Oklahoma football: Does the West Virginia game matter? You bet, it does

Two weeks ago, the Oklahoma football game at West Virginia was a must-win situation to keep the Sooners Big 12 championship hopes alive.

That is no longer the case. With losses by Oklahoma State and West Virginia this past weekend, the two teams with the only chance to knock Oklahoma out of the spot opposite Iowa State in the conference title game, the Sooners clinched the Big 12’s No. 2 seed and an opportunity for the five-time defending Big 12 champions to capture a sixth straight league crown.

Oklahoma and West Virginia were originally scheduled to play on Nov. 28, but the game was postponed to Dec. 12 because of COVID-19 issues in the Sooners’ program, Otherwise the Sooners’ regular season would have been over by now, and they may or may not have achieved the two victories they needed to secure their place in another Big 12 championship game.

Some have questioned the reasoning for even playing this game, what with the increased number of COVID exposures in college football and around the country and now that the two teams that will play in the Big 12 Championship has been decided.

It’s true that the outcome of the OU-West Virginia game won’t change anything for Oklahoma — other than possibly giving them a third loss in a season for the first time since 2014.

But for the Mountaineers, who were fed a huge dose of humble pie in a 40-6 beatdown at Iowa State this past weekend, it could mean the difference between a fourth- and a fifth-place finish in the conference, the opportunity to beat the Sooners for the first time in eight tries as a member of the Big 12 and the chance to finish the season above .500.

Sooner head coach Lincoln Riley over the weekend quickly dismissed any notion that Oklahoma would like to get out of playing at West Virginia.

"“We believe in competitiveness,” Riley said, when asked the question in his postgame interview session on Saturday. “And we believe in not backing down from anything."

“In all years — but especially this one — the opportunity to play another game? If we can do it, we’ll be there,” suggesting that only COVID concerns, which was the cause for the game not happening on its original date two weeks ago, would prevent Saturday’s game from taking place.

Assuming there are no COVID-related problems in either program this week and that the game is on, the question becomes: Will the Oklahoma players be as motivated for this game and play as hard as they would have two weeks ago, now that the pressure of having to win is no longer there?

Any thought that this game isn’t as important as any other game on the season schedule is ludicrous. You can bet that that is going to be drummed into the heads of the Sooners players all week by Riley and his coaching staff.

The attitude and conviction of the OU players toward the West Virginia game matters and matters a lot. How Oklahoma performs in this game will carry over as motivation and momentum for the rematch against Iowa State in the Big 12 title game the following weekend.

You don’t want to go into what truly will be the biggest and most important game of the season on a down note, not after what Oklahoma has been able to accomplish during its consecutive six-game winning streak following the earlier loss to Iowa State. With the exception of the Baylor game this past weekend, the Sooners have been gaining momentum and confidence with each successive win. Now is not the time to back off or away from that pattern.

The game on Saturday is definitely going to be important to West Virginia for multiple reasons. The Sooners need to be able to match the Mountaineers’ level of intensity and execution, as well as their physical and mental desire to win. And, it goes without saying, hopefully avoid any series injuries.

At face value, it may appear that the West Virginia game has more meaning and matters more to the Mountaineers. But when you take a step back and consider the broader context of what’s at stake, the case can easily be made that this game should mean as much, if not more, to Oklahoma.

And that’s the way Oklahoma needs to approach Saturday’s game at West Virginia.