Every play matters in a college football game, but some do a better job of telling the story than others. Here are the five plays that explain Oklahoma’s 52-14 throttling of West Virginia.

OU 52, WVU 14

Play No. 1: OU is PBU

Seriously, take your pick here. OU just scored to make it 7-0 when West Virginia decided to go after OU cornerbacks Tre Brown and Parnell Motley.

What resulted was PBU, PBU and PBU. The first two by Brown, and then Motley sealing the deal on the third down stop.

Maybe in the past, in practice, Austin Kendall had success looking at Brown and Motley. But the OU secondary has shown a vast improvement this season and this one drive did a great job of illustrating the strides still being made.

“I think they’ve bought in with their mentality,” head coach Lincoln Riley said. “They’ve bought in with how we’ve coached those guys. It’s a combination of all of those things. We’ve been able to create competition at a lot of those spots. We’ve had some young guys step up and be key in that competition. We’ve had some older guys who have really risen their game up.”

Play No. 2: Welcome back, Mr. Brooks

Running back Kennedy Brooks fared well against Texas last week, but he really seemed to be finding his groove again against WVU.

The Mountaineers were able to cut the deficit to 14-7 when Brooks put on a show. First, as a receiver despite a dubious block in the back penalty.

Then, as OU got closer to the goal line, Brooks showed his incredible sense of balance and was able to score from nine yards out to make it 21-7.

It wasn’t a massive production day by Brooks, but you got the sense that if OU needed Brooks to be the No. 1 workhorse, he was ready for the challenge.

Play No. 3: Reunion of sorts with Murray, Kendall

Indeed, Austin Kendall was back at OU. He threw for two touchdowns, but the fun moments were ones like this where he was reunited, so to speak, with former teammates.

With OU up 21-7 and WVU facing a third down, linebacker Kenneth Murray got every last bit into his hit of Kendall. It led to a punt, and a nice little pat on the helmet from the former teammates.

“Jokingly, Kenneth Murray was in my ear all game and it was pretty funny,” Kendall said. “I was honestly out there joking with some of the guys out there after plays. It was a good experience.”

Play No. 4: ‘That was a dime’

You want the best pass of Jalen Hurts’ short OU career? Look no further. Facing a gusty wind and pretty stout coverage, Hurts laid it out there beautifully for senior Lee Morris to score his first touchdown of the season.

The third quarter was a dominant 15 minutes for the Sooners, and this 46-yard connection gave OU a commanding 42-14 lead.

It reintroduced people to Morris, who had been quiet for the first six games. And it showed people just what kind of quarterback, what kind of thrower Hurts can be.

“Oh, he put that in the basket,” wide receiver Charleston Rambo said. “That was a good throw. I told him (Hurts) that.”

Play No: 5 Some Beamer Ball magic

Nice to have a punctuation-type play, and the blocked punt for a touchdown certainly did that. OU came after WVU in the first half and was just a hair off.

Shane Beamer made the adjustment, and everything else fell into place. Brayden Willis blocked it clean, Austin Stogner recovered in the end zone, and the celebration was on.

OU was up 49-14 at that point and job well done.

“Honestly, that’s complementary football,” defensive back Brendan Radley-Hiles said. “That’s defense getting the special teams on the field which helps the offense to not even have to go out there and putting the defense back out there. That’s what every college program is looking for and strives for.”