The game started how it was supposed to from a West Virginia perspective, as they forced a punt after allowing only one first down. As we talked about in our preview, the punt return game proved to be critically important very early.
Sohpomore return man Gary Jennings will receive most of the blame for this early mistake, but he was just trying to make sure West Virginia got possession. From replays, Jennings appears to think the ball hit his teammate in the back of the leg, forcing him to try and cover it. Oklahoma got possession and scored just a few plays later, making the Mountaineers play catch up from the beginning.