The Sooners drove down the field and kicked a winning field goal as time expired in their game against West Virginia. Here are our best shots from the 16-13 game:
Filmed by Collin McDaniel and Justin Jayne
Edited by Collin McDaniel
Isaiah Thomas couldn’t watch.
The redshirt senior defensive lineman stood at the north end of No. 4 Oklahoma’s sideline as redshirt junior Gabe Brkic jogged onto Owen Field for a game-winning 30-yard field goal attempt Saturday night. With his arms wrapped around freshman defensive back Billy Bowman, Thomas faced the crowd.
Thomas wasn’t looking away in fear, he said after the game. The moment just was too emotionally taxing for him, as the Sooners had fought for every yard — 313 on the night — to set up that moment. Brkic proceeded to nail the kick, sealing a 16-13 win for OU (4-0, 1-0 Big 12) over West Virginia and causing Thomas and company to rush the field with a blend of both excitement for the win and exhaustion for how it was achieved.
Yet, as the Sooners returned to the locker room and select players spoke to the media, the team’s celebration had already ended. Its undefeated season remains intact, but Oklahoma was far from satisfied with its performance against the Mountaineers (2-2, 0-1). OU’s defense held WVU to its lowest scoring total of the season; meanwhile the Sooners’ offense scored its fewest points since 2013.
“There’s just some things that didn’t go the way the offense planned it,” Thomas said. “Just like in recent years, there was stuff that the defense struggled with. It's nothing that we're worried about or scared of because we know what Lincoln Riley is capable of and we know what the offense is capable of. It’s about time the defense picked up its end of the bargain.”
Oklahoma’s 16 points also marks the team’s lowest scoring total under Riley. The previous low was 23, which the Sooners tied in their 23-16 win over Nebraska last weekend.
The team’s 57 total rushing yards are the fewest OU’s had in a game since it tallied 15 in a 30-13 loss to Notre Dame in 2012. Oklahoma’s offensive line also surrendered four sacks to West Virginia, the most it's allowed in a game this season.
“I don’t want to make it (sound) like some bloodbath out there and we were just awful on the offensive line, because we weren’t,” Riley said. “But, their talented front just showed up. There were some individual plays that just showed up, and we just got beat. … I thought we played better up front in the second half, guys got some movement in the run game (and) had some critical drives there, nothing more important than there at the end.”
Running backs Kennedy Brooks and Eric Gray combined for 55 rushing yards Saturday, and neither scored. In fact, the Sooners’ lone touchdown came during their first drive when redshirt sophomore quarterback Spencer Rattler found junior H-back Austin Stogner for a 5-yard score. Alongside his touchdown pass, Rattler finished 26-of-36 passing for 256 yards and a pick.
Other than that, OU’s offense was propelled by Brkic’s perfect 3-of-3 field goal performance. His last-second kick is also Oklahoma’s first game-winning field goal with no time left, according to OU statistician Mike Brooks.
“I have complete faith in Lincoln Riley and our offense that they’re going to do what they need to do to get back to the drawing board, figuring out what’s going on and get back right,” senior noseguard Perrion Winfrey said. “Because, that’s what I came here for. I know that they can put up points with ease. It’s going to come sooner or later. I have ultimate faith in that.”
Rattler credited West Virginia’s defensive line for Oklahoma’s lackluster offensive performance. The Mountaineers’ in-game adjustments kept the Sooners uneasy at times, he said.
Shortly after Rattler’s turnover, OU’s only of the night, Riley called his entire offense together on the sideline before the second quarter closed. As that occurred, many Sooner fans began to chant for Rattler’s backup, freshman Caleb Williams, to enter the game. However, the 38-year-old head coach ignored the noise, and delivered a message to his players.
“The message was just to trust it,” Ratter said. “We were right there, we were just shooting ourselves in the foot. On the interception, we had a communication error. We were supposed to run a post on the outside, instead we ran a curl. That let the corner drop off and make a play. Small, little things like that. Things that might not catch (everyone’s) eye, but things we need to work on.”
With the Sooners visiting Manhattan, Kansas, next Saturday for their first road game of the season against Kansas State, an opponent they haven’t beaten in two seasons, Riley is confident his team is just a few improvements away from avoiding hard-to-watch endings.
“Offensively, you kind of just group us all into one big ball, man,” Riley said. “We have potential. We're kind of fighting our way through it (and) we're kind of trying to find ourselves a little bit. If we stay together, keep working and keep improving, we will find ourselves.”
