The Sooners are in a rough patch of the season. After a 6-0 start to the season with a win over third-ranked Texas, OU has gone 1-2, with the one win being a two-point win over unranked UCF. We've lost two games in a row. It is time to break the pattern. It's time to get back on the horse and play Oklahoma-style football. And we're going to do that this week against West Virginia.
Oklahoma
The 17th-ranked Sooners are coming off a heartbreaking 27-24 loss to Oklahoma State in the final scheduled Bedlam game for the foreseeable future. See the graphic above for a list of the statistical leaders of the season.
The offense has been very strange lately. They're putting up solid numbers in every category but the scoreboard and on third down. The playcalling has been suspect in critical scenarios, and we have lost the ability to convert on third down. Despite this, our running game has seemingly come to life in the past few weeks. With this, I'm predicting a rather aggressive game on first down that limits how many times we're going to third down. We'll likely see short over-the-middle passes/slants on the first down to create a second and short followed by power runs on second down. The ability to constantly create second and short instead of second and long or medium will be crucial to our offense's success. These short passes will also help rebuild the confidence in Nic Anderson and Jalil Farooq, as they dropped multiple passes last week. Tawee Walker has emerged as the clear best RB on the team, with Gavin Sawchuck in the second spot. This combo will get a lot of action on Saturday.
The defensive line looked leagues better against Oklahoma State than they did against Kansas, but they put almost no pressure on the QB and didn't consistently get behind the line of scrimmage. I'm predicting we see a lot more stunts from the DEs and bull-rushes from the DTs to try and bully a West Virginia offensive line that controlled the game last year. I'm praying to see Danny Stutsman come back to help the defense return to what they were before he went down against Kansas. On top of all this, I wouldn't be surprised to see Kip Lewis get the start over Jaren Kanak. The redshirt freshman had a phenomenal game against Oklahoma State last week, totaling 15 tackles where Kanak struggled. Finally, I'm anticipating we see a lot of tight press zones in the secondary. Soft coverage allowed a mediocre QB in Alan Bowman to torch our defense last week, and the WVU QB can fly on the ground. The zone defenses will help keep people around to stop the QB run game, and the press coverage will (hopefully) eliminate the quick pass game.
West Virginia
The Mountaineers feel good after coming off a dominant 37-7 victory over BYU in week 10. See the graphic above for a list of their statistical leaders from the season.
The Mountaineer offense is an offense that loves to run the ball. They run the ball 63.8% of the time and do it incredibly well. They've run for 1,962 yards, averaging 4.8 yards per carry. Given that our defense has struggled against the run lately, I anticipate a lot of running from West Virginia, primarily in the read-option game. Not only can their QB Garrett Greene run the ball well (and fast), but they have two running backs, CJ Donaldson Jr and Jahiem White, who combine for 197 rushes and 1,092 yards (5.5 yards per carry). This is not going to be an easy run game to stop. We will see this rushing attack for most of the game, combined with the occasional play-action deep shot to catch our defense biting on the run. Our defense has been stout against the deep ball this year, but that doesn't mean WVU can't take advantage of any mistakes our defense makes.
West Virginia has a solid defense to go against the Sooners. They're towards the middle or the top half of almost every defensive stat in the Big 12. While the Oklahoma offense did well against the best defense in the Big 12 (Texas), we have struggled against some lesser-tier defenses the past few weeks. What makes the WVU defense as good as they are is being a physical unit that is fundamentally sound. They generate pressure well, cover receivers well (except the Hail Mary against Houston), and get in the backfield regularly. This defense loves to pressure QBs and hit RBs hard, and we will see much of that this weekend. I anticipate a lot of five-man blitzes this week with a tight zone defense designed to force Oklahoma into short gains and no deep shots.
Prediction
Oklahoma is going to return to fundamentals this week. Sure, we'll probably struggle a bit for a quarter or two. But we won't try to blow the roof off with bombs or trick West Virginia with strange plays. We're going to see tough, gritty, blue-collar football. When OU plays that type of ball, we win and win big.
Score Prediction: West Virginia 20, Oklahoma 38
Oklahoma Yardage:
Passing Yards: 260-300
Rushing Yards: 140-180
Total Yards: 400-480
West Virginia Yardage:
Passing Yards: 200-230
Rushing Yards: 100-120
Total Yards: 300-350
We can't keep this losing streak going. If we're going to make it to the Big 12 Championship, we need to win out. Let's get back on track and show the college football world we're not going anywhere. Boomer Sooner!
All stats above courtesy of ESPN.
UWV-OU have some of the highest scoring games of the season, nearly 100 points combined each game. So "traditionally" this should be a good ole Big 12 offensive blow out... HOWEVER... after Kansas and OSU, I'm not as sure ha. BUT we are finally back at home and I think this will be a win for the Sooners, and if we get some extra help from outside forces, we'll still be in the hunt for Arlington. I'm basing my score based off all the past games 47-40 Oklahoma.