Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
United Bank Playbook - Oklahoma Preview
November 21, 2018 12:01 PM | Football
| Tale of the Tape |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Points Per Game | 49.5 | 40.9 |
| Points Against | 30.7 | 23.3 |
| Rushing Yards Per Game | 260.7 | 162.0 |
| Rushing Yards Allowed Per Game | 162.2 | 135.5 |
| Passing Yards Per Game | 315.4 | 340.0 |
| Passing Yards Allowed Per Game | 263.6 | 243.7 |
| Total Yards Per Game | 576.1 | 502.0 |
| Total Yards Allowed Per Game | 425.8 | 379.2 |
| First Downs For | 289 | 240 |
| First Downs Against | 258 | 216 |
| Fumbles/Lost | 7/4 | 14/5 |
| Interceptions/Return Ave. | 5/11.0 | 12/15.3 |
| Net Punting | 39.4 | 37.7 |
| Field Goal/Attempts | 11/13 | 12/16 |
| Time of Possession | 29:14 | 28:29 |
| 3rd Down Conversions | 53/104 | 50/120 |
| 3rd Down Conversion Defense | 69/166 | 48/135 |
| Sacks By/Yards Lost | 22/138 | 24/155 |
| Red Zone Scoring | 48/52 | 35/43 |
The winner will likely face Texas in next Saturday's Big 12 championship game at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. All the Longhorns have to do is win at Kansas on Friday afternoon.
"We have to go through OU to get to be able to get to the championship game, and that's right where we want to be," West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen said earlier this week.
Wanting to beat Oklahoma and actually beating the 10-1 Sooners are two different propositions. The Mountaineers have yet to do that since joining the Big 12 in 2012, losing by progressively wider margins each year from a one-point defeat in Morgantown in 2012 to 28-point loss last year in Norman, Oklahoma.
Oklahoma is the only team West Virginia has yet to defeat joining the league so a win over the Sooners would be monumental for Holgorsen's Mountaineer program.
"It would mean a lot," the eighth-year coach admitted. "This is a big game, and our guys feel like they're ready for it."
How big?
For Oklahoma, holding steady at sixth in this week's College Football Playoff rankings, a win over West Virginia might give the Sooners enough of a boost to jump past Georgia to get into the discussion with Michigan and Notre Dame for the fourth and final playoff spot.
For 8-2 West Virginia, out of contention for a playoff spot following last Saturday's 45-41 loss at Oklahoma State, a win over Oklahoma would put it in the Big 12 championship game for the first time since the game's revival last season.
The outcome could also bolster the Heisman Trophy credentials for both starting quarterbacks, Oklahoma's Kyler Murray and West Virginia's Will Grier.
Nearly 20 NFL representatives, including four general managers, are planning to attend Friday's game. Oklahoma is traveling 15 beat writers and journalists from Sports Illustrated, ESPN.com, The Washington Post and The Athletic will also be in Morgantown.
Clearly, their eyes will be on Murray and Grier.Murray has had a phenomenal junior season leading the No. 1-ranked scoring offense in the country that is averaging nearly 50 points per game. The Allen, Texas, resident, originally recruited to Texas A&M by WVU offensive coordinator Jake Spavital before transferring to Oklahoma, has thrown for 3,310 yards and 34 touchdowns while completing 70.3 percent of his attempts.
Murray is also OU's third-leading rusher with 739 yards, 10 touchdowns and an average of 7.1 yards per carry. Murray is averaging 13.4 yards every time he either runs the football or completes a pass, an astonishing figure.
"He was the guy who I put all of my eggs in one basket on," Spavital recalled. "If we didn't sign Kyler Murray at Texas A&M, I probably wasn't going to take a quarterback that year. He's a special player. He was 43-0 as a high school starter in the state of Texas, which he is the only guy to ever do that. He's a very dynamic kid, obviously."
Of all the impressive offensive statistics Oklahoma has compiled this year – and there are too many to recite – West Virginia defensive coordinator Tony Gibson narrowed it down to one: OU has punted the football just 27 times in 11 games this year.
"That's the one where you say 'whoa,'" Gibson noted.
Running quarterbacks have given Gibson's defense fits all season long. After jumping out to 35-10 lead at Texas Tech earlier this year, backup quarterback Jett Duffey nearly ran the Red Raiders right back into the game by gaining most of his 86 rushing yards during Tech's 24-point second half explosion.
