MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - What eighth-ranked Oklahoma is bringing to Morgantown in terms of pure offensive firepower is the best West Virginia has seen since probably 2002 when No. 1-ranked Miami came to Mountaineer Field.

 

That year, the Hurricanes had an explosive, three-pronged attack featuring quarterback Ken Dorsey, running back Willis McGahee and Quadtrine Hill, downfield pass-catching threat Andre Johnson and tight end Kellen Winslow Jr.

 

And each of them produced in a big way in the Hurricane’s 40-23 victory.

 

Dorsey passed for 422 yards and two touchdowns - six of those going to Johnson for 111 yards and two scores, six also going to Hill for 108 yards and four to Winslow Jr. for 64 yards.

 

McGahee added 112 yards and three touchdowns on the ground and contributed 71 more yards in the passing game as Miami rolled up 524 yards of offense.

 

What West Virginia is facing on Saturday against 8-2 Oklahoma looks to be very comparable.

 

“The good news is they only have one ball so only one of them can get it at a time,” West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen joked. “They’re playing lights out. They have the best offense in this league, which is known as an offensive league. They’re the ones that have it going on more than anybody.”

 

Sooner quarterback Baker Mayfield is completing an impressive 72 percent of his pass attempts for 3,212 yards and 33 touchdowns through 10 games so far this season.

 

His worst game this year - 226 yards and two touchdowns in an early season loss to No. 2 Ohio State - would be considered acceptable to almost any other quarterback playing the game today.

 

He threw for 545 yards and seven touchdowns against Texas Tech and has thrown at least two touchdown passes in every game this season.

 

“Mayfield is a great quarterback and is just a ballplayer,” Holgorsen said.

 

The junior’s top target is Dede Westbrook, who shows 68 catches for 1,254 yards and 14 touchdowns, including one covering 88 yards.

 

“He’s got unbelievable speed and he’s a tough kid - he’s the kid Karl (Joseph) hit along the sidelines (in last year’s game in Norman),” Holgorsen said. “He changes direction. He can over-the-top you, catch it over his shoulder, he’s great in the return game and I don’t see any weaknesses. Every quality that you look for he’s got.”

 

Westbrook ranks among some of the better pass catchers in the last 10 to 15 years to have played in Milan Puskar Stadium, in the same class with Kansas State’s Tyler Lockett, TCU’s Josh Doctson, Baylor’s Terrance Williams, LSU’s Odell Beckham Jr., Rutgers’ Kenny Britt and Pitt’s Larry Fitzgerald.

 

Then, when defenses drop back in coverage and try to take away Westbrook over top, that’s when the Sooners give the ball to Joe Mixon and Samaje Perine.

 

Mixon has gotten the bulk of the work in recent weeks because Perine has been banged up a little bit, but Mountaineer fans are well aware of what Perine can do on a football field. He introduced himself to the nation in Morgantown on September 20, 2014 when he ran for 242 yards and scored four touchdowns.

 

Perine, now a junior, is within range of breaking Billy Sims’ OU record for rushing, the Pflugerville, Texas, resident needing just 482 more yards to top the former Heisman Trophy winner.

 

“He’s a great player and he’s had a great career at Oklahoma,” Holgorsen noted. “We know he’s been banged up this year but we also know what he’s capable of. We saw him last year when he was healthy and we saw him two years ago when he was healthy.”

 

In six games this year, Perine shows 587 yards and eight touchdowns - the bulk of that coming in OU’s 45-40 victory over Texas when he ran for 214 yards and scored two touchdowns.

 

Mixon has really picked up the slack during Perine’s absence and is on the verge of reaching 1,000 yards for the season, the Oakley, California, resident needing just 63 yards in his remaining two regular season games to do so.

 

“Mixon is coming into his own,” Holgorsen said.

 

Despite surrendering a Big 12-low 20.6 points per game and holding down some high-powered offensive attacks, it’s unrealistic to expect West Virginia’s defense to keep the Sooners out of the end zone.

 

OU ranks second in the Big 12, averaging 44.2 points per game, so it will be imperative for West Virginia’s offense to come up with a way to control the football, keep OU’s offensive weapons off the field, and score points when it gets into the red zone.

 

West Virginia’s offense has performed effectively at times this year, but last week it managed just 114 yards on the ground against Texas and was unable to get some critical third-down conversions late in the game to run out the clock.

 

The 10^th-ranked Mountaineers were down to their No. 3 running back, true freshman Kennedy McKoy, and he responded with a 73-yard, two-touchdown performance against the Longhorns.

 

Starter Rushel Shell III carried the ball just one time for two yards before returning to the sidelines with what is being termed a “lower body extremity injury” and backup Justin Crawford has also been hindered physically.

 

He got three early carries for 12 yards, fumbled in the red zone and didn’t play the rest of the afternoon.

 

Crawford, Shell and McKoy have combined to rush for 1,563 yards and score 11 touchdowns while averaging 5.8 yards per carry.

 

But West Virginia’s inability to sustain its ground game against Texas put more pressure on quarterback Skyler Howard to complete passes downfield. He did throw for 269 yards and a touchdown, but also tossed three interceptions - one of those coming in the end zone.

 

Howard is completing 64.5 percent of his passes for 2,562 yards and 17 touchdowns, but has not topped 300 yards through the air since the Texas Tech game on October 15.

 

“The biggest thing I’m stressing with these guys offensively is just be consistent,” Holgorsen said. “Be consistent in how you practice and be consistent in how you play.”

 

Senior Daikiel Shorts Jr. has been Howard’s top target, catching a team-best 51 passes for 753 yards and four touchdowns. Junior Ka’Raun White is now second on the team with 42 catches for 488 yards and three touchdowns, while junior Shelton Gibson continues to be the Mountaineers’ top downfield threat with 701 yards receiving for an average of 20 yards per catch and six touchdowns.

 

Oklahoma has given up points this year. The Sooners rank sixth in the Big 12 in points allowed, surrendering 30.8 points per game, but OU has tightened that up significantly the last three weeks by allowing just three to Kansas and 24 each against Iowa State and Baylor.

 

The two areas where Oklahoma has really struggled this year are against the pass (297.1 yards per game) and third-down effectiveness (opponents are converting 45.1 percent).

 

If these figures hold true on Saturday, more fireworks could be in store, particularly if West Virginia can regain its offensive rhythm.

 

“Probably at some point this year we’re going to need the offense to play better if we’re going to want to win,” Holgorsen cautioned.

 

OU coach Bob Stoops has won both times he’s brought teams to Morgantown in 2012 (50-49) and 2014 (45-33), but he’s anticipating a super-charged atmosphere on Saturday night.

 

“It’s always challenging but exciting though,” he said. “It’s challenging because they always have a raucous crowd and a sold-out stadium - a night atmosphere so it will be exciting and challenging as always. But I can’t emphasize enough that it’s exciting as well.”

 

As of Wednesday morning, there are still a limited number of tickets remaining and those can be purchased by logging on to WVUGAME.com or by calling the Mountaineer Ticket Office toll-free at 1-800-WVU GAME.

 

ABC will televise the battle of two top-10-ranked teams to a national audience with its No. 1 crew of Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit and Sam Ponder in town to call the game.

 

The Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG’s radio coverage begins with the Go-Mart Mountaineer tailgate show leading into regular game coverage with Tony Caridi, Dwight Wallace and Jed Drenning on stations throughout West Virginia and online via leanStream and the mobile app TuneIn.

 

Legendary Mountaineer standout Jeff Hostetler, who led West Virginia to a 41-27 victory over the Sooners in 1982, will be WVU’s honorary captain.

 

The contest will kick off at 8 p.m.