By John Shinn

Transcript Sports Writer

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Oklahoma made no effort to mask its disappointment and disgust after Wednesday night’s 48-28 loss to West Virginia in the Fiesta Bowl.

In every aspect, something broke down in what became OU’s worst performance of the season.

“Very disappointing to finish the season this way and after such a solid year to come out and play as we did,” OU coach Bob Stoops said.

The Sooners (11-3) loosely resembled the squad that crushed Oklahoma State and Missouri — teams that both collected convincing bowl wins — to complete the regular season, claim the Big 12 championship and turn themselves into a darkhorse candidate for a possible split national championship.

OU, which had been one of the highest-scoring teams in college football this season, struggled to get anything going until the second half. Defensively, there were too many breakdowns and missed tackles to count.

The Sooners gave up 525 total yards with an unheard of 354 coming on the ground.

West Virginia quarterback Pat White, who was the game’s Offensive Player of the Game, put himself on the short list of next season’s Heisman Trophy contenders by rushing for 150 yards and throwing for another 176 and two touchdowns.

But the breakdowns against the run were everywhere. Only one of the Mountaineers’ seven touchdowns came on a play inside the Sooners’ 20.

The rest were big plays the Sooners hadn’t really given up all season, including three touchdown runs over 30 yards and two more touchdown passes of 21 or more.

It was befuddling.

“The No. 1 thing was tackling,” OU linebacker Curtis Lofton said. “I mean, the credit goes to Pat White and Noel Devine (13 carries, 110 yards). They are great players and make a lot of guys miss. Everybody took their turn, gap off here, gap off there.”

The offense’s struggles fell in line with the way the Sooners have performed in every bowl game the last five seasons. The unit’s only first-half output was a pair of Garrett Hartley field goals.

Some of it may have had to do with wide receiver Malcolm Kelly missing all but a handful of plays due to a leg injury.