NORMAN, Okla. — With Will Grier injured and Baker Mayfield temporarily benched, Saturday’s shootout between West Virginia (7-4, 5-3) and No. 4 Oklahoma (10-1, 7-1) has taken an unexpected turn.
The Sooners, 22.5-point favorites, remain hungry to impress the playoff committee as we check the storylines in Four-Down Territory:
Heisman on standby
Stripped of his captaincy and benched for the start of senior day, Mayfield will buckle his helmet eventually. It’s just a matter of how much discipline Lincoln Riley is wiling to impart (and perhaps how effective Kyler Murray is).
Whenever Mayfield enters, he’ll be taking his third crack at the Mountaineers, having led OU to a combined 100 points the previous two meetings.
“If you blitz this guy, he knows where you’re coming from before you even do it,” defensive coordinator Tony Gibson said. “I’m going to drop 11.”
While Mayfield’s crotch-grabbing antics could hurt his Heisman chances, there’s no ignoring his production:
— No. 1 nationally in passing efficiency
— No. 1 at 16.3 yards per completion
— No. 2 with 34 passing touchdowns
— No. 2 with 3,816 passing yards
After accounting for six touchdowns in a 62-52 win at Oklahoma State, Mayfield earned a historic comparison from Cowboys coach Mike Gundy.
“In the 100 years I’ve been in this league, the two best quarterbacks at making plays are Vince Young and Baker Mayfield,” Gundy said. “And he’s probably better than Vince at ad-libbing and making a big play out of nothing.”
Even last week’s 41-3 win at Kansas — during which Mayfield’s antics earned him a Big 12 demerit —
“I don’t know how a kid’s arm gets stronger, but his just seems to get stronger,” said Jayhawks coach David Beaty.
“He had a fourth-down scramble that led to a touchdown against us that was phenomenal, and I don’t even know if that will make his top 100 highlights. It would be the No. 1 play for a lot of guys.”
OU’s near-record offense
Remember how the departures of DeDe Westbrook, Samaje Perine and Joe Mixon were supposed to hamstring the Sooners offense? Now leading the nation at 8.32 yards per play, Oklahoma has adjusted rather well.
The FBS per-play record is 8.6 yards by Hawaii in 2006.
“Hope they don’t break the record against us,” Gibson said.
Marquise Brown, a juco signee who chose OU over West Virginia last February, has 830 yards to lead a deep receiving committee that includes Ceedee Lamb and Jeff Badet. Tight end Mark Andrews is Mackey Award finalist, and tailback Rodney Anderson can catch it even better than he runs it (5.9 per carry).
Mayfield is a superb triggerman, and Gibson calls this the best offensive line he has seen in 23 years of coaching. At 588 yards per game, the nation’s top-ranked offense is so scary that West Virginia coaches made sure to highlight the few success opposing defenses had against OU.
“They’re not invincible,” said safeties coach Matt Caponi. “They give up some sacks, some TFLs, their quarterback has thrown a couple of interceptions. If you play hard and do things the right way, you can be successful. There have been defenses that played really good for the first half or really good for the second half and contained those guys.”
Chugging along
Though Chris Chugunov played three-plus quarters against Texas, the game plan wasn’t designed for him. So he and offensive coordinator Jake Spavital quickly pared down the play-call sheet on the sideline.
“He started cutting out plays, saying ‘I only got one rep on that and I’m not comfortable with that.’ He’s smart about what he is and knows who he is,” Spavital said.
With WVU classes on fall break this week, Chugunov devoted his full focus to game-planning and preparing for Oklahoma. Gone are the freelance options that Grier exploited, replaced by reads Chugunov can make within the pocket.
“He thinks it through,” Spavital said. “He’s not going to extend plays and run around all the time, so he’s going to use his arm strength and check it into the right play.
“I think he’s fired up to play. He’s ready to spin it around a little bit.”
After seeing the entire offense shaken by Grier’s injury, Holgorsen thinks the shock has subsided and anticipates sharper timing between Chugunov and his receivers.
“Chugs needed game reps,” Holgorsen said. “The reps in spring where he’s not getting blistered by D-linemen and linebackers is a little different.
“I think we’ll be improved this week. Is it going to be to good enough to score enough to win? We’ll see.”
Spoiler mentality
Iowa State showed the unthinkable could happen, walking into Norman as 30-point underdogs with a backup QB.
So there’s a template for the Mountaineers.
“Being the underdog, that’s kind of built into this program,” said right tackle Colton McKivitz. “That’s a big message this week. We’re going to come out fighting.”
The nothing-to-lose narrative was thick this week, especially given West Virginia’s 0-5 record against Oklahoma since they became Big 12 colleagues.
“So let’s go out there, cut it loose, have some fun, and see if we can mess up the rankings,” Spavital said.