Oklahoma
Oklahoma’s Special Teams Let Down a Key Piece of Tough Loss in Morgantown
After serving as a major power as lately as two weeks in the past in a win over Iowa State, Oklahoma’s particular groups had been removed from particular on Saturday within the Sooners’ newest loss.
In OU’s 23-20 defeat by the hands of West Virginia in Morgantown, the proverbial “third aspect of the ball” bit Brent Venables’ squad all through the afternoon.
Oklahoma missed two discipline objectives, allowed a giant kickoff return that led to a Mountaineer landing simply earlier than half and likewise gave up a faux punt in what would go on to be a game-tying landing drive within the fourth quarter.
For sure, in a sport determined by simply three factors, particular groups performed a significant function within the Sooners struggling their fifth lack of the season on Saturday.
“As we speak, clearly, it (particular groups) bit us,” Venables stated postgame. “We have been excellent there actually a lot of the yr. And right now once more, we had an alignment (on WVU’s faux punt) that is alleged to be alert. … Not simply an alert. However like an alignment that places us in an alignment to cease the faux. I believed we did a superb job of leveraging it. They tried to run round us. We set the sting and I believed the man for them did a very nice job of slicing again and making a play. Overpursued just a bit bit. Once more, he acquired it by a yard.
“There’s a gazillion of these on the day in my view. We’ll look again on it and present it to our guys once more on Monday and be taught. There’s a whole lot of performs similar to there the place we’re not on the fitting aspect of it and we acquired punished for it.”
After a rocky first half offensively, Oklahoma put collectively its finest drive of the day simply earlier than halftime, going 96 yards in simply over a minute to leap put out to a 10-0 lead.
However, OU’s kickoff protection failed them as West Virginia’s Sam James responded by returning the following kickoff 42 yards out to the WVU 47-yard line.
Simply three performs later, quarterback Garrett Greene ran within the Mountaineers’ first landing to attract the sport inside one rating going into halftime.
“Particular groups is at all times a giant a part of the sport,” defensive again Billy Bowman stated. “That’s why it’s a three-phase sport. So whoever wins the yards differential in particular groups more than likely will win the sport, and we misplaced that right now.”
Then there’s the 2 missed discipline objectives from the usually dependable Zach Schmit that each would have given the Sooners the lead had they been punched by.
The primary one, a 54-yard try that got here up quick by lower than ideally suited kicking situations, was on the primary drive of the sport. The second, although, was definitely the larger gut-punch of the 2.
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With 6 1/2 minutes to play, Oklahoma was offered with a fourth-and-3 on the West Virginia 29-yard line.
Regardless of the sooner miss on his first kick (Schmit did make a 32-yard try within the second quarter), Venables elected to strive the redshirt sophomore kicker once more for a 46-yard strive somewhat than belief his offense.
The choice didn’t repay, as Schmit’s kick doinked off the fitting upright to present the ball again to the Mountaineers.
Oklahoma would by no means see the ball once more, as WVU then drained up the final six-plus minutes, hitting a game-winning discipline objective as time expired.
“Zach (Schmit) — he is been excellent,” Venables stated. “All the best way since spring ball. And as you noticed there he had loads of leg. The situations weren’t that dangerous on the sphere. And, once more, primarily based on how we had been, the dearth of execution all day, I did not suppose we had been going to miraculously give you this massive time conversion on fourth down offensively.”
All in all, it was removed from a banner day for the Sooners in particular groups as quite a few key turning factors of the sport had been seen with that unit on the sphere.
Venables and firm have put a a lot bigger emphasis on particular groups than the earlier regime, and for essentially the most half it has paid dividends all through the season.
However, on Saturday in Morgantown, West Virginia did extra within the third part of the sport — doubtless serving because the distinction in a tightly contested sport.
Whereas removed from the one challenge plaguing Oklahoma towards the Mountaineers, particular groups will definitely be an space the place the Sooners will look to button issues up going into Bedlam subsequent weekend in Norman.
