Why The West Virginia Mountaineers Win Was Not A Fluke

Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports

In a way, one could say they saw this storm coming. WVU was pounded so much by media members over the past week, one could say that they were being undervalued. But it was just too hard to imagine the Mountaineer’s inept offense to keep up with a high-powered Big 12 offense like Oklahoma State’s.

Boy, were we wrong.

We won. We won? Yes. We won.

Clint Trickett, with the help of the likes of Mario (Super Mario) Alford, Ronald Carswell, and the great Charles Sims, hung tough. During the 3rd and 4th quarter, multiple times it looked like Oklahoma State had WVU’s offense’s number. It seemed that the amount of 3 and outs were innumerable.

But they persevered.

Trickett, near the end of the 4th, let WVU on a game clinching drive for a field goal, even while nursing a shoulder injury. Trickett was morphing from a young, callow college kid to a grown man in front of our eyes.

And then there was our defense.

In one on the best performances in the program’s 21st century history, the Mountaineers looked like the Nebraska Cornhuskers 1990’s ‘Blackshirts’ defense during times during the game. Doug Rigg, Will Clarke, Darwin Cook, and Ishmael Banks looked like 1st team all-Americans. Oklahoma State looked miserably lost during the 2nd half, and WVU pounded JW Walsh into a pulp.

But, how, after a no-show last week against the Maryland Terrapins, did the ‘Eers pull off one of their biggest upsets in years?

Simply, in my opinion, the ACC is just that much better than the Big 12 right now.

I am saying that Maryland would’ve beat Oklahoma State, and many teams in the Big 12. Think about it. How else could the Mountaineers had such an insane turnaround? West Virginia must have been completely overmatched against the Terps, and Oklahoma State must have been completely overrated. Yes, this was in Morgantown. But there is no excuse for how awful Oklahoma State played, even on the road. So, what does this mean? It could very well mean that the ACC is just plain better than the Big 12. That puts our Mountaineers in one of the most interesting positions in the country after this game. They now be a Big 12 contender. Their defense easily looked better than any team in the Big 12 so far.

Now that we have found a consistent quarterback, things are looking drastically brighter in Morgantown than anyone in the world would have anticipated. This is Ben Anderson signing off, and I hope you enjoyed the game!