Brkic Field Goal Propels OU Over WVU

Saturday, September 25

Norman

6:30 PM

University of Oklahoma

4-0 , 1-0

West Virginia

2-2 , 0-1

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

West Virginia

Oklahoma

September 25, 2021 | Football

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NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — Gabe Brkic's 30-yard field goal as time expired gave No. 4 Oklahoma a 16-13 win over West Virginia on Saturday night.

Oklahoma started its final possession at its 8-yard line with 3:39 remaining. Quarterback Spencer Rattler completed all six of his passes for 54 yards on the final drive to get the Sooners into scoring range. The final drive was 14 plays and 80 yards.

Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley was disappointed that the crowd turned on Rattler and gave him credit for his late-game effort.

"I'll tell you what, it takes a lot of balls to do what we did there at the end," he said. "So people better see that too."

Rattler passed for 256 yards and a touchdown. Mike Woods caught eight passes for 86 yards for the Sooners (4-0, 1-0 Big 12), who won their third game by seven or fewer points this season.

West Virginia (2-2, 0-1), coming off a 27-21 win over then-No. 15 Virginia Tech, was held to 226 total yards.

"That was a tough, physical football game, and I thought we went toe-to-toe with Oklahoma here in their back yard," West Virginia coach Neal Brown said. "If you look at it, we had chances. I think absolutely, we had some chances. The game played out in a good way for us, and we just ran out of time."

West Virginia opened the game with a 17-play, 75-yard drive that took more than nine minutes and ended with a 2-yard Garrett Greene touchdown run.

Oklahoma evened the score on Rattler's 5-yard touchdown pass to Austin Stogner.

Casey Legg's 25-yard field goal as time expired in the first half gave the Mountaineers a 10-7 lead at the break. Oklahoma had just 91 yards of total offense in the first half.

The Sooners moved down the field to open the second half, and a 28-yard field goal by Brkic tied the score. Legg responded with a 21-yarder to put West Virginia back ahead by three.

Brkic's 35-yard field goal with 8:59 remaining tied the score at 13.

West Virginia, aided by a roughing the passer penalty against Oklahoma, moved into scoring range on its next drive. But the Mountaineers lost 21 yards on a bad snap and eventually were forced to punt, setting up Oklahoma's final drive.

THE TAKEAWAY

Oklahoma: The Sooners waited until their final possession to get into an offensive groove, but they did enough to get the win, which in this season of upsets, counts for something.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

Oklahoma probably won't drop because Iowa and Penn State, who are just below the Sooners, weren't dominant in their wins. West Virginia missed out on a chance to jump into the Top 25.

GABE BRKIC

Brkic made all three of his field goals for the Sooners. He entered the game having made four field goals of 50 yards or more -- the most ever for an Oklahoma player in an entire season. He now has made 8 of 10 field goals this season. Now, he's got the dramatic moment to go with it.

"You know, he always comes through for us," Rattler said. "We trust him a lot. And, you know, we set him up to kick the winner and that's what he did. You know, we're all confident in him, and he's a great kicker."

WOODS SHINES

Woods, a transfer from Arkansas, had nine catches for 68 yards in his first three games for the Sooners before his breakout performance Saturday. He had 83 catches for 1,248 yards and 10 touchdown in three seasons with the Razorbacks.

UP NEXT

Oklahoma: Visits Kansas State next Saturday. The Wildcats beat the Sooners last season in Norman and defeated Oklahoma in Manhattan, Kansas two years ago.