Week 6 of the college football season is here, and despite there being no ranked matchups in the Big 12, there is still plenty on the line with conference play in full swing.
One of the weekend’s most important games took place in Stillwater, Oklahoma, where the Oklahoma State Cowboys hosted the West Virginia Mountaineers.
West Virginia is fresh off a bye week, while Oklahoma State is coming off a brutal 42-20 loss to Kansas State last weekend. The Mountaineers are looking to get off to a 2-0 start in conference play, while the Cowboys are trying to avoid their first 0-3 start in Big 12 action in almost 20 years.
As much anticipation as there was for this game, it ended up being completely lopsided, as West Virginia dominated 38-14. Here are three takeaways from the game.
West Virginia Ran All Over Oklahoma State
It’s no secret that West Virginia is a run-first offense. When all else fails, they turn to their quarterback, Garrett Greene, and their talented running backs, CJ Donaldson and Jahiem White, to carry the load.
Their big three certainly did that against Oklahoma State on Saturday as the Mountaineers racked up 389 yards on the ground. Running back Jahiem White led the way with 158 yards and a score, while Garrett Greene and CJ Donaldson combined for 163 yards and three touchdowns. Even when Greene went down with an injury, Nicco Marchiol came in and had some success running the football as well.
Between its powerful rushing attack and outstanding defense, Oklahoma State never stood a chance in this one. West Virginia’s performance was truly dominant all around.
Oklahoma State is in Shambles
There really isn’t anything positive to take away from this from an Oklahoma State standpoint. The Cowboys were outplayed and outcoached, to put it simply. The offense was pathetic as Alan Bowman went just 10/19 for 116 yards and had two picks, and Bowman eventually got benched for Garret Ragel. Meanwhile, the ground game did next to nothing, as the Cowboys averaged just 1.7 yards on 21 carries. And to make matters worse, star running back Ollie Gordon III left the game due to an injury.
While the offense was bad, the defense wasn’t any better. They let West Virginia run wild on them for nearly 400 yards. The tackling was poor, and the effort I saw on certain plays was absolutely embarrassing. It felt like I watched Oklahoma State quit while the game was still going on.
As for the coaching, I will say this. The play calling from Kasey Dunn was head-scratching, and Bryan Nardo’s defense looks like a shell of themselves from a year ago despite returning a ton of starters. This team is in absolute shambles right now and they are 0-3 in Big 12 play for the first time since 2005.
Don’t Count Out West Virginia Just Yet
I know that plenty of people wrote off the Mountaineers after their ugly loss to Pitt a few weeks ago, but those people may want to take a step back for a minute. The Mountaineers are now 2-0 after their win against Oklahoma State, and they are still right in the Big 12 title race heading into the third weekend of conference play.
The schedule gets tougher after this weekend as they will host Iowa State and Kansas State over the next two weeks. Those two teams are arguably the best two teams in the conference, so it will be a huge test for West Virginia. Plus, they will travel to Tucson after that to take on a gritty Arizona team. There’s no doubt that they still have a long way to go, and there is plenty of football left, but don’t count out this West Virginia team just yet. It wouldn’t be the first time Neal Brown surprised us all.
