Oklahoma State (4-2, 2-1 Big 12) at West Virginia (4-2, 2-1 Big 12), Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET (ESPN)
Line: West Virginia by 3 1/2, according to FanDuel SportsBook.
Series record: Oklahoma State leads 9-5.
WHAT’S AT STAKE?
Oklahoma State is going after its third straight victory. West Virginia saw its four-game winning streak snapped on a last-second Hail Mary touchdown pass at Houston last week. The Cowboys haven’t played a road game in a month while the Mountaineers will have their first home game in that span. The winner will remain close to the top of the tight Big 12 standings, while the loser’s hopes at reaching the league championship game will take a hit.
KEY MATCHUP
Oklahoma State RB Ollie Gordon against West Virginia’s defense. The sophomore set career highs against Kansas last week with 168 rushing yards and one touchdown while catching six passes for 116 yards and another score. Gordon has three straight 100-yard performances on the ground. West Virginia has allowed one 100-yard rushing performance this season. Last year Gordon ran for 136 yards and a TD in a 24-19 loss to the Mountaineers in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Oklahoma State: WR Rashod Owens. The junior is coming off his own career-best performance with nine catches for 112 yards against Kansas. His previous highs of five catches for 75 yards were set in the previous game, a win over Kansas State.
West Virginia: QB Garrett Greene. The junior threw for a career-high 391 yards with two TDs in the 41-39 loss at Houston. He also ran for 47 yards and two more scores. But his unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for taking off his helmet after throwing a touchdown pass with 12 seconds left enabled Houston to get good field position following the kickoff, setting up the Cougars’ 49-yard Hail Mary TD. Oklahoma State’s 14 passing touchdowns allowed are the most in the Big 12.
FACTS & FIGURES
Oklahoma State’s Alex Hale is tied for the lead nationally with 15 made field goals …. West Virginia is 3-0 at home this season … Oklahoma State sixth-year senior quarterback Alan Bowman’s only other meeting with West Virginia came in 2018, when he was a freshman in the first of his three injury-filled seasons with Texas Tech. He sustained a collapsed lung against the Mountaineers after getting hit as he threw a pass. Bowman played sparingly at Michigan for two seasons before transferring to Oklahoma State this season. … West Virginia leading rusher CJ Donaldson has been limited to an average of 58 yards and 3.2 yards per carry over his last three games.
___
AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll
