NORMAN — The Sooners simply needed a win against West Virginia.

They accomplished that goal quite easily, as they beat the Mountaineers 59-20 under the lights at Owen Field. The win ended a two-game losing streak and put the Sooners back in the race for a Big 12 title.

The defense was stingy, holding WVU to 330 yards. The OU offense, a source of frustration for fans in recent weeks, posted a season-high 644 yards and their most points in a conference game this season. Dillon Gabriel set an OU record for touchdowns in a single game (8), while Drake Stoops had career-high 164 receiving yards and three touchdowns.

Here's a look at some of the notable things that OU players and coaches said after the win:

(Editor's Note: Questions have been edited for length and clarity)

Gratifying offensive performance given the criticism Jeff Lebby has faced?: "I told him not to listen to y’all. Hopefully he wasn’t on the message boards or the newspapers... I mean I don’t know. Gratifying?... Jeff played here and he loves this university, cares about the product that he puts out there. The staff, I think they’ve done a really nice job. For whatever reason sometimes you gotta really go through it to figure some things out. And then sometimes the end product isn’t good and maybe it’s the simple things that we’ve talked about over and over and over. Turnovers, pre-snap penalties, they affect you. Through seven games we were pretty dang good with five turnovers. Then we had six the next two weeks. This game will punish you. It’s hard to get into a rhythm. Confidence is affected. A lot of things for the players and the coaches.

But that was a good response after two real tough, challenging weeks. Not only respond, again, just exploded. What was our total, 644 yards and 8.3 (yards) a play. I think a week ago we had 7.7 a play? But it was a little bit dysfunctional for the reasons that we know. That doesn’t win for you, but playing a little cleaner… Sometimes this is the result that you get playing a little cleaner.

Did everyone feel pretty good walking off the field?: "We’ve said this a lot, and through seven weeks we hadn’t played even a complete game through being 7-0. That’s what, you know, my eyes told me. When we put it all together, we can be pretty dang good, so putting it all together means a lot—being clean, taking care of the ball, executing with precision and having a relentless, passionate mindset, what the game requires. Again, there’s a lot that was really good tonight, and that may have been our best four quarters. I don’t know. What did we give up, 20 on defense? A couple of drives, again, not real excited about, but that might’ve been our best four quarters of football, offense and defense.

Are you listening to the criticism?: "I don't. Somebody asked me about it last week after the game. That noise has no effect on my day-to-day. It takes none of my focus, my energy, my joy, what I'm trying to get done with our unit and our guys every single day. I'm not a part of it."

Drake Stoops' big day: "He's played his butt off. It's a credit to who he is, his operation and how he goes about it every single day. I'm so proud he has the opportunity to play the way he played tonight, have the production that he has. That matches his focus and his intensity and how he goes about it, which is fun."

The difference in the offense compared to the last two weeks: "For our guys, it was not to overcomplicate things. Take care of the football and not have non-playing penalties. You do those two things, we've been pretty efficient. You let those creep into your game, you have issues and you leave things to chance. Again, it's not complicated."

Did you guys need a game like this?: "I don't know if it's needed. I just think what happened the past two weeks, it's tough. It's the roller coaster of life and football. This game will humble you. But I just think the way we came out, guys were hungry. I think we had our best week of practice. I told a bunch of guys that. I just think the preparation is something that's often said. But when you do it a high level, I think you reap the benefits."

How does it feel to surpass Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray for most touchdowns in a single game?: "I don't look at it as above. I just look at it as it's just the standard here. I'm blessed to be a part of it. Every day, you walk by Heisman parking lot and see those guys. For me, it's just chasing that standard and being a part of something greater than myself."

On the Lebby criticism: "I'm a believer in him as a person, but also a believer in his system and what he does offensively. I think when you look back, we've found a way to shoot ourselves in the foot a lot of times. But it's part of the game. And you know, I say it's a roller coaster because here two weeks ago, our thoughts are completely different than where we are sitting now... Happy for coach, but I'm happy for everyone who's involved because everyone puts their 1% or maybe a little more than that into what we do."

Another career day?: "“Definitely confidence is up. I think coach having confidence in me and putting me in different positions to have success and different schemes where he knows my skill set can excel. My and Dillon being on the same page and me finding the windows in zone or me just winning man. Whether it’s checking the play with him and just always just being in a rhythm and building that confidence with coach and with DIllon. And then just doing my part and realizing it’s a long game. If I don’t make the first opportunity, there’s going to be more opportunities to come. I need to be ready that one.”

What does the win say about Lebby?: "I mean, he’s one of the best in the whole frickin' country. It shows tonight. When we stay on schedule, we stay in a rhythm, we don't have pre snap or post-snap penalties and we execute and are detailed, then it shows. He called a tremendous game tonight and its because we executed and we didn;t put ourselves behind the sticks. We stayed on schedule and stayed in a rhythm. When we do that we can put numbers up like that every game.”

How close were you to playing last week?: "Shoot. I mean…. I mean… I mean…. Maybe. Naw, there was no way. I tried, did everything I could, but it just wasn’t happening."

Settling in after West Virginia's opening touchdown?: "There was a few frustrations they got where I had to make certain checks and I didn’t really make that when I was out there. I take full accountability for that and as leader I’ve got to make that call so I can get the front lined up so the secondary’s all on the same page, so there was some big plays like that. There was that, I think like a 33-yard pass and that was entirely my fault. Can’t have that. Later on through the series we were making the right adjustments so those problems were eliminated."

Another goal-line stand?: "It’s all about heart. We talked about it during Texas, same thing, just can’t let the guys get in there. Every day, we know what they’re going to do, we’re in phenomenal calls, we just have to execute."

How big was the win?: " I’d say just overall it helped us say, ‘You know, we’re still here.’ Of course people may have thought we was gone lose to West Virginia and stuff like that because we lost two games in a row. I felt like for us, that was, ‘Alright y'all keep that chip on y'all shoulder. People still out here trying to beat us as their championship game.’ You seen both games that we lost, they ran on the field like and this is really the regular season so it was huge for us. Just for some people in the back that may be losing a little hope or just you know. You just never know who that person may be. And I feel like for that person or whoever, that definitely was like, ‘Alright yeah like we’re still here, we’re not going nowhere. And we still got a chance to go to the Big 12 Championship. (We're going to) keep working.”