Baker Mayfield passed for 320 yards and three touchdowns, and No. 15 Oklahoma defeated No. 23 West Virginia 44-24 Saturday in the Big 12 opener for both teams. West Virginia benefited on 50 yards in penalties (three personal fouls, offsides) on the scoring drive. Linebacker Eric Striker was able to force a fumble that Jordan Evans returned for a 45-yard touchdown. Out of rhythm from the jump, Howard struggled with accuracy and decision making throughout. Last season Perine ran for 242 yards and had 4 touchdowns in a single game against West Virginia. The Mountaineers 110% with that kind of offense and a defense tough as nails the Sooners better bring their A-game if they don’t want it to be a shutout.
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Statistically speaking, how the Sooners and West Virginia do in the third quarter could well be a strong barometer on which team prevails at the final gun.
The 3-3-5 as West Virginia’s unmistakable plan was conceived in 2002, after Rich Rodriguez’s first group went 3-8, and partially to expand the sort of ability the Mountaineers could draw in. The Wildcats rank eighth nationally in both scoring and rushing defense.
Considering the Mountaineers’ defense seems to be greatly improved – they lead the FBS in points allowed (7.7 per game) and turnover margin (plus-3 per game) – it would seem to behoove Oklahoma to avoid an offensive shootout this time around.
Baker Mayfield threw a 17-yard touchdown to Mark Andrews for his third touchdown of the season. There were also a few questionable play calls with the Sooners up late in the game.
Bob Stoops was asked in his weekly press conference on Monday what a reasonable expectation for college defenses these days with more and more teams going to spread offenses and putting up big yardage numbers seemingly every week. Can they force the Sooners into early mistakes?
The first full week of conference play takes place on October 3 with all 10 teams in action. In the receiving end, Shelton Gibson had 118 yards and two touchdowns in six receptions while Jordan Thompson added 42 yards in three receptions.
– Paul Rhoads said Iowa State had a positive open date and will have its healthiest team so far this season after getting back several guys that either haven’t played or have been banged up the first three games. West Virginia had a school-record 37 first downs against Maryland….
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Wisconsin (3-2, 0-1) had its 10-game winning streak at Camp Randall Stadium snapped, and lost for only the eighth time in its last 79 home games dating to 2004. His favorite target is wide receiver Sterling Shepard. The Sooners are averaging 9 yards per snap. In addition, Mayfield has fit in with the new Sooners’ offense perfectly. A fumble by Westbrook led to a short Josh Lambert field goal that made it 24-17 midway through the third quarter. A Skyler Howard 50-yard touchdown run pulled WVU to within three, but OU answered 37 second later on a 71-yard Durron Neal score. However, Oklahoma would quickly return the favor when Mayfield would throw a pass directly into the hands of Karl Joseph on a play that looked like the ball was intended for the West Virginia senior safety putting the Mountaineers at the 47-yard line with 11:19 on the clock. In 2009, the Crimson Tide destroyed the Gators 32-13 after Florida entered the SEC Championship game favored to win. Howard will have a nice day on the road keeping this game in check.
