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Oklahoma football: Takeaways from a Mountaineer mauling

By Christopher Dukes

NORMAN, OK - SEPTEMBER 28: Quarterback Jalen Hurts #1 of the Oklahoma Sooners looks to throw against the Texas Tech Red Raiders at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on September 28, 2019 in Norman, Oklahoma. The Sooners defeated the Red Raiders 55-16. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images)
NORMAN, OK - SEPTEMBER 28: Quarterback Jalen Hurts #1 of the Oklahoma Sooners looks to throw against the Texas Tech Red Raiders at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on September 28, 2019 in Norman, Oklahoma. The Sooners defeated the Red Raiders 55-16. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images) /
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Oklahoma football looked every bit like a national title contender in a 52-14 victory over West Virginia. Here are four takeaways from a dominant Sooner victory.

There was no hangover

Anyone hoping to see a letdown from the Sooners’ emotional 34-27 win over Texas was soundly disappointed as the Sooners were as sharp as ever. After jumping out to a 28-7 lead, the Mountaineers made things at least mildly interesting by scoring before the end of the first half, but Oklahoma put the game on lockdown with a 21-point run in the third quarter to turn it into a laugher going into the final stanza.

The game was so dominant it’s probably easier to name the few things that went wrong for Oklahoma rather than the slew of things that went right. Nitpickers can point to a lack of quarterback pressure a couple of nice throws from Austin Kendall, a tumble from the Sooner Schooner and some penalties in the secondary, but that’s just about it. Other than that, the day truly belonged to the Sooners.

This may have been Oklahoma football’s most-complete game so far this year

Yes, there have been games this season where the Sooners have been better than this in several phases, but one would be hard-pressed to find a more complete team performance than this win.

The Sooners didn’t have a flaw in their game on either side of the ball, consitricting on defense to hold Austin Kendall under 200 yards passing and the West Virginia offense to just 242 total.

On offense, the Sooners racked up 560 total yards – 197 on the ground and 363 through the air. Jalen Hurts threw just one incompletion (a drop at that) all day on his way to 391 yards of total offense and five total touchdowns.

The Sooners even scored a touchdown on special teams off a blocked punt. It was as well as you can expect a game to go if you were in Crimson and Cream.

Kennedy Brooks might be emerging as the feature back

This is a bit of a trap because heard this about several guys through the past few years only to have Oklahoma return to the by-committee system a game or two later, but Brooks looks like he’s ready to step ahead as a true No. 1 option in the backfield.

He’s added more of a power element and is clearly catching the ball better, giving him even more weapons to complement his game-breaking speed.

Brooks finished with 70 yards on 10 carries a week after gashing Texas for 105 yards. As the Sooners get into the guts of their schedule it will be interesting to see if Brooks is gobbling up the quality carries.

The defense answered the coaching staff’s challenge

All week both Lincoln Riley and Alex Grinch challenged the Oklahoma defense to put together a full four-quarter effort. The Sooners delivered on Saturday, pitching a shutout after halftime.

Even when some of the younger players cycled in later once the game was no longer in question, the Sooners still didn’t give up ground.

It’s a good sign for a team that is going to need some great second-half efforts from its defense to get to where it wants to go.

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