The Oklahoma football team and its fans can now turn their full attention to the Big 12 championship game.
Saturday’s scheduled road game between No. 11 Oklahoma and West Virginia has been cancelled.
And its not because of Oklahoma trying to get out of it, but rather COVID issues in the West Virginia program.
So there will be no matchup between the the Big 12 best offense (Oklahoma) and the conference’s best defense, statistically, (West Virginia). The Mountaineers will also wait at least another year to try to get their first win over the Sooners as a member of the Big 12. Oklahoma is the only team West Virginia does not have a victory against since joining the Big 12 in 2012.
ESPN senior writer Adam Rittenberg reported Thursday morning that “West Virginia is pausing all team activities for seven days as it attempts to limit the spread of the virus.”
The OU-West Virginia game was scheduled to broadcast on ABC at 11 a.m. on Saturday. At this late date in the season, the game will not be rescheduled and instead will be declared a no-contest.
The Sooners will now be able to avoid any injuries that could have resulted from the West Virginia game and devote full attention to their season rematch with No. 7 Iowa State in the Big !2 Championship game. Iowa State finished its regular season last weekend with a 42-6 hammering of the same West Virginia squad last Saturday.
The is the second time the Oklahoma-West Virginia game has been called off the week of the game. The two teams were originally scheduled to play on Nov. 28, but that game was postponed and rescheduled for this weekend because of COVID positive tests and contract tracing within the Oklahoma program.
West Virginia finishes with a 5-4 regular-season record and now awaits to see if they will receive a postseason bowl opportunity.