Oklahoma football: Takeaways from WVU for Championship Saturday

NORMAN, OK - NOVEMBER 25: Running back Rodney Anderson
NORMAN, OK - NOVEMBER 25: Running back Rodney Anderson
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NORMAN, OK – NOVEMBER 25: Quarterback Baker Mayfield
NORMAN, OK – NOVEMBER 25: Quarterback Baker Mayfield

The 2017 Oklahoma football regular-season and home finale began as it ended, in a runaway.

Kyler Murray, getting his first start at quarterback as an Oklahoma Sooner with Baker Mayfield not starting as punishment for his ill-advised gestures at Kansas, took the opening snap of the game, faked a handoff and took off running with the ball, going 66 yards before he was knocked out of bounds four yards short of the end zone.

One play later, Rodney Anderson scooted around left end with the first score of the game with just 49 ticks gone off the game clock.

That got the Senior Day crowd in the game immediately and set the tone for the offensive onslaught that was to follow from Mayfield and Company.

Oklahoma scored on all seven of its first-half possession in racing out to a 45-10 advantage at the half. The Sooners continued to pour it on in the second half, scoring on its first two possessions, making it nine consecutive scoring drives to start the game, to go up 59-24 after three quarters.

The Sooners punted for the first time on their 10th possession of the game. That came two and a half minutes into the final quarter. By that time, Mayfield was done for the day, with the redshirt sophomore Murray taking over at quarterback.

Murray led the Sooners on their final touchdown of the game with just under two minutes to go in the third quarter, which is when OU took its foot off the gas and began to rotate in the backups on the final home date of the season.

West Virginia pushed across one final touchdown a little more than midway through the fourth quarter, thanks to a series of OU penalties that kept extending the Mountaineer drive deep in Sooner territory.

Here are the key takeaways from the Oklahoma victory with one week to go before a rematch with TCU, this time in the Big 12 Championship: