GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) -The magic of trick plays at the Fiesta Bowl ran out when it came time for Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops to give it a try.
A year after watching his team get victimized by gadget plays on the same field, Stoops called for a third-quarter onside kick that failed and turned momentum in West Virginia’s favor in the 11th-ranked Mountaineers’ 48-28 win over the third-ranked Sooners on Wednesday night.
Oklahoma (11-3) had scored nine straight points to pull within 20-15 when Garrett Hartley tapped a dribbling kickoff that didn’t even make it the 10 yards needed for the Sooners to be allowed to recover it.
“We had the momentum. You get the onside kick, you’ve got a chance to really give them a blow,” Stoops said. “Obviously we don’t kick it far enough, and there you have it.”
The shortened field jumpstarted West Virginia’s offense, which had gone three-and-out on its first two possessions of the second half, and the Mountaineers (11-2) scored six plays later to start extending their lead.
The floodgates opened after that, with West Virginia tacking on touchdowns on a 30-yard end around by Darius Reynaud, a 79-yard pass from Pat White to Tito Gonzales and a 65-yard run by Noel Devine.
“It was like a domino effect. Once it happened, everything else fell into place for them,” Oklahoma linebacker Nic Harris said.
Boise State emptied its bag of tricks in last year’s Fiesta Bowl, using a hook-and-lateral play to send the game to overtime, then winning it with a wide receiver pass for a touchdown and a Statue of Liberty play for the decisive 2-point conversion.
While Stoops had rejected the thought that the Boise State loss would have any lingering impact on the Sooners, his players spoke openly about wanting to wash away the memories of the often-replayed loss.
Instead, they’ll head home with Oklahoma’s fourth straight loss in a BCS game.
“It’s not very positive. To get to this position, obviously you’re doing a lot of things positive and good, but you need to finish out and play well in these games,” said Stoops, who is 2-4 in BCS games.
Stoops once was known for his brilliant trick play calls, including a game-winning fake field goal at Missouri in 2002 and a fake punt that helped win a game at Alabama the following year. He talked last year about not using as many trick plays because opponents were looking for them more.
He pulled out one on a wide receiver pass from Manuel Johnson to Malcolm Kelly with an 18-point lead earlier in the season against Miami, but the Sooners hadn’t used many gimmicks other than basic reverses.
There hadn’t been much need for gadget plays, though, as Oklahoma ranked third in the nation in scoring (43.4 points) and ninth in scoring defense (18.2) during the season.
Stoops decided on the onside kick because he thought West Virginia’s defense was tired after giving up consecutive scoring drives for the first time in the game and because of a perceived vulnerability in the Mountaineers’ return formation.
“We felt the way they lined up and they didn’t have a guy in the center and they were 15 yards deep with their other two guys that we’d have a good chance at it,” Stoops said.
He also thought the Sooners could deliver a disheartening blow by recovering the onside kick.
“In the end, you don’t do those kind of things when you don’t have momentum. I felt we had the momentum. The opportunity was there. We just didn’t execute it,” Stoops said. “Who knows? There’s still a lot of plays after that they played a heck of a lot better and executed a heck of a lot better than we did in a lot of other areas.”
Hartley didn’t even give the Sooners a chance by kicking it only 9 yards.
“That was one of those things where if you get it, it’s a great call, and if you don’t then it’s not,” receiver Juaquin Iglesias said. “It was a good idea to me. When we did it and we didn’t get it, it’s just one of those things. You don’t get everything that you try.”
West Virginia took over at the Oklahoma 39, and White scrambled 8 yards on third-and-5 to keep the drive going. Devine’s 17-yard TD run extended the lead to 27-15.
“Since it didn’t work, the defense should have been at its best and should have stepped up to the plate,” said linebacker Curtis Lofton, the Big 12 defensive player of the year. “Unfortunately, we didn’t.”
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