The West Virginia Oklahoma history isn’t kind to the Mountaineers, but they look to get their first win in Norman this weekend since 1982.
With an 11-3 series record in favor of Oklahoma and just one WVU victory as members of the Big 12, it is safe to say the Mountaineers will not miss the Sooners next year. Now, though, West Virginia must get past Oklahoma one last time to jump them in the Big 12 standings.
Though the all-time series heavily favors the Sooners, there are games, both good and bad for West Virginia, that can motivate the Mountaineers in the upcoming game.
20th Century: Sooners beat down Mountaineers before West Virginia rises up
West Virginia and Oklahoma played in just three football games in the 1900s, but the outcomes closely mirror the long-term outlook of the series.
In September of 1958, the Mountaineers traveled to Norman, Oklahoma, where the Sooners blew out West Virginia for the first time. The 47-14 victory was Oklahoma’s first of 10, and they would go on to win the 1958 Big Seven Conference title. The Mountaineers, who opened the season with a 66-22 win over Richmond, finished with a 4-5-1 record after the Oklahoma sent them on a four game losing streak.
20 years later, WVU once again traveled to Norman, and the story was exactly the same. Oklahoma once again dominated the Mountaineers, 52-10. Like 1958, the Sooners lost just one game in 1972 and were once again conference champions in the newly named Big Eight. The Mountaineers, meanwhile, came once again off a victory over Richmond before Oklahoma sent them on a losing streak. This time, though, West Virginia’s losing streak was seven games long, and the team ended the season 2-9.
In 1982, things finally changed in the Mountaineers’ favor. West Virginia finished the season 9-3, they made a bowl game appearance in Jacksonville, they ranked 19th in the AP Top 25 at the end of the season, and they finally beat the Oklahoma Sooners.
24 years after their first loss to Oklahoma, WVU finally returned the favor, defeating the Sooners 41-27 in Norman. Oklahoma, ranked ninth by the Associated Press ahead of that first game of the season, immediately fell from grace after the loss. Unranked, the Sooners lost two weeks later to USC before regaining their stride to finish 8-4 and in second place in the Big Eight. This is the last time the Mountaineers have won in Norman.
2008: West Virginia takes over in last matchup before joining the Big 12
A quarter of a century later, the Mountaineers traveled once again to play the Oklahoma Sooners, but this time, their destination was Glendale, Arizona, where they would play in the Fiesta Bowl.
One month after losing in the 100th Backyard Brawl against Pittsburgh, the Mountaineers knew they had to end the season on a high note, and that’s exactly what they did.
The Mountaineers never trailed in the 48-28 January win. Big East Offensive Player of the Year and future NFL quarterback Pat White threw 10/19 for 176 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 150 yards in 20 carries. Freshman running back Noel Devine, who also had a brief career in the NFL, replaced star tailback Steve Slaton after an injury in the first quarter. Devine rushed for 105 yards and two touchdowns in his 12 carries.
The bowl game victory put West Virginia at 11-2 and ranked No. 6 for the 2007 season. The Sooners, who won the Big 12 Championship game a month prior over Missouri, ended 11-3 after the loss.
Conference Competition: West Virginia fosters hope after first win in 2022
Upon joining the Big 12 in the 2012 season, West Virginia immediately established themselves as threats in the conference. Opening the season 5-0, the Mountaineers ranked No. 5 in college football before losing to Texas Tech. The loss sent WVU on a bit of a downward spiral, as they lost four straight games before facing Oklahoma in Morgantown for the first time.
The 7-2 Sooners did their best to overwhelm West Virginia early, as the team scored four touchdowns in the game’s first half. The Sooners led WVU 31-17 at halftime thanks to a phenomenal performance from senior quarterback Landry Jones. Geno Smith, an accomplished quarterback in his own right, played well for West Virginia, but the offense ran almost entirely through receiver turned running back, Tavon Austin.
West Virginia scored a touchdown more than Oklahoma in each quarter in the second half. Tyler Bitancurt’s missed extra point in the third quarter left Oklahoma up one after their final touchdown of the game, and the Sooners came out victorious, 50-49.
Landry Jones broke his own school record for passing yards in a game with 554. He threw 38/51 for six touchdowns and an interception in the game. Receiver Kenny Stills caught four of the team’s touchdowns in the game.
Geno Smith threw four touchdowns to Stedman Bailey, who finished with 205 receiving yards- his third most in the season and ninth most all-time for a Mountaineer. Breaking a record with Jones was Tavon Austin, who rushed for 344 yards and two touchdowns in 21 carries. Austin’s 344 rushing yards is still the most in a single game by a WVU player.
Between the years of 2012 and 2021, Oklahoma defeated WVU in all nine of their matchups. Only four of these games- 2012, 2013, 2018, and 2021- had a margin of victory of less than 20 points. The Sooners won six Big 12 championships and ranked higher than WVU for every season in this time period.
Similar to the story of their games in the 20th century, however, WVU may be able to close this chapter with the last laugh. In 2022, West Virginia defeated Oklahoma for the first time in Morgantown, as a Casey Legg field goal with no time left on the clock won the game for WVU, 23-20.
With the same conference record , 3-6, the Sooners finished the season just barely above West Virginia in the Big 12 standings in 2022. Now, both holding a conference record of 4-2, West Virginia may have what it takes to build off last year’s victory and outdo the Sooners once and for all.
Photo by Aaron Parker, Blue Gold Sports