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Oklahoma State has plenty of talent to replace next season, but no one will be more difficult to replace than its star receiver.
Over the past few years, no one has embodied the OSU program better than Brennan Presley. Since he stepped on the field for the first time in 2020, he has been a symbol of consistency for the Pokes.
Although he has played significant roles on a couple of OSU teams that made the Big 12 Championship, he had no issues staying focused throughout the three-win campaign in 2024. In a season where it was easy to find the negatives in just about everything the Cowboys did, Presley remained a bright spot. Entering the season on the Biletnikoff watch list, Presley finished his final collegiate season with 90 catches for 767 yards and seven touchdowns.
The reason Presley will be so difficult to replace is not only because of his impressive numbers each season but also because of how consistent he has been at putting those numbers up.
His consistency led to him breaking the Cowboys’ all-time receptions record in 2024, becoming the first player to cross the 300-catch mark in an OSU uniform by ending his career with 315.
Without Presley out there to be a reliable target next season, there will be some growing pains for whoever suits up under center. Along with always being available for a pass, Presley could be used in a variety of ways.
While it wasn’t his best ability, Presley was also occasionally used as a rusher throughout his career. He ended his OSU tenure with 30 rush attempts for 160 yards and six touchdowns, with most of his carries used as a wrinkle near the goal line.
Of course, the five-year Cowboy was well-known for his ability to return on special teams. His most notable was a kickoff return touchdown in Bedlam in 2021, and 1,667 kick and punt return yards helped him break 5,000 career all-purpose yards.
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An 8-year-old Oklahoma girl is still missing in Texas after floodwaters carried away the family SUV on Christmas Eve.
According to local reports in Sherman, Texas, the SUV ran off the road into a drainage ditch before succumbing to the flood. The Sherman Police Department said six people were inside the vehicle when it crashed.
Four family members were rescued. CBS News reported that the missing girl’s father, Will Robinson, did not survive. Robinson was a coach for the Durant High School Lady Lions basketball team.
By the afternoon of Christmas Day, searchers had covered seven miles of creek in the area without success.
“We are shifting our focus into the county, targeting some possible locations where we have not looked to as yet,” the department wrote on Facebook Wednesday. “Our search will continue until dark today, then we will resume searching again (Thursday) before daylight.”
NORMAN, Okla. — — Raegan Beers matched a career high with 28 points, and No. 10 Oklahoma rolled past Omaha 111-65 on Sunday.
Beers, a 6-foot-4 center, made 11 of 13 field goals and grabbed nine rebounds to help Oklahoma win its fifth straight since an overtime loss to Duke.
Skylar Vann had 12 points, eight rebounds and eight assists and Kiersten Johnson added 12 points for the Sooners (11-1). Oklahoma scored at least 100 points for the third time this season after entering the day ranked fourth nationally with 90.7 points per game.
Ja Harvey scored 21 points and Cora Olsen added 15 for Omaha. The Mavericks (8-5) had won seven straight since a 79-77 loss to Wisconsin, but gave up a season-high point total against the Sooners.
Oklahoma led 52-34 at halftime, with Beers producing 15 points and six rebounds.
The Sooners exploded in the third quarter, outscoring the Mavericks 35-25 to take an 87-59 lead. It matched the most points Oklahoma has scored in a quarter this season. The Sooners made 14 field goals and five 3-pointers in the period.
Omaha: Aside from Harvey, none of the Mavericks could get going. Harvey made 8 of 14 field goals while the rest of the team made 15 of 52.
Oklahoma: The Sooners continued to bully opponents in the paint and beat them with pace. They outrebounded the Mavericks 57-33 and forced 20 turnovers.
Oklahoma set the tone from the beginning by scoring the game’s first eight points. The Sooners led 26-10 at the end of the first quarter.
Omaha made just 2 of 21 3-pointers while Oklahoma made 13 of 35.
Omaha hosts North Dakota on Jan. 2. Oklahoma hosts New Mexico State on Dec. 29.
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