It All Comes Down To Sooners, ’Eers
Berth in Big 12 Title Game at stake tonight
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MORGANTOWN -- Those in charge of making out the football schedule for the Big 12 Conference did so knowing that No. 6 Oklahoma (10-1 overall, 7-1 Big 12) is almost always in the hunt for the league's championship.
And with all the preseason hype surrounding No. 13 West Virginia (8-2, 6-2), Heisman Trophy hopeful Will Grier and Biletnikoff Award finalist David Sills V, it was believed that it too would still be in the hunt for a berth in next weekend's Big 12 Championship game.
What the schedule makers did not expect was the Mountaineers' loss to a then-unranked Iowa State squad and the Sooners' defeat at No. 15 Texas.
But here we are on the last weekend of the regular season and the schedule makers got what they wished -- a matchup between OU and WVU that will be a winner-take-all clash when the game kicks off at 8 p.m. tonight on ESPN.
"We do our best as coaches not to look ahead," WVU's Dana Holgorsen said. "Obviously when this schedule came out over a year ago, our hopes were for this game to mean something. This is the first time in our Big 12 tenure that this game means something.
"I know we've only had the championship game for two years, but we knew we were going to have to go through OU to be able to get there. So, here it is. We have to go through OU to be able to get to the championship game, and that's right where we wanted to be.
"This game is going to be exciting, and we're looking forward to what's as good of a matchup as you could possibly get. It's Friday night, Thanksgiving weekend, primetime, 8 o'clock, ESPN, a couple of pretty good football teams linking up and the winner goes to the championship game. So, explain to me how that gets better."
Winning the game would make it better. Especially against a team the Mountaineers have not beaten since they joined the Big 12 in 2012, including a trio of losses at Milan Puskar Stadium.
Offensively, the game could resemble the Mountaineers' first game in conference play -- a 70-63 victory over Baylor.
The game features two of the top quarterbacks in the country in OU's Kyler Murray and WVU's Grier. Two of the top pass catchers in D-I football in OU's Marquise 'Hollywood' Brown and WVU's Sills. And, two of the best offensive lines in the Big 12.
Murray has lived up to his accolades following a transfer from Texas A&M. Already signed to play baseball in Oakland this spring, Murray has 3,310 yards and 34 touchdowns while Grier, who came to Morgantown via the University of Florida, has 3,325 yards and 33 touchdown passes on his resume.
"I understand why quarterbacks transfer at times," Holgorsen said. "Will needed a fresh start, and it has obviously worked out for Will, right? Murray goes to Oklahoma for whatever reason he felt like he needed to leave and get a fresh start, and he waited his turn, and it's really worked out well for him, too."
Defensively, the game will come down to which team forces a turnover, or gets a three-and-out, or holds the opposing offense to field goals instead of touchdowns.
"That's just the style of play with really, really good football players," Holgorsen said.. "There's going to be points and that's just the way it's going to be in the Big 12."