MORGANTOWN — As unlikely as it sounds, it is possible to make a statement that is right and wrong at the same time, and so it is as West Virginia readies to play Oklahoma State at 4 p.m. Saturday in Stillwater.
A month ago, as dawn was breaking on this new collegiate football season, one of the games that was being circled as crucial in the Big 12 conference race was this matchup, as it appeared that either could be a contender for an appearance in the championship game in Dallas at season’s end. Well, a month into the season no one would argue that this isn’t a crucial matchup, but less for its effect upon the race to Dallas than on the race to respectability or oblivion as Neal Brown’s Mountaineers and Mike Gundy’s Cowboys arrive at the moment with this tipping point in their seasons. Oklahoma State comes in off consecutive losses to Utah and Kansas State, the teams who were selected first and second in the conference.
That left them at 0-2 in Big 12 play and reality screaming that you can’t begin 0-3 in this seemingly well balanced race with one leg caught in a bear trap. WVU’s start has been hardly well oiled as they come into the game at 2-2, losses to Penn State and Pitt evidence that they bit off more than they could chew in non-conference scheduling. They do still cling to their No.
1 preseason goal, that being reaching Dallas, as the Mountaineers are at 1-0 in Big 12 play, the victory coming last week over Kansas in thrilling, if not convincing, fashion.