No. 8 Oklahoma routs No. 10 WVU

West Virginia, whose lone loss came on the road against Oklahoma St., which is now ranked thirteenth in the CFP rankings, can’t afford to take the loss either.

Streaks still running: Saturday’s win was OU’s the 15th straight conference victory and its 11th consecutive true road win (longest streak in program history in Big 12 play). Would this be the Big 12’s revenge for TCU and Baylor missing out to Ohio State in 2014? Just the type of game we’re playing right now.

Thanks to a furious second-half comeback from the Mountaineers that saw West Virginia put up 21 unanswered points, Oklahoma’s defense will be a major concern as the Sooners prepare for a de facto Big 12 Championship game on December 3.

When the Sooners took a 34-0 lead with 2:26 left in the second quarter, many in the previously revved-up crowd of 57,645 at Milan Puskar Stadium headed toward the exits and created a halftime traffic jam that’s usually reserved for postgame.

West Virginia 24-20 Texas – The Mountaineers may feel they aren’t getting enough respect in the rankings, but defeat to the Cowboys has been followed by two unconvincing wins over Kansas then Texas.

The Mountaineers (8-1, 5-1) need to take care of business this week and get some help to win the conference. A win in that game will cap off a ideal 9-0 conference season. The Mountaineers lone loss came on the road at Oklahoma State in October. The Sooners are putting up monstrous numbers on offense, ranking in the top 10 total yards and points per game. But the committee had West Virginia ranked No. 14 – behind six two-loss teams and one three-loss team.

“Disappointing game tonight, disappointing for our fan base and disappointing for everyone”, West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen said. Their bend-don’t-break defense surrenders plenty yards, but prevents teams from scoring. Joe Mixon has rushed for 1,084 yards in 10 games and averages 6.9 yards per carry.

“I still have a couple of hiccups that I have to get back in shape for”, Perine said. They were held to a combined 108 rushing yards against the Mountaineers a year ago.

Despite its horrendous start, West Virginia still had a chance after Howard threw a 37-yard touchdown to Ka’Raun White that closed the gap to 41-28 with 10 minutes to go.

The head games started well before the teams took the field. Oklahoma leads series 6-2.

Making the task that more hard was the fact that OU had won its last 10 true road contests and 21 of its last 23 – including the last two times they visited Mountaineer Field. They’ve done it with defense.

Evans finished the game with five tackles, the interception return for a touchdown and forced a fumble.

“It has been a complete U-turn from that game”, Evans said, pointing back to that game against Tech. But his last catch was a 75-yard touchdown on a screen pass early in the first quarter.

West Virginia takes on IL in the NIT Season Tip-Off in Brooklyn on Thursday. With this momentum and Rudolph throwing the ball, TCU could be in for a rude awakening.

Perine put together a scoring drive on his own on the Sooners’ next possession.

The Mountaineers will finish their regular season against Iowa State and Baylor.

The Sooners are the league’s highest-ranked team and haven’t lost a conference game. A report earlier this week hinted the end of Charlie Strong’s tenure if he can’t get the Longhorns to seven wins.

The No. 9 Oklahoma Sooners (8-2) travelled to a chilly Morgantown for a nighttime showdown with the No.14 West Virginia Mountaineers (8-1).

Perine played his second game since suffering a muscle pull on October 15 against Kansas State. Then, with the deficit 28-0, Skyler Howard fumbled away the snap on third-and-goal from the OU 3.