MORGANTOWN — For someone who has not played all that much football in his life, West Virginia kicker Casey Legg does not get rattled very easily.
In a tied game battered with heavy rain where there were four seconds on the clock against an opponent his team had never beaten in conference play, Legg calmly jogged out onto the field and kicked an easy 25-yard field goal before being mobbed by his teammates in celebration.
“The nerves really were not bad (Saturday),” Legg said with a big smile after the game. “It wasn’t bad (Saturday), which I was super thankful for. I knew they had no timeouts left, which was helpful so I knew I wasn’t going to be delayed.”
Legg’s 25-yarder as time expired gave WVU its first win over Oklahoma in the Big 12, 23-20. It was Legg’s second game-winner of the year, adding to the 22-yarder he made against Baylor with 33 seconds left.
“I have high confidence in him,” coach Neal Brown said. “He doesn’t get rattled, he’s really even-keeled. He plays the game with a real peace. He just has peace and so in those types of moments, we have full confidence and he has the full confidence in the whole team.”
Compared to the Baylor kick, Legg said Saturday’s was different because there was no time left on the clock.
“I don’t know if the pressure felt any different, but I think the stark difference is I hit it and then blacked out for a second or two and then a bunch of teammates were surrounding me,” he said. “That was the cool part and the part I think is different about hitting a walk-off, as soon as you hit it, you’re getting swamped by people.”
Legg, who notably did not play football in high school, has been automatic for the Mountaineers this season, connecting on all 13 of his field goal attempts. Brown chalks it up to a “peace” that Legg plays with.
“I don’t know if he spends a whole lot of time thinking about it,” Brown said. “He’s at peace and his personality is he doesn’t get too high or get too low. I think he’s really grateful for the opportunity he has, especially having a soccer background and not playing high school football. I think he feels like he’s already won so he’s playing with house money.”
Legg said that peace is the belief that making or missing kicks is not his defining trait as a person.
“I know that my identity doesn’t rest in making kicks, so there’s in reality no pressure,” Legg said. “I care about winning games and I care about making field goals, but nothing of long-lasting value in what determines who I am is at stake, there’s nothing at stake when I jog out onto the field. Wins and loses, makes and misses are at stake, but my identity isn’t because that’s in God. God’s been really good to me to give me that peace.”
Holding strong
The other player involved in Legg’s game-winner was, of course, holder Kolton McGhee. After making a mistake on a hold that resulted in a rare two-point touchdown for Oklahoma earlier in the game, McGhee rebounded to put out a perfect performance the rest of the way.
“He dropped the snap earlier in the game and I’ve been there, I’ve done that,” Brown said. “That’s something that people don’t talk about, but Kolton McGhee rebounded, he didn’t get the extra point down, but he came back at the end of the game and got the field goal down in wet conditions and got the win.”
The bad hold resulted in Legg having the ball for a moment and fumbling it. Legg said he and McGhee were able to laugh that play off and move on right away.
“We just laughed about it and joked that it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity where for .5 seconds, I was the quarterback,” Legg said. “Me and Kolton are really close so it wasn’t really an issue, we laughed it off and kind of moved on.
“It’s the only hit I’ve taken as a football player. As I was jogging off the field, I was thinking ‘that’s probably going to look bad on video.’”
The defense without fear
WVU’s much-maligned defense played well for the third game in a row Saturday. In contrast to it’s last performances against TCU and Iowa State where the unit only played well at times, Saturday was a full 60-minute effort.
“Oklahoma was 1-of-13 on third and fourth down today,” Brown boasted. “That has been an area where we really struggled coming into this game but they went 1-of-13 and we held them to one score (in the second half). We bent but we didn’t break.”
Brown said he told the defense to play without fear of missing a play or making a mistake, a tough ask for a defense full of youngsters that have been picked on this season.
“I talked to our guys before the game about fear,” Brown said. “Fear of what could happen or fear of things going bad or not making a play. You can’t play like that, you can’t let that fear enter your mindset. You’ve got to have faith and belief in your own abilities and training and belief in your teammates that won’t happen.”
“I think a lot of teams would think that we’re real passive,” said defensive back Jasir Cox. “We wanted to change the narrative and go out there and do what we’re supposed to do.”
Oklahoma racked up 236 yards rushing and 190 passing without any turnovers, but still only scored 20 points, including just eight in the second half.
“I would say that our problem early in the year was thinking too much,” Cox said. “At the end of the day, we’re just playing football. We’re going to make mistakes, but as long as you’re giving 100% effort, we can fix that on the sideline. Out there on the field, you should have no regrets and go as hard as you can.”
Cox finished with a team-high 12 tackles with a tackle for loss and a pass breakup. In total, WVU rolled up seven TFLs and three sacks, two from defensive end Sean Martin.
Notes
— Entering Saturday, the Sooners were averaging 53 points and 581.3 yards per game at Milan-Puskar Stadium. The lowest OU had scored in Morgantown before Saturday was 45 points in 2014.
— Between the Iowa State game and the first half Saturday, WVU had 16 drives with Daniels at quarterback. Those drives resulted in one touchdown with 12 punts, two interceptions and a fumble.
— Cornerback Charles Woods did not play Saturday. Brown said Woods had been sick and was also affected by the ankle he had surgery on earlier in the year.
— WVU held Oklahoma to 1-for-11 on third down and 0-for-2 on fourth. The Mountaineers were 7-for-19 on third down and 4-for-5 on fourth. One of those fourth-down conversions was a fake punt that receiver Sam James ran for five yards.
“We really wanted to do it against Iowa State,” Brown said. “That’s one we’ve carried for a couple of weeks.”
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