NCAAF Game Recap - Oklahoma at West Virginia
Fri Nov 23, 2018 8:00 PM EST

Aub
21
Bama
52
F
SCar
35
Clem
56
F
ND
24
USC
17
F
Mich
39
OSU
62
F
GATec
21
UGA
45
F
Okla
59
WVU
56
F
Wash
28
WaSt
15
F
UCF
38
SoFL
10
F
LSU
72
TxAM
74
F(6OT)
Tex
24
Kans
17
F
Fla
41
FlaSt
14
F
UtSt
24
Boise
33
F
MD
3
PSU
38
F
KY
56
Lou
10
F
BYU
27
Utah
35
F
Syr
42
BC
21
F
Ill
16
NW
24
F
MissSt
35
Miss
3
F
Pitt
3
MiaFL
24
F
K St
38
IASt
42
F
NIU
21
WestMI
28
F
Ball
21
MiaOH
42
F
ColSt
19
AF
27
F
Hou
31
Mem
52
F
Neb
28
Iowa
31
F
C Mi
13
Toled
51
F
Akr
28
Ohio
49
F
E Mi
28
Kent
20
F
Buff
44
BGSU
14
F
Ark
0
MIZ
38
F
CoCar
28
SoAl
31
F
UVA
31
VaTec
34
F OT
ECU
6
Cin
56
F
Oreg
55
OreSt
15
F
Navy
28
Tul
29
F
Bayl
35
TxTch
24
F
W Ky
30
LT
15
F
Purd
28
Ind
21
F
Marsh
28
FLInt
25
F
NCSt
34
UNC
28
F OT
Wake
59
Duke
7
F
OD
13
Rice
27
F
GaSo
35
GASt
14
F
NMS
21
Lib
28
F
Wyo
31
NM
3
F
Troy
10
App
21
F
Del
6
JMU
20
F
ULLaf
31
ULMon
28
F
Stan
49
UCLA
42
F
SMiss
39
UTEP
7
F
UAB
3
MidTN
27
F
AzSt
41
Ariz
40
F
MIN
37
Wisc
15
F
SMU
24
Tuls
27
F
Temp
57
UConn
7
F
ArkSt
33
TxSt
7
F
Tenn
13
Vand
38
F
Rut
10
MSU
14
F
UNCC
27
FlAtl
24
F
SJSU
13
Fres
31
F
Colo
21
Cal
33
F
NorTx
24
UTSA
21
F
(N/A)
27
JacSt
34
F
OkSt
24
TCU
31
F
NEV
29
UNLV
34
F
Hawaii
31
SDSU
30
F OT

Nov 23, 2018, 8:00 PM EST

Final

1

2

3

4

T

(6) Oklahoma (11-1)

14

21

10

14

59

(12) West Virginia (8-3)

14

14

21

7

56

Slugfest: No. 6 Oklahoma outlasts No. 12 WVU 59-56
Sat Nov 24, 2018 1:10 AM

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) No. 6 Oklahoma has been scoffed at for handing points and yards to opponents like presents, and it wasn't any different against No. 12 West Virginia. Yet a couple of defensive gems now have the Sooners playing for their fourth straight Big 12 championship.

Oklahoma scored two defensive touchdowns to support another brilliant performance by Kyler Murray and the Sooners beat No. 12 West Virginia 59-56 Friday night to earn a spot in next week's title game.

Oklahoma (11-1, 8-1, No. 6 CFP) survived a wild and mostly defenseless affair that featured 1,372 yards of offense to earn a rematch Dec. 1 in Arlington, Texas, against No. 11 Texas, which beat Kansas earlier Friday.

"We'll certainly be excited to play those guys," Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley said. "But, more than anything, one huge goal we set out was we want to be the only team ever to win four of these in a row."

Oklahoma also kept its College Football Playoff chances alive. The Sooners remain the only Big 12 team that West Virginia (8-3, 6-3, No. 13 CFP) hasn't beaten since the Mountaineers joined the league in 2012.

Oklahoma players sang West Virginia's anthem, John Denver's "Take Me Home, Country Roads" on the way to the locker room after the game.

"It was fun," Murray said. "There's no other way to describe it."

Murray finished 20 of 27 for 364 yards and three touchdown passes and converted a late fourth down to seal a matchup of Heisman Trophy hopefuls. West Virginia's Will Grier threw for four touchdowns and a career-high 539 yards on 32 of 49 passing. But Grier lost two fumbles, both of which were returned for touchdowns.

"When you score two touchdowns defensively, you like your chances," Riley said.

Oklahoma linebacker Caleb Kelly had a 12-yard TD return in the second quarter.

With the Mountaineers trying to regain momentum early in the fourth, Grier was spun around by defensive end Kenneth Mann during a scramble and lost the ball. Oklahoma linebacker Curtis Bolton picked it up and ran 48 yards for a touchdown to put the Sooners ahead 59-49.

"I'm disappointed for our seniors. We fought hard and came up a little bit short," West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen said. "As well as we played offensively, giving them 14 points is inexcusable."

Grier said he was trying to throw the ball out of bounds when Mann hit him.

"They got to me quite a bit tonight," he said "To scoop and score both of those is pretty impressive on their part. They made some plays."

Martell Pettaway's 17-yard TD run with 4:20 left made it a one-score game. But Oklahoma recovered the ensuing onside kick and ran out the clock, thanks to Murray, who found CeeDee Lamb for 8 yards on a fourth-and-5 with 2:10 from the West Virginia 40.

THE TAKEAWAY

Oklahoma: The Sooners were unremarkable on defense yet again, but those two stellar plays were the difference. On offense the Sooners surpassed 290 rushing yards for the sixth straight game, coinciding with their six-game winning streak. They also improved their national-best road winning streak to 20 games dating to the 2014 season.

