MORGANTOWN, W.Va. —The promised epic shootout between Kyler Murray and Will Grier was delivered Friday night at Mountaineer Field — and then some.
And then some more.
Grier passed for 539 yards and four touchdowns, while Murray threw for 364 yards, ran for 114 and accounted for four touchdowns of his own.
But somehow it was defense that made the difference in No. 6 Oklahoma’s 59-56 win over No. 12 West Virginia — not to mention an enormously controversial officiating decision.
Curtis Bolton’s 48-yard fumble return for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter ended up being the difference, but it was how the play ever happened in the first place that provided an extra dosage of pain for West Virginia, which was eliminated from contention for its first Big 12 championship game appearance.
Quarterback Will Grier was stripped on a sack by Oklahoma defensive end Kenneth Mann, the ball popping out of Grier’s grasp a half-second before he was able to move his arm forward for a pass. The ball popped all over the turf, somehow escaping the grasp of two nearby Mountaineers before popping perfectly into Bolton’s hands.
Bolton raced untouched to put the Sooners up 59-49 as several Mountaineers looked on helplessly from the ground. West Virginia added a 17-yard Kennedy McKoy run to come back within a field goal with 4:20 remaining, but never got the ball back after Oklahoma recovered the ensuing onside kick attempt.
Just three plays before Bolton’s touchdown, it looked like the Mountaineers would be the ones doing the celebrating.
McKoy just burst through the Oklahoma defense for a 72-yard gain to the Sooners 3, setting up a potential go-ahead score. But the play came all the way back to midfield when wide receiver T.J. Simmons was flagged for a personal foul for “excessive blocking” by continuing to go after his man after initially blocking him out of bounds.
“Obviously I have to be careful with what I say, but I don’t understand in a game like this how you take those [points] off the board,” West Virginia head coach Dana Holgorsen said. “I don’t understand it and I never will.”
West Virginia coordinator Jake Spavital said he’s never seen such a penalty called before.
“I didn’t even know it was a rule until tonight,” Spavital said.
The call brought vicious booing from the home crowd. That sentiment was shared by West Virginia wide receiver David Sills.
“I wasn’t aware of [that rule],” Sills said. “I felt that was a receiver being very physical. Overpowering his man and blocking him to the bench. I think it definitely shifted the game.
“I think it’s a bad call. I’ve seen T.J. do that multiple times and it’s never been called. That type of stuff, blocking a guy 10 yards out of bounds, that gives momentum to the offense. I don’t agree with the call. But I’m not the one out there making the call.”
The deafening anger of West Virginia’s fans was soon silenced by Bolton’s touchdown.
Somewhat incredibly, for a game that produced 1,372 yards of combined offense, it was not the only defensive score. Caleb Kelly scored on a 10-yard return following a separate strip-sack of Grier to temporarily put the Sooners up 35-21 late in the second quarter.
“As well as we played offensively, giving them 14 points is inexcusable,” Holgorsen said. “The 14 points we gave them was the difference in the game.”
After a first half that had a little bit of everything, it seemed impossible that there would be anything left in the second half to top it. By the time anyone could catch their breath at the break, the teams already combined for 63 points and 737 total yards.