Mountaineers have plenty to prove in final conference meeting with Sooners

Aug. 10—Editor's Note: This is the fourth installment in a series looking at Oklahoma's schedule for the 2023-2024 season. The Transcript will rank all games by evaluating their significance, difficulty and entertainment value. This article previews West Virginia, which is ranked ninth among Sooner opponents in the series.

Every game on Oklahoma's conference schedule will hold a bit more significance than usual as it embarks on its Big 12 farewell tour.

But not all of those games will be equal in terms of significance. Easily at the bottom of the list will be the Sooners' Nov. 11 meeting with West Virginia.

Coming off last season's 23-20 loss in Morgantown last year, revenge will likely be on the Sooners' mind when the two teams face off in Norman.

That means a lot less when the same could also be said about six other teams on the Sooners' schedule. And none of those other teams were picked to finish dead last in the conference.

Add in a lack of historical intrigue, and Sooners' final meeting with the Mountaineers loses much of its flare.

Quick facts

—When and where: Saturday, Nov. 11, TBA, at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium

—TV: TBA

Last season: 5-7

—Offense: 30.6 points per game (T50th)

—Defense: 32.9 points per game (116th)

All-time meetings: 14

The biggest missing piece in the final conference showdown between Oklahoma and West Virginia will be history.

The two schools only met four times before the Mountaineers began playing in the Big 12 in 2012. Their 14 all-time meetings are the Sooners' fewest against any school that has been in the Big 12 before this season.

When the two teams did face off as conference foes, it was incredibly lopsided. The Sooners won the first nine meetings before falling last season.

West Virginia is 3-11 against the Sooners all-time and 1-7 when playing in Norman.

The Mountaineers' lone road win came back in 1982. In the opening game of the season, the ninth-ranked Mountaineers threw for 321 yards in an upset win over the second-ranked Sooners.

Overview

West Virginia head coach Neal Brown already voiced his frustration at his team's ranking in the preseason polls.

The Mountaineers finished last season in a three-way tie for seventh place in the conference standings. At 3-6, they finished tied with Oklahoma and Kansas and two wins ahead of last-placed Iowa State.

The Mountaineers had plenty of frustrating moments in 2022, but they still managed to beat Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Baylor.

Still, they were one of just two Big 12 teams to miss out on bowl season. It was just the third time West Virginia has not been bowl eligible since joining the conference.

All those signs should point to a team that sees improvement this season, but it still has a lot of questions to answer.

For starters, who will be the Mountaineers' quarterback? Junior Garrett Greene and redshirt freshman Nico Marchiol have been competing for the starting spot during the offseason.

Sooner fans will remember Greene from last season. He took over for starter JT Daniels midway through the game and ended up gashing the Sooners' defense for 119 yards rushing and three total touchdowns.

But Marchiol was a US Army All-American coming out of high school and was named the Arizona Gatorade Player of the Year.

The return of CJ Donaldson means the Mountaineers have someone they can count on in the running game. They also return all five offensive linemen that started the final game of the season.

Meanwhile, the Mountaineers will have to find a way to replace several key starters on a defense that struggled last season.

Other games in this series:

#12 Arkansas State

#11 Tulsa

#10 SMU

Tarik Masri is the sports editor for The Transcript covering OU athletics and area sports. You can reach him by emailing tarik@normantranscript.com