Sooners race past WVU
Blow game open with three TDs in third quarter to stay unbeaten
NORMAN, Okla. — After No. 5-ranked Oklahoma downed rival Texas last week, coach Lincoln Riley said a true test for the Sooners would be how they bounced back from that emotional game to face West Virginia as the heavy favorite.
Riley was pleased with the results. Jalen Hurts passed for 316 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 75 yards and two more scores and the Sooners cruised to a 52-14 victory over West Virginia Saturday at Memorial Stadium.
Oklahoma (7-0, 4-0) is unbeaten in eight games against West Virginia (3-4, 1-3) since the Mountaineers joined the Big 12 Conference in the 2012 season. The Sooners have won 20 of their past 21 games.
Oklahoma, which rolled up 562 yards of offense, has scored at least 34 points in 17 consecutive games, the second-longest such streak in the Football Bowl Subdivision since 1980. The Sooners didn’t score a touchdown in the fourth quarter, though; they’ve scored a touchdown in every quarter but two this season.
“I think we’re serious about being a good football team,” Riley said. “We handled this week like a team that has some big goals in mind and understanding that it is a process. It’s not about one game here or there. It’s a constant climb for us.”
West Virginia quarterback Austin Kendall, who spent three seasons at Oklahoma as a backup to Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray before transferring, completed 15 of 31 passes for 182 yards, including touchdowns of 38 and 7 yards to T.J. Simmons.
“It was a good experience to come in and see the road I used to take to go to my house,” Kendall said. “Good to see everybody I haven’t seen in a couple of months. I got a lot of love for that team and all the guys I’ve played with; nothing changes there.”
Hurts, whose transfer from Alabama to Oklahoma led to Kendall’s transfer, completed 16 of 17 passes, with the incompletion a drop by freshman Drake Stoops.
He became the third Oklahoma quarterback to complete at least 90% of his passes, throw for more than 300 yards and throw for at least three touchdowns in a game. He also recorded a career-high passing efficiency rating of 308.5, the secondbest mark in program history, behind Murray’s 348 against Baylor last season.
“All of that is always a challenge — us challenging ourselves to play to our standard and I say it all the time, to play our brand of football,” Hurts said. “If we can focus on the things that we can control, the only way is up. We’ve just got to try to take positive steps, learn from our mistakes and move forward with the right intent.”
Oklahoma punted on its first possession but scored touchdowns on its next four — a 20-yard pass to Jeremiah Hall, a 6-yard pass to Charleston Rambo, a 9-yard run by Kennedy Brooks and a 2yard run by Hurts.
The Mountaineers were within 28-14 at halftime, but Oklahoma scored three touchdowns in the third quarter, the first on a 22-yard run by Hurts and the second on a 46-yard pass to Lee Morris. Brayden Willis then blocked a punt in the end zone that Oklahoma’s Austin Stogner recovered to extend the Sooners’ lead to 49-14. It was the first time that happened to West Virginia since 2003 season.
“It was a struggle all day for us,” Mountaineers coach Neal Brown said. “We got outplayed. Honestly, we were outmanned at several positions and areas. For this to be a competitive game, we needed to play clean, which we didn’t. We needed to run the ball, which we didn’t. We had to force some turnovers, which we didn’t.”