Oklahoma Bounces Back With Emphatic Victory Over West Virginia

NORMAN — Just what Oklahoma needed after two difficult weeks — a stress-free evening at the ballpark.

The Sooners routed West Virginia 59-20 on a brisk Saturday night at Owen Field, an ideal rebound after back-to-back close road losses and a possible season-saving push toward a successful postseason.

Dillon Gabriel accounted for a school record eight touchdowns and nearly 500 yards of offense, and Drake Stoops caught three TD passes as the No. 17-ranked Sooners (8-2 overall, 5-2 Big 12) rolled to their first easy victory since beating Iowa State by four touchdowns on Sept. 30.

"Eight touchdowns," Stoops said. "Eight goes for eight. I couldn't be happier for him. It's just testament to his hard work and his preparation every week and how he approaches the game. He's a tremendous leader and tremendous quarterback and I'd go to war with him any day."

After losing at Kansas and Oklahoma State, OU bounced back in a big way.

"We had two tough back-to-back weeks," coach Brent Venables said. "Our guys' mindset, attitude, resolve, toughness, persistence, all the things that you would want."

Gabriel ran for two touchdowns in the first quarter, threw for two TDs in the second quarter, then hooked up with Stoops three times in the second half. Midway through the fourth quarter, Gabriel tacked on his third rushing touchdown to put the Sooners up 59-20.

The previous OU record for touchdowns in a game was seven, shared by Baker Mayfield (against Texas Tech in 2016) and Kyler Murray (against Baylor in 2018).

Oklahoma fell behind 7-0 as WVU (6-4, 4-3) went 75 yards for a touchdown to open the game, but the OU defense rose up from there, a performance that included another dramatic goal-line stand in the second period. Before WVU’s 75-yard touchdown drive to close the first half, the Sooners held an advantage in total yards of 371 to 137.

"We got punched in the face right out the gate again," Venables said. "But that (goal line stand) is an identify that they've developed."

Gabriel’s two touchdown throws in the second quarter went 32 yards to Jayden Gibson and 23 yards to Austin Stogner — their first significant impact in a game since September.

Gabriel also connected on a 60-yard touchdown pass to Stoops to open the third quarter and extend OU’s lead to 38-14, although this one was all Stoops. Gabriel found him on an intermediate over route headed toward the sideline. But instead of going out of bounds, Stoops immediately cut upfield, eluded a defender back toward the center of the field, cut up again and powered through a tackle attempt at the 5-yard line and into the end zone, with a pull at the end from Jalil Farooq.

Running back Gavin Sawchuk had his second straight 100 yard game — actually, he also set his career high for the second game in a row with 135 yards on 22 carries.

"That's a couple weeks in a row where he's had a really good night, running through some trash. ... This one was a little more impressive because of some of the angles."

Gabriel, meanwhile, completed 23-of-36 passes for 423 yards and accounted for each of OU’s eight touchdowns, including another TD to Stoops on a short throw late in the third quarter and a third to Stoops early in the fourth quarter.

Stoops, a sixth-year senior, set his career high for the second week in a row, surpassing last week’s total of 134 yards against the Cowboys with 164 on 10 catches this week.

"Really, really thankful for what he brings to the locker room every day," Venables said.

Nic Anderson also went over 100 yards (119 on four catches), and Stogner finished with a season-high 69 yards on four receptions.

"Put together a great plan, and really liked the hunger and the edge," Venables said.

The Sooner defense surged with the return of starting linebacker Danny Stutsman from injury. He was injured in the first half against Kansas and didn’t return, then sat out last week’s game at OSU.

"There's a real emotional lift you get when he's out there," Venables said, "the toughness, he loves to be out there, he loves to compete. It was really good to get him back out there. For the most part I think he'll continue to get better and get healthy."

The OU defense withstood a handful of scoring drives but came up with a series of stops, three-and-outs, quarterback pressures, the goal line stand and even a third-quarter, third-down interception by Reggie Pearson.

WVU came in ranked sixth nationally in rushing offense at 218 yards per game and was averaging 4.8 yards per carry, but they only ran for 71 yards in the first half on an average of 3.2 yards per attempt.

There was a brief moment of doubt in the third quarter as the Mountaineers marched for their third touchdown of the night to make it 38-20. WVU’s defense then forced OU’s first punt with a three-and-out.

But Billy Bowman batted Garrett Greene’s pass in the air on a downfield throw, and Pearson pulled down the interception to set up Gabriel’s fourth touchdown pass and a 45-20 lead with 4:34 left in the third quarter.

"That may have been our best four quarters, I don't know. ... Offense and defense," Venables said.

It was a far cry from the last meeting between OU and WVU.

The Mountaineers logged a monumental victory over the Sooners last year in Morgantown — their first over OU since joining the Big 12 in 2012 — with a 23-20 triumph at WVU's Milan Puskar Stadium.

Both that game and the previous meeting in Norman were ended with walk-off field goals — by WVU in 2022 and by OU’s Gabe Brkic in 2021.

However, Saturday’s results — in Norman and around the Big 12 — was also source of frustration for Sooner Nation.

The teams OU lost to each of the last two weeks both suffered stunning losses — Kansas 16-13 to Texas Tech on a walk-off field goal, and Oklahoma State 45-3 in a downpour at UCF.

With two weeks left in the regular season, the Sooners are again tied in the Big 12 standings with OSU (5-2) and Kansas State (5-2), which pounded Baylor on Saturday. Those three teams are now one game behind Texas (6-1), who outlasted TCU Saturday in Fort Worth.

OU is back in action next Saturday against BYU in Provo, UT.

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