West Virginia Football: 5 Reasons Mountaineers beat Oklahoma

4. Turnovers matter

Oklahoma has a negative turnover margin in 2018. Their 10 giveaways outpace their eight takeaways by a slim margin, putting them in the bottom half of the conference in yet another defensive statistic. They’ve been able to keep possession of the football well, but their inability to take the ball away from the other team has kept the ceiling on this team from truly taking off.

Those eight turnovers forced are the second-fewest in the conference, and less than half as many as the 20 turnovers forced by the West Virginia defense. The Mountaineers have racked up 12 interceptions and eight fumbles with 14 turnovers of their own.

Even Kyler Murray, who had done a phenomenal job taking care of the football earlier on in the season, has struggled to protect the football. He’s thrown as many interceptions in his three most recent games (against Texas Tech, Oklahoma State and Kansas) as he had in his first eight games combined.

Turning the ball didn’t cost them in the end against those lesser teams, but a team with the firepower on offense like West Virginia will make sure the Sooners pay if they’re that careless with the football.