Oklahoma football: Four downs on a stormy Sooner performance

The prominent English poet Geoffrey Chaucer once penned the phrase, “All good things must come to an end.” That is an apt way to sum up what happened to the Oklahoma football team in losing for the first time ever at West Virginia on a gloomy, November afternoon in the Allegheny Mountains.

West Virginia, which entered the game with a 1-5 record and in last place in the Big 12 managed to outlast a Sooner team that found all kinds of ways to shoot itself in the foot — an albatross this Oklahoma team has been carrying around its neck for most of the season.

How many times this college football season have we summarized the Sooners performance by saying they had opportunities to win a game but just couldn’t pull the right string or strings to get it done? Well, you can chalk up another one.

West Virginia had never beaten Oklahoma in nine tries since joining the Big 12 and was 0-4 when facing the Sooners in Morgantown. Both of those streaks ended on this Saturday when West Virginia’s Casey Legg’s 25-yard field goal cleared the crossbar with as time expired on the game clock.

The Oklahoma defense forced two West Virginia turnovers, but the Sooner offense could not capitalize.

The last four times these two teams had played at Milan-Puskar Stadium in Morgantown, the game had been a high-scoring affair with an average final score of 53-41 in the Sooners’ favor. After a scoreless first quarter, it became evident that scoring was going to come at a premium on this gray and wet day.

The Sooners took a 12-6 lead into the locker room at halftime on a touchdown, a field goal and a two-point fumble return on a mishandled West Virginia extra point attempt.

Oklahoma had 291 yards of offense in the first half but just 135 yards total after intermission.

The Sooners drove 47 yards on eight plays to the West Virginia 29-yard line before the drive stalled. Zach Schmit missed a 46-yard field goal attempt when the ball hit inside the right upright and bounded off without clearing the crossbar. It was Schmit’s second FG miss of the afternoon. He missed from 54 yards out on the Sooners’ opening drive. (Missed opportunities!)

West Virginia took over at their own 29 after the missed OU field goal try, 71 yards away with 6:24 to go in the game. Fifteen plays, five first downs and 65 yards later and the stage was set for Legg’s winning field goal.

Here, in four downs, is a breakdown of how the game went:

First down

OU running back Eric Gray was a one-man offensive show as far as the Sooners were concerned. For the first time this season, the former Tennessee transfer gained over 200 yards rushing. Gray rushed for 211 yards on 25 carries and averaged 8.4 yards per rush. He scored both Oklahoma touchdowns. His performance at West Virginia was the second-best rushing game of his career. He had a 246-yard rushing day against Vanderbilt his freshman season at Tennessee.

Second down

After a sluggish offensive start, West Virginia replaced starting quarterback JT Daniels with backup Garrett Greene. That turned out to be a winning decision. In the quarter-plus that Daniels was in the game, he completed 7 of 12 passes for 65 yards and had a pass intercepted. The difference was stark. Greene, who gave the Mountaineers a running threat, completed 12 of 22 passes for 138 yards and a touchdown, but the difference was what he did with his legs. The redshirt sophomore also ran for 119 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Greene accounted for 20 of West Virginia’s 23 points.

Third down

The Sooners were absolutely abysmal on third down. They had 11 third-down possessions and converted just one. That pathetic ratio is not going to win you many games. The Oklahoma offensive unit was also 0 for 2 on fourth-down attempts. The Sooners were equally bad defensively on third down, which has been a big problem all season. West Virginia was 7 of 19 in third-down tries and — OUch! — was 4 of 5 on fourth down. In the last two games, OU’s opponents have been 7 of 8 in fourth-down attempts.

Fourth down

Twenty-three — count ’em! That’s how many points/potential scoring opportunities Oklahoma left on the field against West Virginia:

• Missed 54-yard field goal on the Sooners’ opening possession.
• Danny Stutsman intercepted at West Virginia pas at the OU 48-yard line on the Mountaineers’ first possession, but the Sooners could gain just one yard on three plays and had to punt. (Another possible FG opportunity after handed a short field.).
• Early in the second quarter, Brayden Willis caught what appeared to be a 6-yard touchdown pass, but the Sooners were called for offensive pass interference, which moved the ball back to the 19-yard line. OU had to trade a touchdown for a 32-yard field goal.
• Midway through the second-quarter, Marvin Mims was open on a deep throw from Dillon Gabriel and would have scored easily but Mims couldn’t bring it in as the ball glanced off of his hands. (A sure seven points.)
• Zach Schmit’s missed 46-yard field goal with just over six minutes remaining in the game would have given the Sooners a three-point advantage, 23-20. Instead, West Virginia closed out the game and the win with the drive that ended in the game-winning field goal as time expired.

That’s the way the ball bounces as the Sooners fall to 2-5 in the Big 12 and 5-5 for the season. The last time Oklahoma lost five games in a season was in 2014. OU has not lost more than five games since losing eight times in 1998, the year before Bob Stoops took over from John Blake.