West Virginia: The Mountaineers matched the Sooners punch for punch offensively but made a few more mistakes than Oklahoma and finished the regular season with two straight losses, a huge disappointment for a team that believed they had the right mix to win their first league championship. The Mountaineers will also likely miss out on a New Year's Six bowl for the seventh straight season.

"We didn't make our goal," Holgorsen said. "It's a damn shame."

BIG PERFORMANCES

Oklahoma leading receiver Marquise Brown was Murray's favorite target again. Brown had 11 grabs for 243 yards and two scores. West Virginia's Gary Jennings finished with seven catches for a career-high 225 yards. He and David Sills caught two TDs apiece.

The Sooners' Kennedy Brooks ran for a season-high 182 yards while Murray had 115 yards on the ground, including a 55-yard TD. He averaged 12.7 yards per rush.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

West Virginia will fall in the AP Top 25 but should maintain a top-20 ranking.

UP NEXT:

Oklahoma: Meets Texas, which beat the Sooners 48-45 on Oct. 6 in Dallas. Oklahoma is going after its fourth straight league title.

West Virginia: Will await the Dec. 2 announcement of its bowl destination.

---

More AP college football: https://apnews.com/Collegefootball and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25

Passing

Okla Att Cmp % TD-Pa Yds-Pa LgPa Int Rat
K. Murray 27 20 74.1 3 364 65 1 137.5
WVU Att Cmp % TD-Pa Yds-Pa LgPa Int Rat
W. Grier 49 32 65.3 4 539 75 0 129.5

Rushing

Okla Att Yds-Ru Avg LgRu TDRu
K. Brooks 21 182 8.7 68 1
K. Murray 9 114 12.7 55 1
WVU Att Yds-Ru Avg LgRu TDRu
K. McKoy 16 81 5.1 33 1
M. Pettaway 15 76 5.1 17 2

Receiving

Okla Rec Yds-Rc Avg LgRc TD-Rc
M. Brown 11 243 22.1 65 2
C. Lamb 5 53 10.6 23 0
WVU Rec Yds-Rc Avg LgRc TD-Rc
G. Jennings Jr. 7 225 32.1 75 2
D. Sills V 8 131 16.4 41 2

Fumbles

Okla F FL
K. Murray 1 1
WVU F FL
W. Grier 2 2

Returning

Okla KR Avg KRTD LgKR PR Avg TD LgPR
T. Brown 6 19.5 0 43 0 0 0
C. Lamb 0 0 0 1 4.0 0 4
WVU KR Avg KRTD LgKR PR Avg TD LgPR
T. Bush 1 19.0 0 19 0 0 0

Punting

Okla Punt Yds Avg LgPu
A. Seibert 1 45 45.0 45
WVU Punt Yds Avg LgPu
B. Kinney 2 76 38.0 43

Takeaways

Okla Int Yds InTD
C. Bolton 0 0 0
C. Kelly 0 0 0
WVU Int Yds InTD
K. Robinson Jr. 1 0 0

Team Stats Comparison

Okla WVU
Points For 59 56
Total Yards 668 704
Rushing Yards 304 165
Passing Yards 364 539
Passing Completions / Attempts 20/27 32/49
Turnovers 2 2
Interceptions Thrown 1 0
Fumbles - Lost 1/1 2/2
First Downs 25 33
Penalties - Yards 6/60 5/60
Time Of Possession 07:07 53:53
Third Down Conversions/Attempts 4/9 12/18
Fourth Down Conversions/Attempts 2/2 2/3
Punts - Average Yards 1/45 2/38

Scoring Summary

1st Quarter Okla WVU
WVU 04:51 TD David Sills V 41 yd pass from Will Grier (Evan Staley kick) 0 7
Okla 07:41 TD Kyler Murray 55 yd run (Austin Seibert kick) 7 7
WVU 11:09 TD Martell Pettaway 7 yd run (Evan Staley kick) 7 14
Okla 13:29 TD Marquise Brown 25 yd pass from Kyler Murray (Austin Seibert kick) 14 14
2nd Quarter Okla WVU
Okla 07:48 TD Trey Sermon 1 yd run (Austin Seibert kick) 21 14
WVU 10:46 TD David Sills V 10 yd pass from Will Grier (Evan Staley kick) 21 21
Okla 11:30 TD Kennedy Brooks 68 yd run (Austin Seibert kick) 28 21
Okla 11:54 TD Caleb Kelly 10 yd fumble return (Austin Seibert kick) 35 21
WVU 14:42 TD Kennedy McKoy 1 yd run (Evan Staley kick) 35 28
3rd Quarter Okla WVU
WVU 04:28 TD Gary Jennings Jr. 57 yd pass from Will Grier (Evan Staley kick) 35 35
Okla 09:08 FG Austin Seibert 37 yd FG 38 35
WVU 13:08 TD Will Grier 1 yd run (Evan Staley kick) 38 42
Okla 14:25 TD Marquise Brown 45 yd pass from Kyler Murray (Austin Seibert kick) 45 42
WVU 14:43 TD Gary Jennings Jr. 75 yd pass from Will Grier (Evan Staley kick) 45 49
4th Quarter Okla WVU
Okla 03:41 TD Grant Calcaterra 2 yd pass from Kyler Murray (Austin Seibert kick) 52 49
Okla 05:02 TD Curtis Bolton 48 yd fumble return (Austin Seibert kick) 59 49
WVU 10:40 TD Martell Pettaway 17 yd run (Evan Staley kick) 59 56

Game Information

Stadium: Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium, Morgantown, West Virginia
Attendance: 60,713
Game Time:
Weather: