Mountaineers End Season Victorious at Oklahoma State

Saturday, November 26

Stillwater, Okla.

12:00 p.m.

West Virginia University

5-7 , 3-6

Oklahoma State

7-5 , 4-5

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

West Virginia

Oklahoma St.

Photo by: USA Today

November 26, 2022 03:45 PM | Football

Box Score Neal Brown Postgame Nicco Marchiol Postgame Jaylen Anderson Postgame Lee Kpogba Postgame West Virginia Postgame Notes Game Book Photo Gallery

By: John Antonik

Freshman Jaylen Anderson ran for 155 yards and scored two long touchdowns to lead West Virginia to a 24-19 victory over Oklahoma State at soggy Boone Pickens Stadium this afternoon in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

Today's victory snapped West Virginia's seven-game losing streak to the Cowboys and ended Oklahoma State's 14-game home winning streak, the sixth-longest in the country. The Mountaineers' last win against Oklahoma State came in Stillwater in 2014.

"Streak busters today, that was the motivation this week," West Virginia coach Neal Brown said. "It says a lot about who you are collectively, but more importantly it speaks to who you are as a man. Every time you have an opportunity to suit up and play, it's part of your resume. You should never waste one of those, and our guys definitely didn't today. I thought we played extremely hard and physical in about as bad of conditions as you can play in."

As Brown indicated, WVU had to do so in difficult weather conditions with true freshman quarterback Nicco Marchiol finishing the game for injured starter Garrett Greene.

"Being a young guy, coming into college football, things are moving 1,000 times faster than high school football so I think the more the season went on, the more weeks I could process the game from the sidelines and see the speed of the game," Marchiol said. 'Situations, third down, second down, the good and the bad, all helped me for this moment."

Oklahoma State was also playing today's game without its starting quarterback, Spencer Sanders, who was dressed and took part in today's Senior Day but never got into the game.

Backup Garret Rangel completed just 18-of-42 passes for 178 yards, was sacked four times and fumbled once.

West Virginia got on the scoreboard first with 7:11 left in the first quarter when Greene called his own number and ran 36 yards untouched for a touchdown.

Oklahoma State (7-5, 4-5) answered early in the second quarter thanks to a kick-catch interference penalty called on Kaden Prather that gave the Cowboys 15 yards and possession of the ball at the WVU 46. Rangel hooked up with Brennan Presley for 32 yards to the WVU 14. Four plays later, a motioning Presley took a pass behind the line of scrimmage from Rangel and ran untouched 4 yards into the end zone.

Jason Taylor II's interception of a Greene pass gave Oklahoma State great field position at the WVU 33, but the Cowboys were unsuccessful on their fourth and 1 try at the 7 when Exree Loe stuffed Deondre Jackson at the line of scrimmage.

The Mountaineers got one first down and then punted the ball back to Oklahoma State with 2:18 left in the half. On third and 10 at the OSU 38, Rangel threw a pass downfield to Presley at the first-down marker. Here, cornerback Malachi Ruffin thought Presley dropped the football; he didn't, and he raced down the field for a 43-yard gainer to the WVU 19.

After an Ollie Gordon 13-yard run to the Mountaineer 4, three unsuccessful Rangel passes in the end zone forced Tanner Brown to kick a 22-yard field goal with 18 seconds remaining in the half.

Greene accounted for 92 of West Virginia's 111 yards from scrimmage in the first half, but his afternoon ended on the second play of the third quarter when he absorbed a helmet-to-helmet hit from linebacker Mason Cobb. However, replay officials ruled Cobb's hit was not targeting, and he remained in the game.

With Marchiol behind center, Neal Brown gambled for it on fourth and 1 at the WVU 29, and Anderson gained 2 to the 31. A Marchiol 15-yard pass to Sam James moved the ball to the 46, where on the next play, Anderson broke free and raced 54 yards untouched for a touchdown.

WVU appeared to be in great shape to score more points when Preston Fox returned Logan Ward's punt 69 yards to the Cowboy 8, but Anthony Del Negro was flagged for an offsides penalty to wipe out the play and forced a re-punt.

It didn't matter.

After Anderson ran 15 yards for a first down, he took his second carry of the drive to his right, waited for his blocking to form, broke free at midfield and ran 57 yards for his second long touchdown jaunt of the afternoon.

The Cowboys answered with three points on a Brown 38-yard field goal, which culminated a 42-yard drive that consisted mostly of Gordon runs.

On the ensuing possession, West Virginia gave up the football at midfield when it gambled on fourth and inches out of a shotgun formation. Tony Mathis Jr., hunting for an opening, came up short of the sticks, which was later confirmed by the replay official. OSU took advantage of the great field position and a pass interference penalty called on Caleb Coleman to put Gordon in position to run 23 yards for a touchdown.

Rangel's conversion pass to tie the game was unsuccessful, leaving the score 21-19 Mountaineers with 24 seconds left in the third quarter.

West Virginia got its first turnover of the game when Dante Stills recovered Rangel's bobbled snap at the OSU 49, but the Mountaineers couldn't move the sticks and Oliver Straw punted the ball into the end zone. OSU also missed a great opportunity a possession later when Braydon Johnson, running past Marcis Floyd down the near sideline, dropped Rangel's downfield pass that would have been a certain touchdown.

Taking over at their 40, the Mountaineers used their ground game to move the football 44 yards to the Cowboy 16 where the drive stalled, and Casey Legg kicked a 34-yard field goal with 5:59 left.

Here, West Virginia's defense made two big stops to win the game.

The Cowboys had the ball at the WVU 28, facing a fourth and 3, but Rangel's pass to Gordon coming out of the backfield sailed wide of his target.

West Virginia (5-7, 3-6) was unable to get a first down or burn all of Oklahoma State's timeouts, and the Mountaineers avoided disaster when Straw picked up a bobbled snap and got off a 28-yard punt that landed out of bounds at OSU's 46 with 1:22 showing on the clock and the Cowboys still possessing a timeout.

But all four of Rangel's downfield passes were incomplete and WVU ran out the remaining 1:07.

Gordon finished the game with 136 yards on 17 carries.

WVU quarterbacks Greene and Marchiol combined to complete 10-of-23 passes for 77 yards.

West Virginia ran for 250 yards today, the Mountaineers reaching the 200-yard mark in all five victories this season.

"We ran the ball for 250 yards rushing. Jaylen Anderson, who we really like, he's come on, and he's got a bright future," Brown said. "He's got to continue to mature, but I think he showed some real signs. He's got a patient running style but was able to break two big ones."

Oklahoma State outgained West Virginia 358 to 327 and neither team was successful on third down. The Mountaineers converted four of their 15 third-down attempts while Oklahoma State was 8-of-21. The Cowboys were unsuccessful on all three fourth-down attempts.