Previewing 2012 WVU Football Opponents: Oklahoma - WVU Football, WVU Basketball, News - Mountaineer Sports

There is no bigger home game on the schedule than the one on November 17. That is when Oklahoma invades Morgantown to visit West Virginia.

This will be the first meeting between the two schools since the 2008 Fiesta Bowl when WVU shocked Oklahoma and beat the Sooners 48-28. West Virginia prepared for the game and remained focused on the task at hand despite the departure of Head Coach Rich Rodriguez for Michigan.

Hours after the blowout of Oklahoma, WVU removed the interim head coach tag from Bill Stewart and named him West Virginia's newest head coach.

This game could very well pair two teams ranked in the top five in the country. Many of the so-called experts think this game could determine who wins the Big 12 title.

This meeting will feature not only two of the top quarterbacks in the Big 12, but two of the best quarterbacks in the country.

West Virginia's Geno Smith and Oklahoma's Landry Jones are two early favorites to win the Heisman Trophy. They both passed for nearly identical yardage. Smith threw for 4,385 yards and 31 touchdowns while Jones threw for 4,463 yards and 29 touchdowns.

OKLAHOMA SOONERS

2011 Record – (10-3)

Head Coach: Bob Stoops (139-34 Overall)

Stadium: Memorial Stadium

Seating Capacity: 82,112

Returning Starters: 17 (8 on offense, 7 on defense, 2 on special teams)

Leading Passer in 2011: Landry Jones (4,463, 29 TD, 15 INT)

Leading Rusher in 2011: Dom Whaley (627 Yds, 9 TD)

Leading Receiver in 2011: Ryan Broyles (1,157 Yds, 10 TD)

Last Meeting vs. WVU: 2008 Fiesta Bowl (West Virginia 48, Oklahoma 28)

Record vs. WVU: 2-2

Oklahoma is home to a college football program with a huge tradition and history. The Sooners have won the Big 12 title in six of the last 10 years. Oklahoma won the national title in 2000 and rebounded from the shocking loss to WVU in the Fiesta Bowl to play in the BCS National Championship Game in 2008.

These two schools have crossed paths on the football field a total of four times, but never in Morgantown. Don Nehlen led the Mountaineers to a huge win at Oklahoma in 1982. West Virginia's Jeff Hostetler passed for 321 yards and four touchdowns in that game.

WVU has several difficult stretches on the schedule. This game concludes one of those tough three-game stretches. Playing TCU, Oklahoma State and Oklahoma in three consecutive weeks could take a toll on the Mountaineers going into this game.

It does not fall at the most ideal time for Oklahoma either. This will be the middle game of a three-game stretch for the Sooners that includes meetings with Baylor, West Virginia and Oklahoma State.

Each team will have two regular season games remaining when this one is over. Oklahoma will host Oklahoma State and visit TCU to close out the season. West Virginia will visit Iowa State before closing out the regular season at home against Kansas.

WVU and Oklahoma will meet in Morgantown on November 17.