NORMAN — Oklahoma’s 50-49 victory over West Virginia was its third straight win, but it’s climb up the BCS standings ended. The Sooners dropped a spot Sunday night to No. 13.
It wasn’t human polls that caused the drop. OU remained at No. 12 in the USA Today coaches poll and No. 13 in the Harris Poll. It took a hit in the computers due to Kansas State’s loss to Baylor.
As long as OU can remain in the BCS standings’ top 14, it remains eligible for an at-large spot in a BCS bowl.
Perfect at the end: The Sooners’ come-from-behind victory should be remembered as one of the highlights of Landry Jones’ career. After all, he threw for a career-high 554 yards and was a perfect 10-for-10 on the last two touchdown drives.
“As a player, you always like those moments,” Jones said. “Sure, would you like to be clicking on all cylinders and blow out teams every game? Sure. You’d love to do that. There’s also, as a competitor, you want these moments in your life to go out there and play. When it’s all on the line, you want the ball in your hands, and the coaches put it in the offense’s hands and we did a great job of moving the ball.”
Another offensive lineman goes down: OU played most of the game without offensive tackle Daryl Williams. He suffered an injury to his right leg in the first half and did not return.
OU adjusted by moving Lane Johnson to right tackle and bringing Tyrus Thompson off the bench to play left tackle.
Lightning doesn’t strike twice: The victory over the Mountaineers came two days short of the one-year anniversary of OU’s 45-38 loss to Baylor last season. Much like Saturday night, the Baylor game was a thrilling offensive shootout where the lead changed hands several times in the final minutes.
“It was definitely a Baylor-type of feel,” OU cornerback Aaron Colvin said. “This time, we came out on the victor’s side. It’s good to get the win, but we have to get better as a defense.”
Tale of two halves: The stunning part of OU’s defensive collapse occurred in the final three quarters, mostly in the second. At the end of the first quarter, OU had allowed 37 yards and three points.
“We kind of took them out early. They got right back into it. We couldn’t make any plays defensively and they hurt us every opportunity that they got, whether it be a deep pass, a long run or quarterback getting outside,” OU defensive end David King said. “It’s just poor all-around … Obviously whatever their coach said at halftime worked. They put it on us pretty good.
“It was a tale of two halves. The first half, they got some plays early, but we did a good job of stopping them, getting some three-and-outs and stopping them. In the second half, they came out and did whatever they wanted to do.”
The Sooners gave up more than 500 yards in the second half.
John ShinnFollow me @john_shinnjshinn@normantranscript.com
For local news and more, subscribe to The Norman Transcript Smart Edition, or our print edition.
