Sooners fall flat on their faces in a BCS bowl yet again.

Right about now, DeMarcus Granger is (or at least he should be) kicking himself, and so is Lendy Holmes.

Granger is the run-stuffing Oklahoma defensive tackle who went to a Glendale mall and thought he‘d get a jacket from Burlington Coat Factory - without paying for it - and stupidly got himself sent home from the Fiesta Bowl.

As for Holmes, the safety was one of the Sooners’ studs on defense, but a dud in the classroom, which earned him ineligibility for the game.

It must be even worse to be Reggie Smith, the playmaking corner who broke his toe in the Big 12 title game, which ruled him out.

While Smith couldn’t help his absence, Holmes (who would’ve replaced Smith at corner) and Granger could, but even a full-strength Oklahoma defense may not have slowed West Virginia down tonight, because the Sooners were intent on beating themselves one way or another, but allowed West Virginia to do it as well in a 48-28 victory.

You’d have thought that, if any team would have struggled, it’d have been West Virginia, without a head coach and having let a seemingly secure national title shot slip through their hands. But, the Mountaineers outplayed the Sooners on both sides of the ball, totaling 525 yards on offense and keeping Oklahoma’s potent offense in check.

West Virginia ran for 349 yards, and Pat ‘I Can Throw It’ White threw for 176 yards and two touchdowns, and the Mountaineers had a dozen plays of more than 15 yards - none of which came from Steve Slaton, who had one rush for -2 yards and one catch for 2 yards early on before leaving with a leg injury. But thanks to freshman Noel Devine, who had a coming-out party with 108 yards and two touchdowns, fullback Owen Schmitt (a 57-yard touchdown run), and receiver Darius Reynaud, who had a 21-yard touchdown catch and a 30-yard touchdown run, Slaton's absence wasn't felt very much, or at all.

The only time Oklahoma had any real momentum, when they ended a bad first half by blocking Pat McAfee’s field goal, then opening the second half with two stops on defense and a field goal and a touchdown to cut the deficit to 20-15, they threw it away with one ill-timed decision, which was the story of the night - and the week - for the Sooners.

There’s nothing wrong with trying to maximize your momentum and taking a risk, but there are some risks you shouldn’t take, like going for an onside kick with more than 21 minutes to go and giving a quick-strike offense a short field.

And if you do, at least kick the ball more than 10 yards to give your team a chance to recover the ball, which Garrett Hartley didn‘t do.

After that decision completely blew up in Bob Stoops‘ face, the Mountaineers strolled down the field to a touchdown and a 27-15 lead, and outscored the Sooners 28-13 the rest of the way. putting the game away with touchdowns of 30, 79, and 65 yards.

Stoops should have just let his defense continue to do what they were doing, and give the ball back to his offense, which had finally warmed up.

The Mountaineers also more than held their own against the Sooners’ buffet blitzing offfensive linemen, as they sacked Sam Bradford four times.

To top the night off, the Sooners committed 13 penalties, several that were as unexplainable as Granger‘s decision to get greedy when the teams already get plenty of free stuff from the bowl (and the school).

It could be that the free stuff is the only reason why the Sooners play their way into a BCS bowl, because it doesn‘t seem like winning is on the agenda. Oklahoma has lost four straight BCS bowls, and none of the losses have been pretty.

In the 2004 Sugar Bowl, LSU’s defense terrorized Heisman winner Jason White and limited the Sooners to 154 total yards in a 21-14 victory in a national championship game that the Sooners shouldn't have been in, thanks to an equally as ugly 35-7 beating at the hands of Kansas State in the Big 12 title game (thanks BCS!).

The next year, the Sooners were back playing for the national title in the Orange Bowl against USC, and it was even worse - down 38-10 at halftime, five turnovers, five touchdown passes by Matt Leinart, final score 55-19.

Then, last year, they were the deer in the headlights instead of Boise State, going down 28-10 in the third quarter before waking up and taking a 35-28 lead before the Broncos pulled out the trick plays and won 43-42 in overtime.

And now this. Oklahoma undoubtedly has as much talent as anyone in the country, and they'll likely be a contender again next season. But, if they’re going to get to another BCS bowl and get embarrassed, they might as well just go 9-3 and make the Holiday Bowl their postseason home until they figure out how to replicate September-November form in January.