Oklahoma Sooners

MORGANTOWN, W.V. -- The Sooners escaped their maiden voyage to Morgantown with a 50-49 victory over the Mountaineers in one of the craziest shootouts in Big 12 history.

It was over when: West Virginia QB Geno Smith's Hail Mary pass fell to the turf two yards in front of the end zone. The two teams combined to score 31 points in the fourth quarter, including Landry Jones' 5-yard touchdown pass to Kenny Stills on fourth down with 26 seconds remaining.


Game ball goes to: West Virginia's Tavon Austin, who was unbelievable in a losing effort. Austin rushed for 344 yards and two touchdowns on just 21 carries. He also had 82 yards receiving.

Stat of the game: This was the first time since 1993 the Sooners surrendered at least 250 rushing yards in back-to-back games. OU gave up 252 to Baylor last weekend and 458 to the Mountaineers. West Virginia’s 778 total yards were also, by far, the most against a Sooners defense in OU history.

Record performance: Austin shattered the Big 12 record for all-purpose yards in a game with 572. Texas’ Hodges Mitchell held the previous record of 375 yards since 2000. On top of having a monster game rushing and receiving, Austin had 146 yards in kickoff returns.

Unsung hero: Stills, who hauled in four touchdown passes to keep pace with Austin and Stedman Bailey. Stills had 10 receptions, but none bigger than his final one, which gave OU the lead for good.

What it means: The Sooners leave Morgantown with their BCS bowl hopes still intact. But a huge test awaits next weekend in Oklahoma State, which beat OU 44-10 last season. West Virginia is still searching for its sixth win to become bowl eligible. The Mountaineers have now lost five in a row.

The Big 12 got two swipes (should have been a third in 2011) at the SEC during the league's run of six national titles, but failed on both occasions.

Colt McCoy's shoulder suffered a freak injury on a usually harmless hit, and when McCoy trotted to the sideline, the Longhorns' chances of beating Alabama came off the field with him.

A season earlier, Florida twice stuffed Oklahoma on the goal line, giving Tim Tebow his second national title and denying the Sooners the school's eighth.

So, who among the Big 12's contenders this season is best suited to end the SEC's tyranny?

The Sooners are simply the best team, even though Oklahoma is loaded with flaws. Question marks on the offensive and defensive lines as well as at linebacker could prove problematic in a showdown with one of the SEC titans, but the Sooners would love for the play of four-year starting quarterback Landry Jones to answer it. He's got the skills to decipher complex SEC defensive schemes and the pocket presence to elude the rush. His arm strength assures that SEC secondaries will have to cover the whole field.

The Sooners would have to get past Texas in the Red River Rivalry to make that happen. (Never mind 2008. Just humor me here.) If the Longhorns can survive a brutal Big 12 schedule with six 10-win teams on the docket, they're probably the best Big 12 team suited to beat one of the SEC's best teams in a national title game.

The problem is producing enough offense to beat Big 12 teams. In an SEC matchup, though, it's all about the line of scrimmage. Texas' defensive line may challenge LSU as the nation's best, and the Longhorns have a crazy duo at defensive end in Alex Okafor and Jackson Jeffcoat, two of the nation's best at the position.

Texas' depth at defensive line is huge, too, but it likely has the Big 12's best offensive line. The loaded backfield of Joe Bergeron, Malcolm Brown and Johnathan Gray is a good sign, too. Mack Brown brought in assistants with SEC ties like Manny Diaz (defensive coordinator), Bo Davis (defensive tackles) and Stacy Searels (offensive line) to offer his team a little SEC flavor. You want power football, Nick Saban and Les Miles? Texas would love to play some power football.

What about a Big 12 newcomer who's never won the league and never played for a national title in the BCS era?

West Virginia is all about speed. There are plenty of questions on the defensive line, but the Mountaineers will test the mettle of any SEC defense that's feasted on weak offense all season. Geno Smith's got a big arm and the Big 12's two best receivers in Stedman Bailey and Tavon Austin.

West Virginia has to play its best, but if Dana Holgorsen's team can hang 70 on Clemson like it did at the Orange Bowl, the Mountaineers' biggest stage last season, you've got to like its chances to at least put 30 or 40 on the board against an SEC team. Do that, and WVU will have a shot. Just have to survive the first year in the Big 12 and win a league title first.

There's no USC in the Big 12, a team built for a title run in 2012. The Big 12 does have plenty of contenders, though, and if any of these three teams gets a shot, they won't take it lightly.

We'll be walking through the top 10 players at each position in the Big 12 before the season, but we'll start with the most important, especially in this league.

Let's do this:

1. Geno Smith, West Virginia: Smith put up huge numbers (4,385 yards, 31 TD, 7 INT, 65.8 completion percentage) and did so efficiently last season. Both of his top two targets are back and the adjustment to Big 12 defenses shouldn't be too difficult.

2. Landry Jones, Oklahoma: Jones and Smith will go head-to-head all season for honors as the Big 12's top passer. Who comes out on top is anyone's guess, but Jones regressed last season, and his receivers let him down after Ryan Broyles' season ended with a knee injury. He'll try to bounce back with just one reliable target (Kenny Stills) to start the season. The rest of the receiving corps is loaded with potential, but very inexperienced.

