No. 21 Oklahoma State has thoroughly flattened West Virginia and its striped blue-and-gold crowd, leading the Mountaineers 17-2 at the break.
The Cowboys’ lead has been aided significantly by West Virginia miscues, namely a Skyler Howard fumble that Emmanuel Ogbah recovered for a touchdown at the 4:45 mark of the first quarter. West Virginia’s next two each ended in fumbles as well, both by running back Rushel Shell. The latter fumble ended a 12-play, 69-yard drive inside the Oklahoma State red zone.
Oklahoma State got a one-yard Rennie Childs run less than a minute into the second quarter to take a 14-0 lead, then spotted the Mountaineers two points when Mason Rudolph was sacked inside his own end zone.
Ben Grogan knocked in a 21-yard field goal with 3:43 to go in the second quarter to cap the scoring.
Rudolph has completed 12-of-20 passes for 125 yards with an interception, carrying an offense that has mustered only 43 rushing yards on 20 tries.
Howard struggled mightily throughout the half, hitting only 4-of-11 throws for 31 yards. West Virginia rushed 26 times for 116 yards as a team.
The Mountaineers will receive to open the second half.