In West Virginia's 30-14 defeat at Iowa State on Oct. 13, Cyclone freshman quarterback Brock Purdy passed and ran his way up and down the field on WVU's defense.
Then last Saturday at Oklahoma State, Taylor Cornelius passed for 338 yards and five touchdowns and ran 13 times for 106 yards and another score as the Cowboys rallied from 17 points down at halftime to stun the Mountaineers 45-41.
And while Duffey, Purdy and Cornelius are good quarterbacks, they are not quite in Murray's league when it comes to explosive playmaking, which is what has every coach over in the Milan Puskar Center sitting on pins and needles.
Nor do they have the offensive line or the explosive four- and five-star playmakers Murray has at his disposal in Lincoln Riley's OU offense.
"It's going to be a great challenge," Gibson admitted. "But by no means am I sitting here saying it's undoable. What we have to do is we have to limit big plays, No. 1, and we have to create some turnovers."
Generating those turnovers would give Grier more opportunities to probe an injury-riddled Oklahoma secondary that has given up large chunks of yardage this year.
With the exception of Florida Atlantic and Kansas State, every opponent Oklahoma has faced this year has consistently moved the football against its defense.
A total defensive collapse in the Texas loss in Dallas earlier this year forced Riley to make the unusual decision of firing long-time OU defensive coordinator Mike Stoops.
His midseason replacement, Ruffin McNeill, has not made much difference, especially during OU's last three games when the Sooners have given up 46, 47 and 40 points to Texas Tech, Oklahoma State and Kansas respectively.
During its prior six losses to Oklahoma, West Virginia's offense has had little difficulty moving the football against the Sooners – even during last year's game in Norman after WVU went predominantly to a Wildcat formation with running back Kennedy McKoy taking direct snaps from center after Grier broke the Northern Panhandle finger on his passing hand against Texas the week before.So, Friday will be the first time Oklahoma is facing Grier, the nation's leading touchdown thrower and third-most efficient quarterback.
Grier has passed for more than 300 yards in 18 of his 21 career games at West Virginia, including last Saturday's 364-yard, two-touchdown performance at Oklahoma State.
He's thrown for 3,325 yards and 33 touchdowns in 10 games so far this season, and his 297.0 career yards-per-game average continues to lead all active quarterbacks.
Grier has two of the top pass-catching touchdown producers in the Big 12 in seniors David Sills V (13) and Gary Jennings Jr. (11).
He's also getting more from a running game that saw Martell Pettaway run for 121 yards and score two touchdowns three weeks ago at Texas, and McKoy run for a career-high 148 yards with two touchdowns in last week's loss at Oklahoma State.
A successful running game could also help West Virginia possess the football a little bit longer and keep OU's explosive offense off the field, which is what Army did to Oklahoma in a 28-21 overtime loss to the Sooners earlier this season.
Army ran 87 offensive plays to Oklahoma's 40 and nearly pulled off a monumental upset. Spavital called it "one of the more fascinating games" he's ever watched. It was also similar to what happened to West Virginia at Iowa State when the Cyclones limited the Mountaineers to just 42 total offensive snaps.
But that's likely not going to be the case for either offense on Friday night.
The team with the football more often – or the one who has it last – will probably be the one with the most points on the scoreboard when the clock reads zero.
If that ends up being West Virginia, it will be a signature victory for Holgorsen, who recently moved into second place in all-time wins behind just Hall of Fame coach Don Nehlen at WVU.
"We've gone toe-to-toe with these guys in the past," he said. "There's been fun games, and they've whipped us before as well. But I feel like this is the best team we've had. (Oklahoma is) every bit as good as they always are, but it comes down to this, and I think we will be up to the challenge.
"(A victory) would mean a lot, but I will say it isn't the end-all-be-all now," Holgorsen added.
West Virginia's 17 seniors will be recognized before Friday's game, set to kick off at 8 p.m. to accommodate ESPN's national television coverage. The same crew that called last Saturday's game at Oklahoma State (Sean McDonough, Todd Blackledge and Holly Rowe) are following the Mountaineers to Morgantown.
The Mountaineers Sports Network from IMG's pregame coverage begins at 4:30 p.m. with the GoMart Mountaineer Tailgate Show leading into regular game coverage at 7 p.m. on stations throughout West Virginia and online via WVUsports.com and the popular mobile app TuneIn.
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