3. Collin Klein, Kansas State: Clearly, I'm taking more than just passing acumen into account here. Klein is the Big 12's No. 2 returning rusher, and also threw for just under 2,000 yards last season, adding 13 passing touchdowns to the 27 he scored rushing. We'll see how much better he is as a passer this fall.

4. Seth Doege, Texas Tech: I refuse to hang last year's failures on Doege's shoulders. Absolutely not. He played well, at least as well as he could. The running game struggled and offered almost no support after Eric Stephens' injury. The defense was a disaster and there were injuries all over the place. Doege still went for more than 4,000 yards, 28 scores and just 10 picks. Don't be surprised if Doege throws his hat in the ring as the Big 12's best passer by season's end.

5. Casey Pachall, TCU: Pachall didn't have eye-popping numbers, but only because TCU rode on the shoulders of its trio of running backs. Still, Pachall's numbers are going to be better this year, and he's got great targets in Josh Boyce, Skye Dawson and Brandon Carter, not to mention youngster LaDarius Brown.

6. Nick Florence, Baylor: I like Florence to have a big year with really good receivers, but he's got too much to prove for now. He looked good in spot duty for RG3 against Texas Tech last season, but his senior season will look much, much different than his inconsistent freshman year all the way back in 2009.

7. Wes Lunt, Oklahoma State: The Big 12's only freshman quarterback is a true freshman, and Lunt earned this spot by beating out some really tough competition in J.W. Walsh and Colton Chelf this spring. Amazing stuff, and his coaches know good quarterbacks. Zac Robinson and Brandon Weeden have established quite the QB tradition in Stillwater. Here's guessing Lunt continues it.

8. Dayne Crist, Kansas: Crist's college career hasn't been what he imagined after coming to Notre Dame as one of the most highly recruited signal-calling prospects in his class, but he's got a chance to start something special at Kansas in his senior year, reunited with former coach Charlie Weis. Crist won't have the weapons some of the other guys on this list have, but he gives KU a big, big upgrade at the position.

9. Steele Jantz/Jared Barnett, Iowa State: These two have to cut down the turnovers, but they've both shown the ability to be playmakers. There's no guessing who wins this legitimate battle in the fall, but coach Paul Rhoads isn't afraid to bench either one if the turnovers don't stop.

10. David Ash/Case McCoy, Texas: Mack Brown insists it's still a contest. My jaw will be on the floor if Ash doesn't trot out on the field for the first game of the season. Ash has some potential and promising targets in Mike Davis and Jaxon Shipley, but he hasn't shown the big-play ability of Jantz or Barnett. Expect Ash to move up this list by season's end, but for now, it's all just potential.

Every Monday during the summer, the SoonerNation staff answers a roundtable question. Leave a comment or talk about it in our "There's Only One" forum.

Today's question: Who will be OU’s biggest threat to a Big 12 title?

Any one of six teams could win the Big 12 title this season, the most contenders the league has had in years, and maybe ever. But OU's top challenger for conference supremacy should be West Virginia. The Mountaineers return 16 starters, including QB Geno Smith, off last year's Big East champion squad that destroyed Clemson in the Orange Bowl. West Virginia has to go to Texas and Oklahoma State, and play Oklahoma in Morgantown on Nov. 17 in a tilt that figures to have major Big 12 title implications. To win the Big 12, the Sooners probably will also have to win that game.

- Jake Trotter

West Virginia is the biggest threat to OU's hopes for a Big 12 championship. Quarterback Geno Smith is entering his second season in Dana Holgorsen's offense and has Stedman Bailey and Tavon Austin, a couple of 1,000-yard receivers, to throw to. The Sooners will need to make a major improvement in the secondary to handle the Mountaineers, particularly in Morgantown. West Virginia gets TCU and OU at home but travels to Texas and Oklahoma State in a schedule that should allow WVU to put itself right in contention for a Big 12 title in its first season in the league.

- Brandon Chatmon

Did West Virginia just score again in the Orange Bowl against Clemson? OK, so that joke got played out, but the fact remains that the Mountaineers offense is going to be scary good. Quarterback Geno Smith and Tavon Austin connected for four touchdowns in that game and both are back. Add the fact West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen is familiar with Big 12 systems from his time at Oklahoma State, and the Mountaineers are a real contender for a championship in their first year in the conference. If OU's problems in the secondary haven't been solved, the Nov. 17 trip to Morgantown, W.V., could be a long night.

- Bob Przybylo

West Virginia could beat Oklahoma in November, but I think the Mountaineers' road conference schedule is too tough for them to win the Big 12 title. WVU plays at Texas, at Oklahoma State and at Texas Tech (still a tough place to play), and I could see the Mountaineers losing two of those games. As for OU's biggest threat to a conference championship, give me Texas. The Longhorns have a strong running game, will likely have the best defense in the conference and if they can get above-average play at quarterback, they'll be tough to beat. Beat OU in Dallas on Oct. 13 and the Longhorns have a tame slate the rest of the way.

- Dane Beavers