Game Primer: OU vs. West Virginia

November 24, 2017 | Football

By: Athletics Communications

⁴ Oklahoma

West Virginia

Saturday, Nov. 25 / 2:45 p.m. CT / Owen Field /

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Game Notes

OPENING KICK

• No. 4/3/5 Oklahoma (10-1, 7-1 Big 12) goes for its 21st win in 22 games when it hosts West Virginia (7-4, 5-3) Saturday at 2:45 p.m. CT. The game will be televised on ESPN with Steve Levy, Brian Griese and Todd McShay announcing.

• OU is the only program West Virginia has not defeated since joining the Big 12 prior to the 2012 season. The Sooners are 5-0 against the Mountaineers during that span and have scored at least 44 points in four of those contests (average score of 42-28). They have also increased their victory margin with each game (50-49 in 2012, 16-7 in 2013, 45-33 in 2014, 44-24 in 2015 and 56-28 last year).

• Oklahoma is 7-2 all-time against West Virginia and 4-1 in the series in Norman.

• This marks the first time since the 2014 meeting that West Virginia is not ranked in the AP Top 25 at the time of competition. Including this year, the Sooners have been ranked in the top 16 of the poll in each of the 10 matchups.

• OU has won 23 of its last 24 Big 12 games dating back to the 2015 season. Its only loss came at the hands of Iowa State on Oct. 7 of this year.

• Oklahoma leads all FBS programs with its 38 seasons of at least 10 wins. OU also leads the nation with 15 seasons of double-digit wins since 2000.

• OU is 69-13-2 all-time as the No. 3 team in the AP Poll (31-3 at home). OU is 46-6 as the No. 3 AP team against unranked opponents (23-3 at home).

FOR THE FANS

• Two hours before each home game, head coach Lincoln Riley and the Sooners will disembark the team buses immediately west of the intersection of Lindsey St. and Jenkins Ave. for the "Walk of Champions." A pep rally, conducted by OU Spirit, will be held 15 minutes prior to the team's arrival. This week's pep rally will be at 12:30 p.m. with the team arriving at approximately 12:45 p.m. Fans are encouraged to cheer on the team upon arrival and watch as Coach Riley and the squad walk the final yards west along Lindsey St. to their locker room.

• Sooner Fan Fest will be held in the Rhyne Hall parking lot directly east of McCasland Field House. It opens at 11 a.m. off Jenkins Ave. and concludes at 2:15 p.m. Fans will have the opportunity to meet Boomer and Sooner and have their photos taken with the Sooner Schooner, the mascots and members of the OU spirit squads at the OU Marketing trailer. Other activities at Fan Fest include a live band, a jumbotron showing games from around the country and interactive booths. Food will be available from the following food trucks: Midway Deli, The Meating Place, Phill Me Up Cheesesteaks, That Pie Truck and Kona Ice. And the Sooner Radio Network (flagship 107.7 The Franchise) will be broadcasting live from Fan Fest with Toby Rowland, Merv Johnson, Chris Plank, Ted Lehman and Rufus Alexander.

FIVE KEY STORYLINES

• With a win Saturday, Lincoln Riley would set the Oklahoma record for most victories in a debut season, passing Barry Switzer (10 in 1973) and Chuck Fairbanks (10 in 1967). Riley would also become 13th coach in FBS history with no previous head coaching experience at a four-year college to win at least 11 games in his first year.

• Saturday will mark the final home game in the careers of 18 OU seniors. In alphabetical order, they are WR Jeff Badet, LB Emmanuel Beal, RB Najee Bissoon, FB Dimitri Flowers, LS Wesley Horky, DB Will Johnson, OL Ashton Julious, QB Baker Mayfield, WR Jeffery Mead, DE/LB Ogbonnia Okoronkwo, DB Steven Parker, DE Dalton Rodriguez, DT Matt Romar, WR Jordan Smallwood, CB Jordan Thomas, FB Jaxon Uhles, DE D.J. Ward and OL Erick Wren. Thirteen of those players have started at least one game this season and six have started every contest (Beal, Mayfield, Okoronkwo, Parker, Ward and Wren). Flowers has started all but one game.

• After finishing fourth in Heisman Trophy voting in 2015 and third in 2016, Baker Mayfield has been even better in 2017. Mayfield is 233-for-329 (70.8 percent) through the air with 34 touchdowns and five interceptions. He leads the country with his 199.3 pass efficiency rating (next best among Power 5 QBs is 169.7) after last year setting the FBS single-season record with a 196.4 mark. He also ranks first nationally in pass completion percentage, yards per pass attempt (11.6) and yards per completion (16.4).

