Three Quick Takeaways From Oklahoma's Dominant Victory Over West Virginia
NORMAN — After three sloppy performances, Oklahoma had seen enough.
Brent Venables’ No. 17-ranked Sooners, riding a two-game losing streak, looked focused and disciplined Saturday night.
Oklahoma scored on its first five possessions, taking out weeks of frustration on West Virginia with a 59-20 victory at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.
Wide receiver Drake Stoops had another career day for the Sooners (8-2, 5-2 Big 12), hauling in 10 catches for 164 yards and three scores.
Dillon Gabriel had an exceptional day as well, as his 23-of-36 completions for 423 yards and five scores through the air moved him into the top 10 all-time in career passing yards. He also added three rushing touchdowns to his tally, sending the Mountaineers (6-4, 4-3) back to Morgantown with a resounding loss.
Jeff Lebby Stays in Attack Mode
Oklahoma offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby has had a tough couple of weeks.
After taking a brunt of the criticism coming out of OU’s loss to Kansas two weeks ago, he was again in the crosshairs after the Sooners’ disastrous fourth-and-5 play that effectively ended last week’s Bedlam bout.
This week, he pulled out all the stops.
Oklahoma attacked relentlessly downfield, finding plenty of success both through the air and on the ground against West Virginia’s defense.
Lebby’s offense purred, scoring on each of its first five possessions (four touchdowns and a field goal).
Starting with Gavin Sawchuk’s 30-yard run in the first quarter, OU popped six rushes of 10 yards or more and connected on 11 passes for more than 15 yards.
Gabriel found Nic Anderson for a 63-yard pass, and then spread a 32-yard touchdown to Jayden Gibson before Stoops stayed inbounds, broke a tackle and dragged a pile of West Virginia defenders across the goal line for a 60-yard score to open the second half.
OU scored at least two touchdowns in each quarter, and Gabriel ended with 473 yards of total offense by himself.
Anderson also got over 100 yards, finishing the night with 119 receiving yards on four receptions, and Sawchuk rushed the ball 22 times for 135 yards on the ground.
Stutsman’s Return Sparks Defense
With their leader back, Oklahoma’s defense played with more of an edge against West Virginia.
Linebacker Danny Stutsman didn’t need to play every snap to make a difference, but he made his presence felt.
He made his first tackle on the fourth play of the game, which he used as a springboard to look like his typical self.
Stutsman turned away WVU running back CJ Donaldson Jr. on second-and-11 on the defense’s second drive of the game (which resulted in a punt), and then he made a tackle immediately after Gavin Freeman muffed a punt on a drive where the defense bowed up to force a field goal (which West Virginia missed).
Then in the second quarter, Oklahoma engineered another goal line stand.
Garrett Greene found Traylon Ray for 49 yards, where Kani Walker eventually drug him down at the 3-yard line.
From there, a familiar scene played out.
Stutsman and defensive tackle Jacob Lacey stuffed Greene on first down. Kobie McKinzie and Rondell Bothroyd again turned away Greene on second down, and then Da’Jon Terry and Kip Lewis met Donaldson and turned him away on third down to set up fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line.
West Virginia tried a shovel pass to Donaldson, but a mob let by Terry and Robert Spears-Jennings pushed him back, evoking a passionate fist pump from Venables as his defense produced its second stand of the year.
The Mountaineers found some more success throughout the rest of the game, scoring 13 points after getting turned away at the one, but Oklahoma’s defense did its part to snap the Sooners’ losing streak.
A New Hope
As Oklahoma State fans carried the goal post out of Boone Pickens Stadium seven days ago, it appeared Oklahoma’s hopes of reaching the Big 12 Championship were also withering away.
But before OU kicked off against the Mountaineers, the rest of the league delivered a dose of chaos.
Texas Tech went into Lawrence and beat Kansas on what was essentially a walk-off field goal, handing the Jayhawks their third Big 12 loss.
Then UCF delivered perhaps the most shocking result in conference play this year.
In the Knights’ yearly Space Game, UCF launched Oklahoma State into the stratosphere, blowing out the Cowboys 45-3.
The loss brought OSU level with the Sooners in the loss column, though the Cowboys hold the all-important head-to-head tiebreaker over their Bedlam rivals.
OU still needs outside help and to take care of its final two games at BYU and at home against TCU, but the Sooners are just one more upset result away from wrestling back their own destiny in the hunt to get back to Arlington.
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