The last time the Oklahoma football team traveled to the mountains and country roads of West Virginia, the night sky was lit up with offensive fireworks.
But it was a couple of defensive gems that ultimately won the night for the Sooners and earned them a spot in what was their fourth consecutive Big 12 Championship.
For most of the game, on a Friday night during Thanksgiving week in 2018, the offensive might of both teams was on full display. The Sooners, led by eventual Heisman Trophy winner Kyler Murray, and the Mountaineers, behind the throwing arm of senior quarterback Will Grier, a transfer out of the Florida Gators program, combined for 1,372 yards of offense and seven touchdown passes
Oklahoma came into the game with a 10-1 overall record and 7-1 in Big 12 action. West Virginia stood 8-2 overall and 6-2 in the conference. The incentive for winning this game was a big one: a spot opposite the Texas Longhorns in the Big 12 championship game. And for the Sooners, that not only would mean a chance for another conference title but the double benefit of having the opportunity to avenge a loss earlier in the annual Red River Showdown.
Big scoring plays were a featured part of this high-scoring shootout between the 6th-ranked Sooners and the 12th-ranked Mountaineers. The opening minutes of the game included a 41-yard scoring pass from Grier to David Stills to give West Virginia a quick 7-0 lead. Murray responded for Oklahoma with a 55-yard touchdown run on the Sooners’ ensuing possession.
Oklahoma football had been in plenty of shootouts in 2018, and this was a doozy
There were multiple scores in every quarter. The game was tied at 14 at the end of the opening quarter and the Sooners held a 35-28 advantage after the first 30 minutes.
The West Virginia offense sliced through the much-maligned Oklahoma defense like a knife through butter in an explosive third quarter. The Mountaineers reached the end zone three times in the third quarter, scoring 21 points, the final score coming on a 75-yard touchdown catch and run by wide receiver Gary Jennings. The result of which was a 49-45 lead heading into the final 15 minutes.
The Sooners opened the fourth quarter, mounting a nine-play, 80-yard drive, capped off by a two-yard touchdown pass on 4th-and-goal from Murray to OU tight end Grant Calcaterra. The point-after by Austin Seibert enabled Oklahoma to regain the lead at 52-49.
It was an Oklahoma defensive gem on the next West Virginia possession, however, that proved to be the deciding factor in this back-and-forth contest.
A 33-yard run by West Virginia’s Kennedy McKoy set the Mountaineers up at the OU 42-yard line with a little over 10 minutes remaining in the game. Two plays later, Sooner defensive lineman Kenneth Mann sacked the WVU quarterback Grier, knocking the ball loose in the process. Linebacker Curtis Bolton recovered the loose ball for the Sooners and returned it 48 yards for a touchdown. That upped the OU margin to 59-49 with 9:59 left in the game.
West Virginia did manage to push across another score, but 59-56 was as close as the Mountaineers would get as Oklahoma ran out the clock over the final four minutes, winning its seventh straight game against West Virginia as a member of the Big 12 and clinching a spot in the 2018 Big 12 Championship.
Murray ended up with 364 passing yards and three touchdowns. West Virginia’s Grier threw for 539 yards and four touchdowns.
Kennedy Brooks had 182 rushing yards and a touchdown and averaged 8.7 yards per carry. Marquise “Hollywood” Brown had a banner day receiving, catching 11 passes for 243 yards and two touchdowns.
Sills caught eight passes for 131 yards and Jennings made eight receptions for 225 yards for West Virginia. Between them, they caught four touchdown passes (two apiece).
A week later, the Sooners would do the same to Texas, winning 39-27 in the Big 12 Championship. That victory in the season rematch with the Longhorns, coupled with Alabama’s win over Georgia in the SEC Championship, earned Oklahoma a second straight appearance as the Big 12 representative in the College Football Playoff.