MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia concludes its regular season with a road game at Oklahoma State on Saturday afternoon at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
 
West Virginia (4-7, 2-6) is coming off a 48-31 loss to now-15^th-ranked Kansas State last Saturday at Milan Puskar Stadium. Sophomore Garrett Greene earned his first start at quarterback one week after leading WVU to a come-from-behind 23-20 win over Oklahoma – West Virginia's first against the Sooners since joining the Big 12 in 2012.
 
Greene completed 15 of his 27 pass attempts for 204 yards and three touchdowns and ran for a 13-yard score. The Tallahassee, Florida, resident's 2022 passing numbers show 35 completions in 64 attempts for 445 yards and five touchdowns with a pair of interceptions, both coming against K-State.
 
He ran for 119 yards and two touchdowns in the Oklahoma victory and has now accounted for 1,191 all-purpose yards in 21 games with the bulk of his playing time coming in the last two.
 
The first interception Greene threw last Saturday against Kansas State was a pick six that was the result of a poor decision, according to offensive coordinator Graham Harrell, but his second was a proper read that he failed to execute properly.
 
Greene did make some explosive plays, including a fantastic 71-yard touchdown pass to Sam James – West Virginia's longest pass play from scrimmage this season. Greene's other touchdown throws covered 26 and 5 yards, also to James.
 
"I think there were some really good things he did and some stuff he needs to get better," West Virginia coach Neal Brown said. "He's got to be better with his eyes, and I think the biggest improvement from last week to this week is he's got to take the layups. He's always looking for the big play and you've got to take the easy ones, and we didn't do a good job of taking some of the easy things Kansas State was giving us last week."
 
This will be the first time Brown will be employing a mobile quarterback against Oklahoma State's aggressive pass rush, which has caused major problems for the Mountaineers in recent games. A strip-sack for a touchdown was a big factor in the Cowboys' 27-13 victory over West Virginia in Stillwater two years ago, and last year, once OSU got up by two scores, it was able to pin its ears back and sack Jarrett Doege a total of eight times for the day.
 
In three prior games against OSU, West Virginia has allowed 16 sacks and 33 tackles for losses totaling 170 yards. This year, Oklahoma State's pressure numbers are similar with the Cowboys getting to opposing quarterbacks 23 times and accumulating 79 total TFLs for minus-240 yards. 
 
Additionally, OSU defenders have hurried the quarterback 72 times.
 
"They're going to pressure and play man coverage, and we've got to be prepared for that," Brown said.
 
West Virginia senior right guard Doug Nester, who started last year's game against Oklahoma State, admits the offensive line will have more room for error with a mobile quarterback this Saturday.
 
"We don't have to be perfect with our blocking this week," he admitted.
 
The negative yardage plays West Virginia has sustained against Oklahoma State have factored in significantly to its poor rushing totals against the Cowboys. WVU has managed an average of only 37 yards per game on the ground, including last year's anemic 17 yards.
 
Oklahoma State (7-4, 4-4), which reached as high as No. 7 in the polls following its 41-31 win against Texas Tech, saw its playoff hopes dashed a week later when it lost 43-40 in two overtimes at TCU.
 
During that game, senior quarterback Spencer Sanders got injured and the remaining six games have been a rollercoaster ride for the Cowboys. Oklahoma State outlasted Texas 41-34 on homecoming but lost its next two games on the road at Kansas State and Kansas by a combined score of 85-16. 
 
Back at Boone Pickens Stadium, however, OSU clipped Iowa State 20-14 before last Saturday's 28-13 loss at Oklahoma.
 
"You're on a pass-fail system each week, and we got a fail last week," Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy said. "Nobody likes that. The good thing about this generation – without getting into a long, drawn-out deal – they kind of roll through things pretty quick."
 
"They're experiencing some adversity, too, in the second half of the season," Brown noted, "but it's a group that plays a whole lot better at home."
 
OSU is just 1-4 on the road while winning all six home games this year. The Cowboys currently have the sixth-longest active home winning streak with 14 straight wins dating back to its 41-34 overtime loss to Texas on Oct. 31, 2020.
 
By comparison, West Virginia is 1-5 in road games this season and has lost its three conference road contests by an average margin of 24.3 points per game.
 
A less-than-healthy Sanders has managed to complete 57.6% of his passes for 2,642 yards and 17 touchdowns with nine interceptions this season. He is also the team's second-leading rusher with 391 yards and eight touchdowns, but those numbers are down from last year when he threw 20 touchdown passes and ran for 668 yards.
 
Consequently, Oklahoma State, known for generating lots of explosive plays in the past, has had just four plays of 50 yards or longer from scrimmage this season.
 
"As Spencer Sanders go, they go," Brown pointed out. "He's been banged up a little bit and didn't play his best game last week, but I fully expect him to bounce back. He probably played as well as I've ever seen him play earlier in the year when they were rolling offensively."
 
Leading rusher Dominic Richardson is averaging just 3.6 yards per carry while top receiver Brennan Presley shows an average of 11.8 yards for his 56 receptions. Braydon Johnson has been OSU's big play threat with an average of 18.8 yards on 27 catches.
 
West Virginia is looking to snap its seven-game losing streak to the Cowboys and end its season on a positive note. WVU will fail to play in a bowl game for the second time in Neal Brown's four-year tenure, which includes losing records in 2019, 2021 and 2022. He shows a 21-25 overall record heading into Saturday's finale.
 
"This is our last game," Brown said. "We don't like it, but it is what it is. I think this week is about gratitude, and we're thankful for a lot of different things, including the opportunity to finish on the right note. This will be the last time this team will be together, and we'll make it a good week and a fun week for the guys. I fully expect us to go out and play hard and give ourselves a chance to win.
 
"I know a lot of you are going to ask questions about next week, and here is how I'm dealing with it with our players … we'll deal with that when it happens," he said. "Whatever comes, we'll deal with it, and we'll deal with it head-on, but right now it's about Oklahoma State."
 
The Cowboys plan to recognize their 26 senior players beforehand.
 
Saturday's game will kick off at noon EST and will be televised nationally on ESPN2 (Jay Alter and Charles Arbuckle).
 
Mountaineer Sports Network coverage on stations throughout West Virginia begins with the GoMart Mountaineer Tailgate Show at 9 a.m. leading into regular network coverage with Tony Caridi, Dwight Wallace, and Jed Drenning at 11 a.m.
 
Listeners can access the broadcast online at WVUsports.com, the WVU Gameday and The Varsity Network apps, or on satellite radio SiriusXM channel 135 or channel 200 on the XM app.