• West Virginia has done as well as anybody at limiting Mayfield through the air. In two games as a Sooner against the Mountaineers, he is 23-for-40 (57.5 percent) for 489 yards (average of 244.5) with five touchdowns and two picks (2.5-to-1 ratio). He has also run for two scores. In his other 24 Big 12 games while at OU, Mayfield has completed 71.3 percent of his passes for an average of 311.8 yards with 75 TDs and just 12 interceptions (6.3-to-1 ratio).

• Sophomore running back Rodney Anderson registered 139 yards from scrimmage (23.2 per game) and two touchdowns over OU's first six contests, but over the last five outings has racked up 923 yards from scrimmage (184.6 per game) to lead all Power 5 players and 10 TDs from scrimmage (five rushing, five receiving) to tie for second nationally during the span. His 667 rushing yards over the last five games (133.4 average) rank as sixth most nationally. Anderson's freshman season of 2015 ended in the second game due to a broken leg, and his redshirt freshman season of 2016 ended during preseason camp due to a broken bone in his neck.

SCOUTING WEST VIRGINIA

• In a four-way tie for third place in the Big 12 at 5-3, West Virginia comes to Norman with a 7-4 overall record following its 28-14 home loss to Texas on Saturday. The Mountaineers entered the game ranked seventh nationally by averaging 513.9 yards of offense per game, but were held to a season-low 295 by the Longhorns (4.7 per play). Quarterback Will Grier, who entered the day ranked in the top five nationally in total offense, passing yards per game, passing touchdowns and points responsible for per game, left the contest late in the first quarter with an injured finger on his throwing hand. He will miss the OU game.

• The Mountaineers rank fifth nationally in passing offense (341.8 ypg), 13th in total offense (494.0 ypg), 19th in scoring offense (36.7 ppg) and 77th nationally in rushing offense (152.2 ypg).

• Redshirt freshman quarterback Chris Chugunov replaced Grier against Texas and went 14-of-26 for 189 yards and a touchdown. Chugunov is in line to draw his first start of his collegiate career Saturday. He has seen time in three games this year, averaging 90 passing yards a contest in limited action. Senior running back Justin Crawford leads the WVU rushing attack with his 87.5 yards per game and seven touchdowns. Junior Gary Jennings (92.4 ypg; 1 TD), senior Ka'Raun White (88.2 ypg, 11 TDs) and junior David Sills (82.1 ypg, 18 TDs) are the team's top receivers. Sills' 18 receiving touchdowns lead the country (next highest total nationally is 13).

•On the other side of the ball, West Virginia ranks 84th in scoring defense (29.1 ppg), 87th in passing defense (240.0 ypg), 95th in rushing defense (194.9 ypg) and 102nd in total defense (434.9 ypg). Senior linebacker Al-Rasheed Benton leads the team and ranks fourth in the Big 12 with 94 total tackles. The Mountaineers have picked off 11 passes this season, returning three for scores. Senior safety Kyzir White and freshman safety Kenny Robinson lead the team with three interceptions each. Robinson registered a 94-yard pick-six against Texas. All three of his interceptions have come in the last four games.

LAST YEAR VS. THE MOUNTAINEERS

• Oklahoma raced to a 34-0 first-half lead and eventually posted a 56-28 road win over No. 14/10/9 West Virginia in snowy and windy conditions last year on Nov. 19. The Mountaineers had not given up more than 37 points in a game on the year and had held six of their first seven Big 12 opponents to 21 or fewer points.

• Baker Mayfield only threw 15 passes but completed nine of them for 169 yards (18.8 per completion, 11.3 per attempt) while also running for a pair of fourth-quarter scores that sealed the game.

• The game marked the first time that Oklahoma produced multiple 100-yard rushers (Samaje Perine and Joe Mixon) and a 100-yard receiver (Dede Westbrook) since the 2008 Big 12 Championship Game against Missouri. The trio achieved the feat by halftime.

• Perine finished with 160 rushing yards and two touchdowns while Mixon registered 147 rushing yards and one score. Westbrook posted his seventh 100-yard receiving effort in eight Big 12 games with a two-catch, 100-yard performance (scored on a 75-yard catch in the first quarter).

• The OU defense caused four turnovers, chief among them an interception by linebacker Jordan Evans that he returned 80 yards for a touchdown on WVU's opening possession of the second half to put the Sooners up 41-7. The Sooners converted all four turnovers into TDs.

HOME IS WHERE THE "W" IS

• Oklahoma has won the same number of Big 12 championships over the last 18 years (10) as it has lost home games. OU is 105-10 (.913) at Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium since the start of the 1999 season, with all 115 of those games sellouts. It is the best home winning percentage among Power Five schools over the last 18-plus seasons (Ohio State is next at .881). OU has outscored its opponents by an average of 42-16 in those games.

