Oklahoma Sooners football: Will OU face a tougher road test than West Virginia?

A friend and I discussed the Oklahoma Sooners’ huge 45-33 win over West Virginia yesterday, and he posed a great question.

Has Oklahoma played its toughest road game of the season already?

Now you can look at this from a few ways.

One way being: what makes a road game ‘tough’?

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Morgantown, West Virginia is definitely no Sunday picnic. The West Virginia fans love their Mountaineers, and they provide a unique game day experience not found on every college campus.

Like Oklahoma, WVU brought out an alternate uniform combination Saturday night and striped the stadium with blue and gold. It was a hostile environment from the start till around the time Samaje Perine scored Oklahoma’s final touchdown.

Regardless, West Virginia was a team expected to compete in this game, and they were picked by a few (looking at you Kirk Herbstreit and Desmond Howard). The Mountaineers were only a touchdown underdog, and they gave Oklahoma all they could handle for a solid half.

Following two quarters, though, Oklahoma flexed its muscle—and depth—and shut the lights off on West Virginia’s upset bid.

Oklahoma’s 12-point victory, which should’ve been an eighteen point victory, will be a win the selection committee looks at if the Sooners are in contention for a College Football Playoff berth.

It certainly looks better on the Sooners to beat the Mountaineers by twelve IN Morgantown than an Alabama team that beat West Virginia by ten points on a neutral site.

Though, Oklahoma may have faced their toughest road environment for the rest of the season.

Don’t get me wrong, the Oklahoma Sooners are fortunate to have the Baylor Bears and Oklahoma State Cowboys in Norman this season. However, I find it a bit worrisome Oklahoma might not find a true road test—or one that should be a test—for the rest of 2014.

Not to discredit anything Gary Patterson and the TCU Horned Frogs are doing in Fort Worth, but unless that game is on primetime, I wouldn’t expect TCU’s home crowd to get “rowdy.”

The Sooners will, also, travel to Iowa State, but that game has “noon kick-off” written all over it. Oklahoma should coast, although, I will say: Oklahoma can’t overlook the Cyclones a week before their big home game with Baylor.

But other than Iowa State and TCU, Oklahoma will only head to Lubbock for what should be the day Samaje Perine, Ketih Ford, and Alex Ross combine for 1,000 rushing yards.

And YES, Lubbock is a tough place to play, but did you see what Arkansas did to them? ARKANSAS.

And maybe I’m forgetting Oklahoma has a history with dropping games they aren’t supposed to lose, but as far as environment and a talented team goes, I don’t see a better combination of those two factors left on the schedule.

Once again, it’s not a knock on TCU, because I think that’ll be a tough game. However, have you ever heard anyone refer to Fort Worth as a “hostile environment”?

Let us know what you think. Has OU faced its rowdiest environment? Or will the Sooners face a few more hostile crowds before the season is over?

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