Yet Again, Oklahoma's Defense Didn't Deliver in Crunch Time

MORGANTOWN, WV — For the third time this season, the Oklahoma defense needed to make a play in crunch time.

And for the third time this season, the Sooner defense failed miserably.

West Virginia — the last place-team in the Big 12, or used to be — drove the length of the field on Saturday to kick a game-winning field goal as time expired sending OU to its fifth loss of the season.

Just like the loss to Kansas State, and just like the loss to Baylor — both in Norman — the Sooners couldn’t get off the field when they had to. The Mountaineers simply took whatever they needed, and there was nothing Oklahoma could do about it.

“That's three games where we come down to the last drive of the game,” head coach Brent Venables said, “and we're on the wrong side of it.”

Venables’ frustration has grown this season as players have been unable to get third-down stops, unable to corral the quarterback, unable to stuff a routine run play.

All of that happened in Saturday’s downpour at Milan Puskar Stadium.

WVU converted 7-of-19 third downs, then followed that up by converting 4-of-5 fourth downs.

It was even more pronounced on West Virginia’s final possession. After Zach Schmit’s 46-yard field goal attempt doinked off the right upright, Mountaineers took over at the OU 29 with 6:24 to play, then bled every second off the clock as the Sooner defense whiffed time after time.

WVU picked up their second first down of the final drive when backup quarterback Garrett Greene slipped a tackle and gained a yard on third-and-1.

After Tony Mathis was stuffed for a 2-yard loss by Trey Morrison and R Mason Thomas on third-and-1, WVU called timeout, then called for Greene to throw a short toss to Bryce Ford-Wheaton on fourth-and-3.

A 5-yard Greene pass and two more escapes by Green of 7 and 6 yards put the Mountaineers in field goal range, forcing Oklahoma into a desperate situation of having to call all their timeouts.

Greene’s final nail in OU’s coffin was a 7-yard keeper on third-and-6 from the OU 17.

On each one of those runs, Green eluded the initial defender or pushed through the tackle or simply avoided contact altogether. His 5-yard toss to Wheaton was the same way: in between three defenders, and he simply leaned forward and weaved through them for the first down.

Just like when K-State’s Adrian Martinez escaped time after time on the Wildcats’ final touchdown drive, and just like when Baylor’s Craig Williams refused to be tackled throughout the loss to Baylor, Oklahoma’s defense did not deliver important plays in the clutch.

“Every play is important, not just the last drive,” defensive coordinator Ted Roof said. “Every play is equally important. At the same time, we did come up short. That's the way it went.”

“It’s pretty frustrating thing,” said linebacker DaShaun White, “but I still believe in this group. We have to find a way to put it together.”

OU began the fourth quarter with a 20-13 lead, then gave up 10 points on WVU’s last two possessions. The Mountaineers even converted a fourth-and-15 situation to set up the touchdown. Greene slipped plenty of defenders on the touchdown drive, too, including his 11-yard keeper for the score.

In context, how disappointing was the final drive?

“I wouldn’t say it was too disappointing,” safety Billy Bowman said. “The drive before that, we’ve got to get off the field on fourth down. We let people hang in there, so we’ve got to kill all of that when we have the chance.”