favorites.
Well, WVU fans know all too well what happened there. In one of the biggest upsets in college football history, Pitt won the Backyard Brawl 13-9 before a sellout crowd of 60,100 ready to celebrate on that Dec. 1 night.
"It was miserable," Pastilong said. "At one point in the press box we were talking about handling the postgame celebration. We wanted the coaches to be able to get with their players, but we also wanted them with the fans and media to make it a nice, jubilant deal.
"I remember going down early with some of our departmental personnel so we were all in a good position. Then we lost. It was one of the saddest moments."
He paused.
"And of all the teams to beat us: Pitt."
Missouri, meanwhile, fell again to Oklahoma, this time 38-17. Sam Bradford, who is now starting ahead of Daniel in Philadelphia, led the Sooners to the victory. Daniel would still finish fourth in the Heisman Trophy voting behind Tim Tebow, McFadden and Hawaii's Colt Brennan.
WVU's White would finish sixth in the voting that year (behind Dixon as well) and lead the Mountaineers to happier memories. After Rodriguez quit, Bill Stewart took over as coach and West Virginia crushed that same Oklahoma team that beat Missouri twice. The final before 70,016 in Glendale, Arizona, was 48-28.
Still, those involved will never forget the Missouri-WVU matchup that never was.
"We just didn't close the lid," Pastilong said. "We were in the perfect position to win the national championship. Us and Missouri. The WVU Mountaineers were going to play in the national championship game."
He paused.
"That was a feeling one does not forget."
Contact Mitch Vingle at 304-348-4827 or mitchvingle@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @MitchVingle.