Oklahoma Squeaks Past West Virginia; Advances to the Big 12 Championship

          The Sooners, led by Kyler Murray, bested West Virginia in a Morgantown thriller 59-56 to capture a spot in the big 12 championship. Oklahoma will rematch Texas with playoff hopes on the line.

          Both teams played one of the worst defensive games in college football history, each allowing their opponent to surpass 600 total offensive yards. Ironically, Oklahoma, one of the worst defenses in all of CFB scored two defensive touchdowns off of fumbles, once in the first half, and once in the second. However, the Sooner’s offensive beast and the two rare defensive touchdowns were not enough to force the Mountaineers to quit.

          Will Grier threw for 539 yards, 4 touchdowns, and kept the Mountaineers in the game by taking advantage of a bad Sooner secondary. Grier threw two touchdowns to receivers Gary Jennings Jr. and David Sills the fifth who had a respective 225, and 131 receiving yards. While stats may not support it, West Virginia did a good job of balancing the run and the pass. Although, due to explosive plays from Grier and the receivers, the offense was only able to accumulate 165 rushing yards, and 4 rushing touchdowns. Will Grier did have historic day, but he made two HUGE mistakes in fumbling the ball twice in situations where he could have simply gone down with the ball. As a result, Oklahoma linebackers Kaleb Kelly, and Curtis Bolton III were both able to score defensive touchdowns.

         Kyler Murray had a terrific day, as usual, throwing for 3 touchdowns, 364 yards, and rushed for one TD. Murray did have a great night, but he did not play as well as he usually does. Like Grier, Kyler turned the ball over twice, fumbling once and throwing an interception. Thankfully for Oklahoma, neither of these turnovers happened in the fourth quarter, like one of Will Grier’s fumbles that turned into a defensive touchdown late in the game. Oklahoma back Kennedy Brooks contributed over 180 rushing yards, and one extremely impressive 68 yard touchdown to the Sooner victory.

         Oklahoma will get a chance to prove themselves against Texas, their biggest rival, who they lost to earlier in the season. This time, it will be on a much bigger stage than the Cotton Bowl in October, it will be in the Big 12 Championship. The game will take place on Dec 1st 2018, the game time is TBD.

PICTURE CREDITS- College Football News