Stormin in Norman
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Oklahoma football: Storylines as Sooners’ gear up for West Virginia

By Chip Rouse

Oklahoma's Michael Woods II (8) is brought down by West Virginia's Sean Mahone (29) during a college football game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the West Virginia Mountaineers at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Okla., Saturday, Sept. 25, 2021. Oklahoma won 16-13.Lx12352
Oklahoma's Michael Woods II (8) is brought down by West Virginia's Sean Mahone (29) during a college football game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the West Virginia Mountaineers at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Okla., Saturday, Sept. 25, 2021. Oklahoma won 16-13.Lx12352 /
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Perhaps the biggest storyline surrounding the Oklahoma football road journey to play at West Virginia this weekend is the Sooners recent domination of the Mountaineers on the gridiron.

Oklahoma owns a perfect 9-0 record over West Virginia since the latter joined the Big 12 in 2012.

That apparent Sooner domination is a little misleading, however, especially when these two conference foes have gotten together in Morgantown in the Appalachian Region of West Virginia.

Not only have the last four games played in Morgantown between the Sooners and Mountaineers been high scoring, they’ve also been relatively close.     Three of the last four Oklahoma visits to West Virginia have been decided by five points and the average score 50.1 to 46.0.

In Oklahoma’s four trips to West Virginia in the Big 12 era, the Sooners have averaged 581 yards of offense.

The game on Saturday will feature transfer quarterbacks in their first season at both Oklahoma and West Virginia. OU’s Dillon Gabriel, who transferred to Oklahoma from UCF, ranks fourth in the Big 12 with 4,027 rushing yards and 16 touchdowns with four interceptions. JT Daniels of West Virginia is right there with 2.042 passing yards this season, 13 touchdowns and eight interceptions.

If the game is close at the end and comes down to a field goal, West Virginia may have a leg up on the Sooners. The Mountaineers’ Casey Legg is tied for first nationally in field goal percentage, connecting on all 12 of his field goal tries in 2022.

Here are several more compelling storylines tied to OU vs. West Virginia on Saturday:

  • Oklahoma is the only team among current Big 12 teams that West Virginia has not beaten since becoming a member of the conference in 2012.
  • The Sooners lead the Big 12 and rank 12th among FBS teams with 219.8 rushing yards per game. West Virginia ranks fourth in the Big 12 (one spot back of Baylor) and 55th nationally in rushing defense.
  • West Virginia is 11-3-1 historically in games played on Nov. 12 and 3-1-1 in games played at home on that date.
  • Since 1980, West Virginia is 208-26-1 when scoring 30 or more points. The Mountaineers are 67-7 since 2000 when scoring at least 40 points.
  • Oklahoma has won 24 of its last 27 games played in the month of November.
  • West Virginia is 44-5 under head coach Neal Brown when leading at halftime and that improves to 47-3 when leading after three quarters.
  • The Sooners rank fourth in the country over the last 20 seasons (2003-2022) in winning percentage away from home (89-31, .742).
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