Sooners Roll in Norman on Saturday Night

Saturday, November 11

Norman, Okla.

7:00 p.m.

West Virginia University

6-4 , 4-3

Oklahoma

8-2 , 5-2

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
West Virginia	7	7	6	0	20
Oklahoma	14	17	14	14	59

Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks

November 11, 2023 10:50 PM | Football

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By: John Antonik

Oklahoma quarterback Dillon Gabriel was responsible for eight touchdowns in the Sooners' 59-20 runaway victory over West Virginia tonight at Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma.

The 17^th-ranked Sooners scored on nine of their first 11 offensive possessions and amassed 644 yards of total offense for the game.

Gabriel completed 23 of his 36 pass attempts for 423 yards and five touchdowns. He ran 11 times for 50 yards and three scores.

Gavin Sawchuk contributed 135 yards rushing on 22 carries, while Drake Stoops led all receivers with 10 catches for 164 yards and three touchdowns.

Tonight's loss was West Virginia's worst in Norman since falling 52-10 to the Sooners back in 1978.

"It was bad football," West Virginia coach Neal Brown said. "It was really poor execution and poor coaching. I didn't see it coming, and it's not what we've put on film this year."

Before the game got out of hand, West Virginia started and ended the first half well. Unfortunately, what happened in between was another matter.

The Mountaineers (6-4, 4-3) opened the game by taking the ball at their own 25 and driving the length of the field to score the game's first touchdown. A Garrett Greene 32-yard pass to Devin Carter got the ball to OU's 20, and two plays later, CJ Donaldson Jr. broke free and ran 13 yards for a touchdown. The sophomore has now scored touchdowns in nine of 10 games this year.

West Virginia, after getting stuffed on the goal line on its next-to-last possession of the half, got the football back with a minute left at its own 25 and used a Greene to Carter 28-yard pass hookup, a fourth-down completion to Hudson Clement and a couple of pass interference penalties to set up Greene's 3-yard touchdown toss to tight end Kole Taylor.

In between, West Virginia netted just 13 yards on 17 plays and Oklahoma scored on five straight possessions for 31 unanswered points.

The Sooners (8-2, 5-2) used a half-dozen chunk plays that resulted in couple of Gabriel short touchdown runs and two Gabriel touchdown passes of 3 yards to tight end Austin Stogner and 32 yards to Jayden Gibson.

Zach Schmit added a 23-yard field goal.

West Virginia's Michael Hayes, who came into the game making 12 of his 13 field goal attempts, missed a 48-yard try late in the first quarter. The Mountaineers also missed a fourth-down conversion on their side of the field, leading to Schmit's chip-shot field goal.

To begin the third quarter, Oklahoma took just four plays and 1:12 to revisit the end zone when Stoops took a Gabriel pass 60 yards for a touchdown. Schmit's conversion kick made the score 38-14,

West Virginia benefited from Stoops' unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and Preston Fox's 22-yard kickoff return to take over at its 39. Donaldson runs of 11, 14 and 7 yards and a Greene 15-yard scramble moved the ball to the Sooner 8. On the next play, Donaldson's night ended when his left ankle got rolled up at the 7. He gained 79 yards on 14 carries.

Two plays after Donaldson was helped off the field, Greene found Carter in the middle of the end zone for a 7-yard touchdown. Greene's two-point conversion pass to Fox was unsuccessful.

A defensive stop gave the ball back to the Mountaineers, but West Virginia gave the ball right back to Oklahoma one play after EJ Horton was unable to hold on to Greene's pass at midfield. Another pass in Horton's direction was deflected right into the arms of Reggie Pearson, who returned the interception 12 yards to the WVU 43.

Stoops' second visit to the end zone capped OU's six-play, 43-yard drive when he caught Gabriel's 9-yard touchdown pass. This time he chose not to spike the football and draw a penalty. That score made it 45-20.

Stoops got the hat trick in touchdowns with 13:46 left in the fourth quarter when he caught Gabriel's fifth touchdown pass, another 9-yarder. Stoops took a hard hit from Anthony Wilson and a skirmish ensued in the back of the end zone. It continued during the conversion kick when offensive lineman McKade Mettauer went after Wilson and was ejected for two personal foul penalties.

Fifty-two points was apparently not enough for Oklahoma nor Gabriel. The senior remained in with the game well in hand and was responsible for his eighth touchdown, this one coming with 7:59 left when he scored from the 5.

It was a difficult night all-around for the Mountaineers. Greene completed just 10 of his 27 pass attempts for 154 yards. The WVU ground attack, which came into tonight's game ranked seventh in the country in rushing, averaging 218 yards per game, got 42 yards fewer than that tonight on 41 attempts.

Carter led WVU's pass catchers with three catches for 67 yards.

"Quite frankly I'm (upset), and nearly embarrassed with what we put on tape today," Brown said. "We didn't make enough competitive plays, they did, and that's why they kicked our tails."

This is the final game in the foreseeable future for these two teams with Oklahoma leaving the Big 12 for the Southeastern Conference next year.

The loss snaps West Virginia's two-game winning streak with regular season games left against Cincinnati and Baylor.

The Mountaineers wrap up the home portion of the regular-season schedule next Saturday when it plays host to Cincinnati. During the game, WVU will recognize its Hall of Fame coach Don Nehlen by placing his name on the Diversified Energy Terrace façade next to Mountaineer football's retired uniform numbers.

An announcement with the start time will be forthcoming.