Although both teams are known better for their high-powered offenses, its the Mountaineers’ defense that has raised eyebrows so far during a 3-0 start. The game can be seen on Fox Sports 1. The Sooners, however, lost the last time both sides were ranked, in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl. In 2009, the Crimson Tide destroyed the Gators 32-13 after Florida entered the SEC Championship game favored to win. Perine rushed for 242 yards and four touchdowns to lead Oklahoma to a 45-33 victory over the Mountaineers previous year in Morgantown, WV.2. Oklahoma will hand it off to Samaje Perine, Mayfield will pitch it to Sterling Shepard and roll the Mountaineers, who have played nobody to date. This was so much better that former WVU offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson and current head coach Dana Holgorsen were interested enough to recruit him to their campus on scholarship.
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“We kind of made it popular when I hired Mike from Kentucky from Hal Mumme, and then it spread”, Stoops said.
Between the first and second quarter of the game, OU and the National Football Foundation will honor linebacker Brian Bosworth, who was recently inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. We will take it one game at a time.
As for this year’s OU team, Holgorsen is impressed with Perine as well as first-year starting quarterback Baker Mayfield. “He’s a powerful guy that you have to get more than one person on him to get him to the ground”. That’s 27.4 yards per catch. The junior quarterback has solidified his spot as Oklahoma’s starter with a 79.4 adjusted QBR, 1,201 yards of total offense and 14 total touchdowns. (Redshirt senior tight end) Cody (Clay) and Elijah (Wellman) did a few good things as well. To illustrate that a little more, West Virginia allowed a total of 2,292 yards to opposing offense sin 12 games played in 2013. When playing the Mountaineers you have to be able to respect the long pass and big plays. “I think we’re right there”.
The WVU prevent unit will face its biggest test of the season against an offense which is averaging 533 yards per contest. It is averaging 523 yards of output in 2015 and has outscored its three opponents, 130-23.
Oklahoma defensive back Steven Parker said the Sooners’ secondary received a wake-up call during a 52-38 win over Tulsa on September 19, which he thinks will help them focus going forward. “From their quarterback Skylar Howard to running backs (Wendell) Smallwood and (Rushel) Shell and wideouts (Shelton) Thompson, (Jovon) Durant and (Dakiel) Shorts Jr., they have playmakers all over the field”. “We constantly have to keep changing things”, Holgorsen said.
With a big conference opponent like West Virginia in town, we can expect to see a solid group of recruits making the visit to Norman this weekend. Twice in the past three years, the Sooners have struggled to stymie Holgorsen’s offense.
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“The key to a good “Air Raid” offense is to have wide receivers capable of stretching the field”, said Holgerson. Keep in mind, the Bulldogs have replaced five of their front seven from a year ago. Stoops said those games can sometimes be hard to win. If they can get the running game going this week, play good defense and avoid turning the ball over, the Mountaineers could pull off an upset here. They are big. They are physical. They have a lot of players running around out there, and Oklahoma shut them down. To me, it just verifies the work that we, as a football team, did together.
