Oklahoma’s rout of West Virginia validates CFP rankings

TCU has been inconsistent this season, but a big win over Baylor showed the Horned Frogs might’ve gotten things together in time to play spoiler in the Big 12 race. But West Virginia got no closer. That gave Oklahoma short field and the game’s first score.

Crawford’s outing was the third-best individual rushing game in school history.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) – A marquee matchup turned into a lopsided win for Oklahoma, and the Sooners now only have rival Oklahoma State in the way of back-to-back Big 12 titles. The Sooners enter with a 14-game conference winning streak.

West Virginia would put together its best drive of the game inside the Oklahoma ten yard-line on the heels of two Justin Crawford scampers, but the struggles would continue as Crawford would fumble the football and the Sooners would recover it keeping the Mountaineers off the scoreboard. The Mountaineers racked up 778 yards against Oklahoma on November 17, 2012. Perine gained 160 yards and scored twice.

(23) Texas A&M 23, UTSA 10: Jake Hubenak threw for 248 yards and a touchdown and Myles Garrett had 4 1/2 sacks to help the Aggies (8-3) defeat the Roadrunners (5-6) at College Station, Texas. It is also only the third time Morgantown will play witness to a meeting of two Top 10 programs.

Howard passed for 191 yards and two touchdowns. That was because it had zero wins over top-25 teams through its first nine games.

Oklahoma needed just six plays to score the game’s first points.

As the college football season careens into its final weeks and teams jockey for bowl positioning (or, for a select few, playoff spots), tensions are running high.

After a WVU punt, the Sooners struck quickly.

Next possession, Baker Mayfield hit the unsafe Dede Westbrook with a bubble screen, and Westbrook broke away from Justin Arndt, who had a tough night, and went 75 yards for a score, his 11th touchdown of more than 40 yards this year. Oklahoma surpassed that total with 3:24 left in the opening quarter. His 37-yard scoring toss to Ka’Raun White pulled the Mountaineers within 41-28 with 10 minutes left in the game. Justin Crawford got the team down to the Oklahoma promised land only to fumble it away.

Oklahoma started with the ball, and the weather appeared to be an immediate factor, with OU dropping two passes.

That possession was aided by a personal foul for a late hit out of bounds, and Oklahoma added insult to injury with a 5-yard Joe Mixon touchdown run. The most recent being National Football League draft picks Gino Smith, Tavon Austin and Stedman Bailey.

Thanks to two 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalties on WVU defensive linemen, the Sooners scored again on their next series. Mixon’s 5-yard run stretched the lead to 28-0 before Perine’s 9-yarder made it 34-0. West Virginia’s Skyler Howard has five interceptions in his last three but hopes to take advantage of a Sooners’ defense that is allowing an average of 297 yards. But whatever the angry West Virginia players were thinking by attempting to start a fracas with their opponents, it didn’t work at all.

Oklahoma then went on a 64-yard, 11-play drive, which Mayfield punctuated with a 1-yard dive.