The Sooners and Mountaineers exchanged a flurry of touchdowns to end the first half, resulting in a 24-24 tie heading to the locker room.
Oklahoma turned it on in the second half, pulling away for a 45-33 victory.
Read: First Half Recap
Quick-hitters:
The West Virginia offense began to fade as the game wore on. Trickett finished with 376 passing yards and two scores, but did a majority of that damage in the first half.
Trickett's main targets were receivers Kevin White (10 catches, 173 yards, one touchdown) and Mario Alford (seven catches, 101 yards, one touchdown).
Trevor Knight was not a big factor for the Sooners, his 205 passing yards didn't do much to help or hurt the offense.
Samaje Perine carried the offense instead, scoring the g0-ahead touchdown in the third quarter and taking control of the game with two more scores later in the half. He finished with a career game, helping fill the absence of Keith Ford.
Key Player: Samaje Perine - 34 carries, 242 yards and four touchdowns
Turning Point: After Oklahoma extended their lead to 38-27 late in the third quarter, West Virginia was driving to get back into the game.
At midfield Trickett was stripped on a pass attempt, recovered by the Sooners. From that point, Oklahoma took the energy out of the home crowd and West Virginia did little to threaten the Sooners' lead after that.
What We Learned:
1) The Sooners offense was fine even without starting running back Keith Ford. Perine took a majority of the workload and did not disappoint, posting a huge night with 242 yards and four touchdowns.
2) West Virginia took a step back. After hanging around with Alabama earlier in the year, the Mountaineers had confidence in knocking off the Sooners at home.
After a strong first half, they were blown out in the second half, showing the Mountaineers aren't quite up to par with the elite competition in the Big 12.
3) The Sooners defense may have benefited from a soft early schedule.
No doubt, this defense has talent but the 11 points per game they had allowed prior to Saturday may have had more to do with weak opponents than defensive domination. That was apparent as West Virginia racked up 33 points and 513 yards of offense.
What's Next?
Oklahoma has a bye next week before taking on TCU on 10/4. West Virginia takes on Kansas on 10/4.
Back to the Oklahoma Sooners Newsfeed