Throw the Football
West Virginia’s protection has simply three interceptions this season. Only three groups this season have fewer than WVU. Quarterbacks from Pittsburgh, Kansas, Texas, Baylor, Texas Tech, TCU and Iowa State mixed for 16 landing passes with just one interception towards the Mountaineers this yr.
That ought to embolden Dillon Gabriel, who threw three picks towards Baylor his final outing and has thrown 4 in his final three video games.
The WVU protection ranks 118th in the nation defending the move, permitting 276 yards per recreation, and is 119th in move effectivity protection and a hundred and twentieth in scoring.
And that ought to embolden Jeff Lebby to name quite a lot of move performs.
There’s actually nothing flawed with the Sooner run recreation. Eric Gray has been a imaginative and prescient of elusiveness and power. OU leads the Big 12 and ranks twelfth nationally at 220 dashing yards per recreation. And grinding out first downs and winding the clock and conserving possession is totally a sound technique of offense for this OU staff.
But the WVU secondary is low-hanging fruit. Gabriel and Lebby ought to collect up all they’ll.
Stack the Box
Maybe it’s too late for the Oklahoma protection. Maybe adjustments — structurally or personnel-wise — simply received’t assist. Maybe, similar to in 2018, the Sooners are what they’re.
If true, that’s most likely good news for West Virginia.
The Mountaineers are coming off a dreadful loss final week at Iowa State — which has an excellent protection, really — however that’s not the place they’ll be drawing from when the Sooners come to Morgantown on Saturday.
Rather, WVU will strive to recapture the offensive magic that pushed them to a 43-40 win over Baylor — the identical Baylor staff that simply pushed OU round in Norman — again on Oct. 13.
Tony Mathis rushed for 163 yards and a landing on 22 carries, Kaden Prather had 109 yards and a landing on eight catches, and JT Daniels threw for 283 yards and a landing to assist the Mountaineers to 500 yards complete offense and 43 factors — and a formidable win, their first in convention play.
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The OU protection has been inclined to these sorts of outbursts all season. If the Sooners can get a few stops — a discipline purpose as an alternative of a landing, a punt as an alternative of a discipline purpose — then perhaps Oklahoma can come dwelling with a win.
Maybe OU’s protection ought to stack the field and emphasize stopping the run. In its final three video games since that large win over the defending Big 12 champs, WVU has averaged 101 dashing yards per recreation and three.4 yards per carry.
That may be an excessive amount of to ask, nevertheless, from an Oklahoma protection that has given up 275, 361, 296, 165 and 281 dashing yards and 6.2 yards per carry in 5 of its final six video games.
Forget the Past
OU has received 30 of its final 35 video games on the street and 24 of its final 27 in November.
For this staff — Team 128, Brent Venables calls it — such streaks now may be positioned onto the pedestal of historical past, like 47 straight or 13-0.
What this Oklahoma staff is aware of is that they misplaced their final two street video games final yr at Baylor and at Oklahoma State, and that they’ve now misplaced three of their final 4 in what used to be known as “Championship November.”
And as for OU’s 9-0 document towards WVU in Big 12 play? Just as meaningless. Wyoming switch C.J. Coldon mentioned this week the solely issues he knew about West Virginia got here from what programmers had loaded right into a online game.
“I haven’t heard too much besides it’s in kind of the middle of nowhere,” Coldon mentioned. ”When I take into consideration West Virginia, I take into consideration quite a lot of bushes, quite a lot of woods and like, the raccoon hat. I take into consideration that, however I’ve been one time and it was touring by way of, simply going to Florida to, I believe, AAU nationals. I used to play basketball once I was little in order that’s the solely time I’ve been in West Virginia.”
These Sooners are actually 5-4. They’ve been humbled — repeatedly. They want yet another win over the subsequent three Saturdays to even qualify for even the most mundane bowl recreation. If they get there, Venables will put to good use the 15 further practices as he tries to proceed growing the roster and staving off the switch portal.
The Sooners would possibly want to peak this week — an all-time excessive with their consideration to element, and positively a season-best fanatical effort.
Anything much less and the solely speak of bowl video games might be from OU’s superb previous.
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