Mountaineers slam Sooners in Fiesta Bowl

West Virginia played nice leading up to Wednesday night’s Fiesta Bowl against Oklahoma.

Interim coach Bill Stewart called the Sooners the best team in the nation, and his players wouldn’t stop complimenting Oklahoma’s stout defense and ultra-talented quarterback Sam Bradford.

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And then the game started, and all that chivalry went out the window.

West Virginia racked up 525 total yards — 349 on the ground — and stayed in control from the opening kickoff until the final horn, dismantling Oklahoma 48-28 in front of 70,016 on Wednesday night at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale.

“I just think we were a little more hungry than they were,” West Virginia quarterback Pat White said.

“They never, ever, ever quit believing,” Stewart said.

White was a one-man wrecking crew, completing 10 of 19 passes for 176 yards and two touchdowns through the air and rushing for 150 yards on 20 carries.

Many doubted West Virginia’s chances in this one after a tumultuous month in which it lost its national title hopes in the season finale against Pittsburgh and then lost its coach, Rich Rodriguez, to Michigan before this game.

“It’s nothing new to us,” White said.

“People doubt us all the time.”

The players, though, came out motivated from the start. The defense sacked Bradford twice on Oklahoma’s opening series and gave up only six points in the first half.

The offense was even better.

White and Noel Devine each rushed for more than 100 yards, and the offense averaged more than 9 yards per play.

Three touchdown plays were scored from 57 yards out or more.

It is the second-most points allowed in Bob Stoops’ nine-year tenure at Oklahoma, surpassed only by the 55 USC put up in the 2005 Orange Bowl.

“They came out and outplayed us and outhustled us,” Oklahoma linebacker Curtis Lofton said.

It is Oklahoma’s fourth straight loss in a BCS game and second straight in the Fiesta Bowl, last year’s coming after Boise State’s memorable comeback with the help of a shirt-sleeve full of trick plays.

The Mountaineers stuck to conventional methods to win this one, letting Pat White execute the offense to perfection and clamping down on defense early to grab a comfortable lead.

West Virginia did it all without star tailback Steve Slaton, who left the game with a tweaked right hamstring on the Mountaineers’ second offensive series and didn’t return.

Without Slaton, the Mountaineers turned to an unlikely source for production.

Fullback Owen Schmitt had just 208 yards rushing this year heading into the game, but he broke off a career-long 57-yard touchdown run with 6:29 left in the second quarter for a 13-3 advantage.

West Virginia had moved the ball into Oklahoma territory consistently before that run, but only had a pair of Pat McAfee field goals to show for it.

Oklahoma cut the lead to 20-15 on a 1-yard run by Chris Brown with 6:23 left in the third quarter, but the two-point conversion failed, and Stoops decided to go with an onside kick, which also did not work.

West Virginia took possession inside the Sooners 40-yard line, and scored six plays later on a 17-yard run by Noel Devine.

Oklahoma didn’t get closer than 12 points the rest of the way.