By Spencer Hall
There’s a ton of bowl games, and you can’t watch them all if you have a real job. Fortunately, we don’t, so take advantage and use the Two Minute Bowl Review to stay current and sound like you know what you’re talking about.
Competitive? Not in the expected manner: Oklahoma, favored coming into the game against a Mountaineer team distracted by the loss of their head coach and a season-ending loss to Pitt, came out flat and repeatedly shot themselves in both feet. West Virginia, in contrast, came out in a blind rage. The defense darted through the bulky OU line early to stultify the Sooner attack, and the offense got pumping in the second quarter with Owen Schmitt’s 57-yard TD run.
Thanks to Matt Vasgersian of FOX, you’ll never look at a beer truck the same way again.
Two Minute Bowl Summary: Tostitos Fiesta Bowl
HT: Awful Announcing.
Relevant stat to quote like you actually watched the whole game if you didn’t: One, and only one stat matters here, and that is the number 350--as in yards rushing for West Virginia. Every option for WVU siphoned significant digits off the Oklahoma defense: 151 yards for Pat White, 105 yards for Noel Devine, 64 for Owen Schmitt (including the beer truck run.) The Mountaineers looked like they were tapdancing around elephants thanks to adept and decisive blocks by the offensive line, continuing an evening-long pattern of the ‘Eers looking more fleet of foot than the Sooners on both sides of the ball.
Sentence that makes it sound like you watched the whole game: “You can’t spell failed, momentum-killing onside kick attempt without ‘Bob Stoops.’” Early in the third Oklahoma had the deficit down to 20-15 when the Sooners went onside. The ‘Eers read it all the way, recovered, and Noel Devine’s touchdown run on the ensuing possession ignited the rout like a celebratory flaming Morgantown couch. Oklahoma never recovered.
Is this game anything? Meaning, does it have meaning for next year, college football and the world beyond? Plenty: the abundant emotion of the night will pass, but the superb job Bill Stewart did prepping WVU for the bowl game will put him in the running for the head job vacated by Rich Rodriguez. (He was hugging the governor on the sidelines. That’s a positive sign if we’ve ever seen one.)
It changes little for Oklahoma, who continues an ugly streak by losing its fourth BCS game in a row.↵
This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.