OFFENSE HAS ROLLED UNDER RILEY, MAYFIELD

• Oklahoma has a legitimate claim as the nation's most productive offense since the start of the 2015 season, which was Lincoln Riley's first year as OU's offensive coordinator and quarterback Baker Mayfield's first playing for the Sooners. Riley called plays as the program's offensive coordinator and continues to as head coach.

• The Sooners have posted a 32-5 (.865) record since Riley's and Mayfield's OU debut (24-2 in Big 12 play), with Mayfield the starter in all 37 contests. That record is tied for third best in the country with Ohio State since the start of 2015. Only Alabama (39-2) and Clemson (38-3) have better records during that span.

• Since the start of the 2015 season, OU ranks first nationally in passing efficiency rating (186.4; next closest is 165.1 and next closet Power 5 is 160.2), completion percentage (69.4), points per game (43.8) and total offense (556.2) and is sixth in passing offense (333.5; fifth in Power 5) and 19th in rushing offense (222.7; ninth in Power 5).

• In 37 games since the start of the 2015 season, OU has registered at least 500 yards of total offense 27 times, including in 17 of the last 21 outings, topped the 600-yard mark on 13 occasions and gone over 700 yards four times. Similarly, OU has scored at least 30 points in 32 of 37 games during the Riley/Mayfield regime, at least 40 points 23 times, at least 50 points 14 times and at least 60 points four times.

MORE MAYFIELD

• Baker Mayfield is the only player in FBS history to register at least 13,500 passing yards (13,796) and at least 1,000 rushing yards (1,012).

• Mayfield is 24-2 in Big 12 games as a Sooner, completing 519-of-736 passes (70.5 percent) for 7,973 yards (306.7 per game) and 80 touchdowns against just 14 interceptions (5.7-to-1 ratio) for a pass efficiency rating of 193.6. He has averaged 15.4 yards per completion and 10.8 yards per attempt, and has rushed for 14 scores in those outings.

• Mayfield has thrown a TD pass in a Big 12-record 37 consecutive games (every contest of his OU career; former mark was 36 by Texas Tech's Graham Harrell from 2006-08). Only three players have longer streaks in FBS history (see charts to the right). Mayfield also holds the Big 12 record with 24 consecutive games of at least two TD passes (74 TDs to 13 interceptions during the stretch). That is believed to be the second-longest streak in FBS history (Boise State's Kellen Moore had a streak of 26 games in 2010 and 2011).

• Including his 2013 campaign at Texas Tech, Mayfield is averaging 9.70 yards per pass attempt for his career. Only two FBS players who have finished their career boast a higher average (9.90 by Boise State's Ryan Dinwiddie from 2000-03; 9.82 by BYU's Ty Detmer from 1988-91). At OU, Mayfield is averaging 10.61 yards per attempt.

• Mayfield ranks seventh in FBS history with 122 career TD passes (12 at Texas Tech, 110 at Oklahoma). He needs one TD pass to tie OU's Landry Jones (2009-12) for sixth, and nine to tie Hawaii's Colt Brennan (2005-07) and Marshall's Rakeem Cato (2011-14) for fourth. The record is 155 by Houston's Case Keenum (2007-11).

• Mayfield owns a 174.3 career passing efficiency rating. Among FBS players who have finished their career, only OU's Sam Bradford (175.6 from 2007-09) owns a higher mark. Mayfield's efficiency rating as a Sooner is an astounding 188.9.

• If Mayfield finishes in the top four of Heisman Trophy voting this year, he'll become the fifth player and first since Georgia's Herschel Walker (1980-82) to accomplish the feat three times. The other three to do it were Glenn Davis (Army; 1944-46), Doc Blanchard (also Army; 1944-46) and Doak Walker (SMU; 1947-49). Mayfield finished fourth in 2015 and third last year.

• Mayfield threw 21 TD passes between interceptions (from the third-to-last game last year and this year's sixth game (vs. Texas on Oct. 14). His school-record streak of attempts without an interception reached 200.

IMPACT FRESHMEN

• Three of Oklahoma's top playmakers on either side of the ball are true freshmen. Running back Trey Sermon ranks second on the team with his 597 rushing yards (54.3 per game) and third with his seven total touchdowns (five rushing, two receiving). Sermon is averaging 5.8 yards per carry and has caught 14 passes for 120 yards (12.0 average). In a three-game span against Baylor, Iowa State and Texas to start Big 12 play, he averaged 111.3 rushing yards and 6.7 yards per carry.

