“It was bad football”

Nov 13, 2023

NORMAN, OK,—It’s the usual predictable outcome when the West Virginia Mountaineers travel to Norman that they leave there with a loss. The only bright spot is that this is probably the last trip to Norman in WVU’s immediate future. In 11 attempts, WVU has only one once since joining the Big 12.

It was apparent that Oklahoma wanted to make a serious statement Saturday night in its 59-20 crushing of the Mountaineers. Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables had to figure out a way to get his team-up after two straight losses. His idea to use the word “Unity” on the backs of the Sooner uniforms was apparently brilliant. The team responded in a big way thrashing the Mountaineer defense.

Sooner quarterback Dillon Gabriel was responsible for 8 touchdowns. Oklahoma scored on nine of their first possessions resulting in 644 yards of total offense. Gabriel completed 23 of his 36 pass attempts for 423 yards and 5 touchdowns. He also ran for 50 yards and three scores.

“It was bad football'” coach Neal Brown said. “It was really poor execution and poor coaching. I didn’t see it coming, and it’s not what we’ve put on film this year.”

“Quite frankly I’m (upset), and nearly embarrassed with what we put on tape today'” Brown said “We didn’t make enough competitive plays, they did, and that’s why they kicked our tails.”

Mountaineer quarterback Garrett Greene completed just ten of his 27 pass attempts for only 154 yards. The WVU ground game, which came into Saturday night’s contest ranked seventh in the country in rushing, averaging 218 yards per game, got only 42 yards fewer than that on 41 attempts.

The loss snapped WVU’s two game winning streak with regular season games left against Cincinnati and Baylor. If WVU can win the last two contests they will finish with a respectable 8-4 record for the regular season. They were predicted to finish 14th and last in the Big 12. Currently WVU is 6-4 and 4-3 in the Big 12.

WVU will wrap up the home schedule this coming Saturday at 2:30 p.m against Cincinnati. During the game, the Mountaineers will recognize its Hall of Fame Coach Don Nehlen by placing his name on the Diversified Energy Terrace facade next to WVU’s retired uniform numbers.