USA Today
20
5-5 , 2-5
23
4-6 , 2-5
20
23
4-6 , 2-5
| Team |
1st |
2nd |
third |
4th |
F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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|
0 | 12 | 8 | 0 | 20 |
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0 | 6 | 7 | 10 | 23 |
Game Recap: Football | | John Antonik
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Last 12 months, Oklahoma used a last-second subject purpose to defeat West Virginia in Norman, Oklahoma. Today, WVU returned the favor as Casey Legg’s 25-yard subject purpose with no time left gave the Mountaineers a 23-20, come-from-behind victory earlier than a crowd of fifty,281 at soggy Milan Puskar Field.
Did “Take Me Home, Country Roads” ever sound higher?
“Huge win,” West Virginia coach Neal Brown stated. “Since joining the Big 12 in 2012, there have been several really good football teams and great players here, but this team is the first to get it done. Proud of the staff and proud of the players for getting that done.”
Just a fraction of the group remained to see Legg’s kick, which was made attainable by backup quarterback Garrett Greene’s gritty efficiency.
The Tallahassee, Florida, resident was inserted into the sport late within the second quarter when starter JT Daniels failed to maneuver the offense.
Greene was accountable for all three West Virginia touchdowns, two together with his legs and the opposite from his proper arm. The sophomore completed the sport working for a career-best 119 yards on 14 makes an attempt and accomplished 12 of his 22 throws for 138 yards.
Greene’s heroics overshadowed a 25-carry, 211-yard speeding efficiency from Oklahoma’s Eric Gray. The 5-5 Sooners obtained 236 yards speeding and had a 2-to-0 benefit in turnovers, to not point out two factors on WVU’s botched two-point conversion try, however Neal Brown‘s Mountaineers persevered underneath troublesome circumstances.
“We gave (Greene) some more snaps during the week because I thought he played pretty well last week,” Brown stated of his alternative of going to Greene. “We knew if we were going to win the game, the only (way) we were going to win the game was by controlling the clock and running the football.”
All of the primary half scoring befell within the second quarter as each groups handled a lightweight drizzle that turned extra average later within the quarter.
The soggy circumstances price Oklahoma a minimum of two touchdowns, one a deep move headed towards the hospital finish of the stadium that Dillon Gabriel missed to huge open Marvin Mims Jr. working down the center of the sector. Later, Gabriel flipped a protracted, on-target throw to Mims working on the WVU 5, however the junior was unable to carry onto the ball.
OU’s first landing, a Gabriel 6-yard move to tight finish Brayden Willis, was taken off the scoreboard when replay confirmed that huge receiver Theo Wease was illegally blocking downfield. Instead, the Sooners needed to accept a Zach Schmit 32-yard subject purpose and a 3-0 lead.
It regarded like West Virginia was in place for Legg to strive a subject purpose with lower than three minutes left within the second quarter, however Daniels took a sack for a 12-yard loss that compelled Oliver Straw’s 35-yard punt to the OU 4. Here, it took the Sooners solely 4 performs to journey the whole size of the sector, the massive gainer being a Gabriel 67-yard move to an open Mims down the far sideline to the Mountaineer 12.
On the following play, Gray obtained by a crease off the left aspect and bumped into the top zone to present the Sooners a 10-0 lead.
Greene, again within the sport after Sam James’ 42-yard kickoff return gave the Mountaineers nice subject place on the 47, accomplished a 15-yard move to Kaden Prather to the Sooner 38. West Virginia’s subsequent play was Greene’s 33-yard run to the OU 5 the place he took it in on the following play.
But on Legg’s conversion kick, the Sooners obtained two factors out of it when backup holder Kolten McGhee couldn’t deal with the alternate. Legg picked up the ball, tried to make a play, however was hit from behind by Robert Spears-Jennings and Billy Bowman picked up the ball and returned it 88 yards for a 2-point conversion. So, as a substitute of the rating being 10-7 it was 12-6 on the half.
With Greene remaining within the sport, West Virginia took its first lead with 3:36 left in third quarter when he engineered a 12-play, 63-yard drive that consumed 6:18 of the clock. A facemask penalty known as on freshman R Mason Thomas gave West Virginia a primary down on the Sooner 34, and 4 performs later, Greene overcame a missed handoff to run 17 yards to the Sooner 2. A delay of sport penalty and two unsuccessful performs preceded Greene’s fairly, back-shoulder landing throw to Bryce Ford-Wheaton from the 7.
Legg’s conversion kick gave WVU a 13-12 lead.
Oklahoma’s reply was quick. Jalil Farooq’s 36-yard kickoff return gave the Sooners nice subject place on the 41, and Gray practically took care of different 59 yards on the bottom. His large gainer was a 21-yard run up the center to the WVU 8. Gray accomplished the scoring drive with a 5-yard run, and Gabriel’s conversion run made it 20-13 Sooners.
WVU’s response was extra Greene passing and working. His 35-yard throw underneath heavy stress was hauled in by James down the far sideline to the OU 34, and a fourth-and-10 move for 15 yards to Prather gave WVU a contemporary set of downs on the OU 16. Two performs later, Greene skirted free to the nearside of the sector to attain from the 11. A profitable faux punt when Sam James took a direct snap and ran 5 yards to the WVU 39 additionally performed a giant position in that landing drive.
After Schmit’s 47-yard subject purpose try to go forward hit the correct purpose submit, it was Greene’s legs and well timed passing that moved West Virginia into place to steal a victory.
On West Virginia’s 15-play, 65-yard game-winning drive, the Mountaineers transformed two third downs and a fourth down to maneuver the ball to the OU 6, forcing the Sooners to burn all three timeouts.
The first, from the WVU 49, was gifted to West Virginia by Oklahoma’s protection when Josh Ellison jumped offsides. On fourth and three on the OU 39, WVU used a Greene display screen move to Bryce Ford-Wheaton to get 5 yards and a brand new set of downs. Later, on third and 6 from the Sooner 17, Greene bulled his approach for 7 yards to 10 permitting West Virginia run down the clock earlier than stepping into place for Legg to kick his second game-winning subject purpose of the season. His first got here towards Baylor to defeat the Bears 43-40.
The solely concern was the center-holder alternate, which McGhee dealt with cleanly.
Gabriel completed right this moment’s sport finishing 17 of his 28 passes for 190 yards. The Sooners outgained the Mountaineers 426 to 406, however Oklahoma struggled mightily on third down by changing simply 1-of-11. WVU’s 7-of-19 success fee on third down was in all probability the deciding issue within the sport.
James caught three passes for 90 yards, whereas Ford-Wheaton (seven catches for 36 yards) and Prather (six catches for 59 yards) additionally contributed some large performs for the receiver corps.
Sean Martin led a rejuvenated WVU protection with a few sacks and linebacker Jasir Cox contributed a team-high 12 tackles, 9 of these being solos. Senior defensive sort out Dante Stills recorded the 23½ sack of his profession and prolonged his school-record sort out for loss complete to 52½.
“It was a three-phase win,” Brown stated.
The Mountaineers’ victory right this moment was their first towards Oklahoma since becoming a member of the Big 12 in 2012, lastly finishing the nine-team circuit after 10 seasons within the league.
West Virginia boosts its document to 4-6, 2-5, and retains alive its bowl hopes with common season video games left towards Kansas State subsequent Saturday afternoon at Milan Puskar Stadium and the common season finale at Oklahoma State on Nov. 26.
Tickets stay for the Kansas State sport and will be bought by logging on to WVUGAME.com.
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