http://thedpost.com/Sooners-lower-boom-on-WVU,-44-24


Sooners lower boom on WVU, 44-24

Joey LoMonaco
TheDPost.com

NORMAN, Okla. — Scratches of varying lengths tattooed Nick Kwiatkoski’s neck and arms, but the pain in his eyes wasn’t visible until he ceased to be WVU’s starting SAM linebacker and instead faced reporters as a college senior.

“We haven’t had a chance to beat them yet,” Kwiatkoski said after his Mountaineers lost to Oklahoma for the fourth time in as many years.

Then he paused, rephrased. “And I guess we’re not going to.”

The Mountaineers’ 44-24 loss in Norman, then, was no more successful than the any of the teams’ matchups since WVU joined the Big 12, in 2012. It was simply more of the same.

“We successfully got the game into the fourth quarter for the fourth time in four years,” WVU head coach Dana Holgorsen said.

In the early going Saturday, Oct. 3, it appeared even that silver lining of consistency was in jeopardy.

When Oklahoma running back Joe Mixon bounded into the north end zone with two minutes, 16 seconds left in the second quarter, the Sooners had seized a 24-7 lead.

Mixon’s 35-yard scoring scamper triggered the firing of a half-dozen flares from a tower at one end of Gaylord Family Memorial Stadium.

But for West Virginia, the warning signs were visible long before the pink luminescence and smoke trails painted Norman’s horizon.

The normally tight-fisted Skyler Howard flaunted uncharacteristic altruism, surrendering an ugly first-quarter interception.

Howard, who this spring seized WVU’s starting quarterback job based on his ability to protect the ball, entered Saturday’s game with two career turnovers. He left Norman with seven, after three picks and two lost fumbles.

Given enough chances, No. 15 Oklahoma capitalized on the gaffes, scoring 13 points off WVU giveaways.