Sooner Football: Some Things You May Not Know From OU’s Week 5 Win

Oklahoma’s 44-24 win over West Virginia on Saturday elevated the Sooner football record to 4-0 this season. It marked the 11th time in the last 15 seasons that the Sooners have won their first four games of the season.

The Sooners have opened conference play against West Virginia in three of the four seasons the Mountaineers have been members of the Big 12. Oklahoma has won all four games.

The one time it was not the conference opener  for both teams was in the Mountaineers’ inaugural Big 12 season in 2012, when the two teams went back and forth in Morgantown before the Sooners scored late with under a half-minute remaining to pull out a 50-49 victory.

Oct 3, 2015; Norman, OK, USA; Oklahoma Sooners wide receiver Michiah Quick (16) is tackled by West Virginia Mountaineers safety KJ Dillon (9) at Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

Before OU’s 20-point win on Saturday, the average winning margin in the three games between the Sooners and Mountaineers as members of the Big 12 was 7 points. This despite the fact that in two of the three previous games, the two teams had combined for 78 and 99 points.

OU fans have read, head and perhaps even witnessed first-hand many of the highlights from Saturday’s first Big 12 win of the season for the Sooners. Here are a few more noteworthy items from Saturday’s game that might not have caught your attention:

• OU wide receiver Michiah Quick caught his first pass of the season in the Sooners’ win over West Virginia. Last season, as a freshman, Quick caught 25 passes in eight games for 237 yards. Quick’s initial catch of 2015 came midway through the first quarter, when he gained 34 yards on a pass from Baker Mayfield. He followed that up with a 23-yard reception on the very next play. The Sooner sophomore, from Fresno, Calif., ended the afternoon with three receptions for 69 yards.
• West Virginia ran 86 total plays against Oklahoma, 28 more than the Sooners, yet OU outgained the Mountaineers 427 to 369 in total yards of offense.
• The Sooners also averaged 7.4 yards per play, compared with 4.3 yards per play for the Mountaineers, despite having 28 fewer plays.
• Twelve Sooners have caught passes this season as part of Oklahoma’s new Air Raid offense. Sterling Shepard leads the team with 20 receptions and three touchdowns, followed by Dede Westbrook with 17 catches and Durron Neal with 14.
• True freshman Austin Seibert added three field goals on Saturday – from 40 yards, another from 25 yards out and one from 44 yards – to run his season record to seven field goals in seven tries. He also has made all 21 of his extra points so far in 2015.
• West Virginia gained 18 yards in six plays before being forced to punt in its opening drive against Oklahoma. That was the first time in four games this season that West Virginia did not score on its opening possession.
• Oklahoma’s seven quarterback sacks against West Virginia were the most in a game by the Sooners defense since the Sugar Bowl win over Alabama in January 2014.
• OU linebacker Eric Striker recorded a career-high 13 tackles against West Virginia, including two of the Sooners’ seven quarterback sacks. Defensive end Charles Tapper and Zack Sanchez also had career highs, with eight tackles apiece.
• There were three interceptions in the OU-West Virginia game by Sooner defensive backs named Thomas (two by Jordan Thomas and one by Ahmad Thomas).
• When Baker Mayfield hit tight end Mark Andrews with a 17-yard touchdown pass midway through the opening quarter on Saturday for Oklahoma’s first score of the game, it was the first points given up in the first half this season by the West Virginia defense.
• You probably noticed that Oklahoma wore its alternate home “Bring the Wood” crimson jerseys with white pants on Saturday. A year ago when the Sooners wore this uniform combination at home against Baylor, they wore their alternate white helmets with the red center stripe. This time, however, they wore the alternate red helmets with the white center stripe and the anthracite face masks, the same helmet they wore at West Virginia last season with the alternate road uniforms. The alternate red helmet seemed to work better this time around than the alternate white helmet. When OU donned the white helmet with the alternate home uniform against Baylor last year, the Sooners were on the short end of a humiliating 48-14 blowout.