COMMENTARY
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Whether meant as a jab, sarcasm or a begrudging compliment, Dana Holgorsen shared amusing perspective about the Sooners team that left West Virginia red-faced Saturday night.
“They invented intimidation.”
Holgorsen even repeated the assertion as Oklahoma toasted a 56-28 blowout, positioning itself for a Big 12 banner while the Mountaineers turned toward consolation goals.
“They invented intimidation,” Holgorsen continued. “You can call it unsportsmanlike if you want to, but that’s just kind of been their M.O. for a long time. We’re not backing down to anybody, so when they pull some of that stuff we’re going to stand up.“
Well if Holgorsen’s team made a stand Saturday, it was obscured by a couple inches of snow and a 28-point beating. There may be 1,136 miles between the campuses, yet in football terms the separation actually seems further.
Oklahoma receiver coach Dennis Simmons fired a parting tweet after the game:
That’s five straight for the Sooners in this series, the last four by an average margin exceeding 17 points. And to think, West Virginia actually deluded itself into believing this was the year, that Oklahoma was vulnerable, especially in the frigid confines of pulsing Milan Puskar Stadium.
A pregame face-off at midfield — allegedly sparked by OU players taking disrespectful liberties with the WV logo — had the home team boiling.
But then came kickoff and the cold, hard reality took hold.
Oklahoma blazed out with 34 points on its first six possessions. West Virginia had two punts, three fumbles, five personal fouls and a cloud of self-doubt Doppler radar could’ve spotted.
Frustration did not suit the Mountaineers well. Senior defensive end Noble Nwachukwu tugged off the helmet of Sooners lineman Dru Samia long after the whistle. Before that flag hit the ground, WVU’s other senior end Christian Brown was penalized for finger-poking an official in the chest.
“Our kids were too worried about pushing after the play and doing dumb stuff, undisciplined stuff,” said defensive coordinator Tony Gibson.
“It seemed like they were in our head more than we were in their head,” said WVU running backs coach Ja’Juan Seider. “Maybe the moment was too big for our guys early in the game.”
No player on this roster had ever been a part of a November title chase, and the magnitude swallowed them. A punt-return panic attack. A goal-line snap that never touched Skyler Howard’s hands. Howard trying to throw a fastball through the chest of a 6-foot-2 linebacker. A misalignment and a missed tackle enabling Dede Westbrook’s 75-yard highlight clip.
Even quick-change defense, a hallmark of West Virginia following turnovers all season, never materialized. Oklahoma scored six touchdowns in six red-zone trips. Normally reliable defenders were lured out of position, trying to impact plays in ways that undercut the scheme.
Desperation became a trap.
“I don’t know if it was too big of a game, maybe too much hype going into it,” Gibson said. “Maybe because it was a Saturday night prime-time game we thought we had to do something different.”
Oklahoma showed its prime-time worthiness by easily handling West Virginia. Nothing different about that.