OU football: Three takeaways from the Sooners' loss to West Virginia

Nov. 12—It was a quick fourth quarter for the Oklahoma offense, as two possessions wasn't enough to pull out a win in a tightly-contested ending against West Virginia.

West Virginia's late drive set up a 25-yard field goal by Casey Legg as time expired for a 23-20 win.

The loss gives the Sooners five regular season losses for the first time since 1998. The game also marked the Mountaineers' first win over Oklahoma as a member of the Big 12 and the program's first ever loss to the Sooners in Morgantown, West Virginia.

Here are three takeaways from Oklahoma's loss to West Virginia:

1. Long defensive possessions hurt Sooners' chances

It was a familiar sight for the Oklahoma defense late in Saturday's game— the team desperately looking to come up with a stop late, only to have positive moments erased by defensive miscues in big moments.

West Virginia started its final drive of the game from its own 29-yard line after Zach Schmit missed a 44-yard field goal attempt. On two different occasions the Sooners found themselves in a third-and-one situation early in the drive, but weren't able to get off the field.

Quarterback Garrett Greene took a quarterback sneak for a first down on the first third-and-short, but the Sooners got in the backfield for a stop on the second. Now facing a fourth-and-three, Greene found Bryce Ford-Wheaton for a five-yard gain to keep the sticks moving.

"I thought he made some plays," OU coach Brent Venables said about Greene. "We missed tackles. I thought he made some plays with his legs. He had a couple of really nice runs on two different drives in the second half. We did a poor job of tackling. Some of that's him, I guess."

Oklahoma had one last opportunity to give its offense a chance on a third-and-six from their own 17 with 1:23 remaining in the game and no timeouts. Greene kept it himself for a seven-yard run up the middle to set up the game-winning field goal.

West Virginia's final drive took up 6:24 of game clock and took 15 plays to go 65 yards to ice the game. It was a similar fate to the one the Sooners' defense endured during last week's loss to Baylor, when the Bears used a nine-play, 65-yard drive that last 4:05 to hang on for the win late.

2. Sooners miss chances to put points on the board

Oklahoma called on Schmit for three field goals, making just one.

After a slow start offensively, the Sooners finally seemed to gain some momentum early in the second quarter on a nine-play drive that went 75 yards all the way to the West Virginia six-yard line. Oklahoma ran a quick pass to the flat for an easy touchdown to Brayden Willis, but an offensive pass interference on Theo Wease negated the play.

The Sooners didn't convert the ensuing third-and-16 and instead had to call on Schmit to attempt another field goal. This time the redshirt sophomore split the uprights, but the sequence still ended up costing Oklahoma four points.

Oklahoma's second drive of the fourth quarter stalled at the West Virginia 29-yard line, but Schmit's 46-yard attempt hit the right upright and missed.

"We've got to coach them better, and we've got to play better," Venables said. "We've got to play smarter. We've got to be more efficient. I thought West Virginia did a great job today, but I thought Oklahoma beat Oklahoma today."

3. No turnovers, yet still no offensive rhythm

Early in the game, Oklahoma's defense was playing as well as it had at any point during Big 12 play this season.

The Sooners came up with a big stop to turn the ball over on downs on the Mountaineers' first possession and proceeded to force punts on the next three drives. After the Sooners' offense put their first points on the board early in the second quarter, Woodi Washington forced a fumble and Jordan Kelly recovered it.

But while the Sooners' defense was playing well, the offense struggled to get going. After missing a field goal on their first possession, the Sooners punted on their next three possessions and didn't score their first touchdown until the final minute of the first half.

"Not getting into a great rhythm [offensively], you know?" Venables said. "Again, we had some opportunities. From an execution standpoint in the first half, I think if we just make some layups, don't airball, you really feel like we have a tremendous game control going into halftime. But we didn't. But we did just all the little things you can't do wrong."

Eric Gray came up big despite the Sooners' struggles, carrying the ball 25 times for 211 yards, while scoring both of the team's touchdowns. Quarterback Dillon Gabriel completed 17 of 28 passes for 190 yards and struggled to connect on deep balls through rainy conditions.

Last week, turnovers were the offense's biggest issue, including three interceptions thrown by Gabriel. That wasn't the case against the Mountaineers as the Sooners finished with no turnovers and averaged 6.3 yards per play, but only had 20 points to show for it.

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