What Sooners Can Learn From West Virginia’s Blowout of Maryland

While most of the Big 12 were in action on Saturday, the No. 15 Oklahoma Sooners enjoyed their lone weekend off in the 2015 season, with the opportunity to get a first-hand look at some of what lies ahead on the schedule, including next weekend’s opponent, the West Virginia Mountaineers.

The conference openers between Texas and Oklahoma State, as well as the high-scoring back-and-forth affair at Texas Tech between the Red Raiders and No. 3-ranked TCU, offered up some great television viewing and set the stage for what fans can expect in the weeks ahead as the Big 12 race plays out, featuring some of the most explosive offenses in college football.

But the game that Bob Stoops and the Sooners were most interested in took place in Morgantown, W.Va., where West Virginia was hosting Maryland in a nonconference rivalry game.

Sep 26, 2015; Morgantown, WV, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers running back Wendell Smallwood runs the ball against the Maryland Terrapins during the first quarter at Milan Puskar Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ben Queen-USA TODAY Sports

We will preview and offer our prediction on the conference opener next Saturday between the Sooners and the Mountaineers. Meanwhile, this weekend, without an Oklahoma game to attend or view on TV, Sooner fans were able to get a look at what West Virginia will be bringing to the Oklahoma plains next weekend when the unbeaten Sooners and Mountaineers square off at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.

West Virginia completed its nonconference schedule with a 48-6 shelling of the Maryland Terrapins. With that victory, the Mountaineers have outscored their three opponents so far this season by whopping margin of 130-23.

Here are three topline takeaways from the West Virginia win over Maryland that should factor into the game-planning by OU coaches as the Sooners prepare for the more competitive, nine-week grind that makes up the Big 12 portion of their 2015 schedule.

• The Mountaineers come to Norman with an offense similar to that of Tulsa’s in that they possess a solid run game to go along with a spread passing attack that gave Oklahoma fits in yielding 427 passing yards and 603 yards of total offense. West Virginia has given up just 23 points total to its three opponents this season, a nation’s-best average of 7.7 points per game, and no points in the opening 30 minutes of play.
• West Virginia produced a school-record 37 first downs in its win over rival Maryland. The record-setting number of first downs was greatly aided by converting 9 of 16 third-down attempts, but also demonstrated the Mountaineers’ ability to stay out of third-and-long situations by mixing up the runs and passing plays and gaining positive yardage on first and second down. At one point in the fourth quarter of the West Virginia-Maryland game, the Mountaineers had identical 297 rushing and passing yards.
• Running back Jordan Smallwood had his best rushing game of the season, gaining 147 yards and averaging over six yards per carry, as the Mountaineers rolled up 304 rushing yards on the afternoon. Rushel Shell added 78 rushing yards of his own. Last season, in a 45-33 Oklahoma victory at West Virginia, those two backs combined for 98 yards total.