• Wide receiver CeeDee Lamb, who last year as a high school senior registered 2,032 receiving yards and 33 touchdowns, leads the Sooners with six receiving scores. He ranks third with 36 catches and 59.0 receiving yards per game (649 total) despite missing the final three quarters of the Oct. 7 Iowa State contest due to an injury. He ranks second nationally among freshmen with his 18.0 yards per catch and has a chance to break Kenny Stills' OU freshman record of 786 receiving yards set in 2010. Lamb is just one score off teammate Mark Andrews' freshman receiving TD record of seven in 2015.

• Kenneth Murray has started every game at middle linebacker and ranks third on the team with 56 tackles (5.1 per contest). He is OU's first true freshman in 42 years to start a season opener at inside linebacker (Daryl Hunt was the last to do it in 1975).

• Also seeing more playing time the last few games are true freshman defensive backs Tre Norwood, Tre Brown and Robert Barnes. The trio started the TCU game two weeks ago, and Norwood earned another start last week against Kansas. A cornerback, Norwood leads the team with seven pass breakups despite not seeing consistent action until three weeks ago.

GETTING DEFENSIVE

• Oklahoma ranks in the top four in the Big 12 in a bevy of defensive categories: third in opponent pass completion percentage (58.2), third in first downs allowed (20.1 per game), fourth in total defense (390.6 ypg), fourth in passing defense (250.6 ypg), fourth in scoring defense (25.2 ppg) and fourth in sacks (2.1 per game).

• The Sooners held Ohio State to 16 points (29 below its season average) and 350 yards of total offense (196 yards below its average) in a convincing win Sept. 9 in Columbus. The Buckeyes rank third nationally with their 44.9 points per game and fourth nationally with their 546.2 yards per contest.

• Senior defensive end/linebacker Ogbonnia Okoronkwo leads the Big 12 and is tied for 13th nationally with 8.0 sacks (0.7 per game), ranks second in the Big 12 and tied for 13th nationally with three forced fumbles, and ranks second in the league and seventh nationally with 17.0 tackles for loss (1.6 per game). He has 21.0 career sacks to rank second at OU among linebackers and tie for seventh with Jonathan Jackson among all players.

• Okoronkwo has recorded at least half a sack in eight of 11 games and at least one full sack in seven contests. He has at least 1.0 tackle for loss in every outing and at least 2.0 TFLs in five games.

• Sophomore defensive lineman Kenneth Mann is tied for fourth in the Big 12 with his 5.0 sacks while senior defensive end D.J. Ward is tied for eighth with 4.5 sacks. Parnell Motley is tied for ninth in the league with two interceptions (returned one 77 yards for a TD against Tulane).

SOONERS HAVE DOMINATED BIG 12 ERA

• OU's performance in the Big 12 Conference this millennium has been nothing short of dominant. The Sooners have won 10 Big 12 titles in the last 17 seasons, with no other program during that span winning more than two.

• Since the first year of the Big 12 in 1996, OU has claimed 10 league titles and is followed by Texas (three), Baylor, Kansas State and Nebraska (two each), and Colorado, Oklahoma State, TCU and Texas A&M (one each).

• OU is 123-27 (.820) in Big 12 play since the start of the 2000 season. That's 20 more wins than the team with the next most victories during that period (Texas; 103-47) and 38 more than the team with the third most (Oklahoma State; 85-65).

EXTRA POINTS

• With its win at Kansas last Saturday, OU will play in its ninth Big 12 Championship Game on Dec. 2 in Arlington, Texas. The Sooners are 7-1 in the event, which hasn't occurred since the 2010 season. Nebraska ranks second with six Big 12 title game appearances, and Texas ranks third with five.

• The Sooners have won 23 of their last 24 Big 12 Conference games. Six of those 23 victories have been by a touchdown or less, four by 8-14 points, four by 15-21 points and the other nine by at least 22 points (seven by at least 35 points).

• Oklahoma has scored at least 30 points in 20 of its last 21 games (its school-record streak of 15 games was halted Oct. 14 in a 29-24 win over Texas).

• OU has won its last 12 games in the month of November (last loss won Nov. 8, 2014, to Baylor). The Sooners and Alabama are the only Power 5 teams to not lose in November 2015, '16 or '17.

• The Sooners have held 17 of their last 21 opponents to under a 60 percent pass completion rate. By comparison, OU has completed at least 60 percent of its passes in each of its last 21 games, and at least 70 percent in 10 of those.

• Junior kicker/punter Austin Seibert has made his last 10 field goal attempts, good for the nation's third-longest active streak. Since Oct. 7, he leads all kickers with 68 points. He also paces the country with 62 extra points on the year (has not missed).

• Senior fullback Dimitri Flowers has scored eight touchdowns on his 33 touches this season (one every 4.1 touches). He is one of three players in the country to have at least four rushing touchdowns and four receiving scores, joining teammate Rodney Anderson and North Carolina State's Jaylen Samuels.