WVU’s Big 12 Title Game Hopes Are Eliminated
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MORGANTOWN -- When does a football game resemble a tennis match? When it features two of the most prolific offenses in the country.
Case in point occurred at Milan Puskar Stadium when No. 13 West Virginia played host to No. 6 Oklahoma.
Tennis, especially on its highest level, is a game where every point has meaning.
That was the very scenario at Mountaineer Field as the two offenses took turns showing the entire country why their team should be in the discussion when it comes to making the final four teams named in to the College Football Playoff.
West Virginia scored on its first possession to set the tone for the winner-take-all game -- to advance to next Saturday's Big 12 Championship game against Texas - against the Sooners.
The score ping ponged back and forth until a 1-yard run by Trey Sermon - following a rare defensive stop - catapulted the visitors to a seven-point, 28-21 lead.
Finally it was only appropriate that a defensive play became the turning point of the first half.
Trailing by a 28-21 margin following a 68-yard touchdown scamper by OU's Kennedy Brooks, the Mountaineers' Will Grier found himself in a ton of trouble on a 2nd-and-11 at the West Virginia 24.
Dropping back to pass, Grier was immediately pressured by the Sooners' Caleb Kelly. Grier attempted to get away from the OU defender but was unable to and was dropped for a 12-loss.
More importantly, however, Kelly was able to knock the ball loose from the Mountaineers' signal-caller and scoop it up for a 10-yard touchdown run and a 34-21 Sooners' advantage. Senior placekicker Austin Seibert added the PAT and the Mountaineers found itself down by two scores, 35-21, with 3:06 left in the first half.
Grier, who completed 20 of 29 attempts for 262 yards and two touchdowns during the opening 30 minutes was able to march the hosts on a 13-play, 81-yard drive to slice the margin to seven, 35-28, on a Kennedy McKoy one-yard plunge and Evan Staley PAT, but the damage had been done.
In a game where every possession became magnified by the other team's inability to stop your offense, the last thing the Mountaineers could afford was an offensive mistake which led to Oklahoma points.
The second half began with WVU's maligned prevent unit coming up with a turnover as Kenny Robinson picked off a Kyler Murray attempt in the end zone to quell the Sooners' first possession of the final half.
Grier and company made the mistake pay off as the senior quarterback hit Gary Jennings for a 57-yard touchdown to knot the game at 35.
West Virginia's defense again stood tall on OU's second possession, holding the Sooners' to a 37-yard field goal and a 38-35 advantage.
Momentum then swung to the side of the Mountaineers as Grier culminated an 11-play, 75-yard drive with a one-yard sneak for six points and Staley's PAT push the lead back into the favor of the hosts, 42-38.
A 45-yard hookup from Murray to Brown with 35 ticks left on the third quarter clock pushed OU back in front but left too much time on the clock for Grier as WVU's field general connected with Jennings once again - from 75 yards away - to propel the Mountaineers back in front.
But Murray and Company was far from finished as he hit Grant Calcaterra from 2-yards out to regain the lead. Curtis Bolton scooped up a Grier fumble and took it in for a score to make it, 59-49, with 10 minutes showing on the clock.
A 17-yard jaunt by junior running back Martell Pettaway pulled the Mountaineers back to within a field goal, 59-56
Billy Kinney's onside kick was recovered by the Sooners and Murray saved the Sooners' hopes when he connected with CeeDee Lamb for an eight-yard gain on a fourth-and-5 at the West Virginia 32.
Grier and West Virginia's offense would not get back on the field.
Point set and match to the Sooners, who returned to Norman (Okla.) with a 59-56 win.
In a game which featured more than 1300 yards of combined offense, it was two fumbles returned for touchdowns that proved to be the Mountaineers undoing in front of 60,713 fans.
"As well as we played offensively, we can't give up 14 points (on turnovers)," WVU coach Dana Holgorsen. "Those were the difference in the game."