Bell's status unknown at present

Bell was suspended for spring practice after a pair of arrests for domestic battery and DUI over a 10-month period. He had started nine games last year.

With starting corner Daryl Worley suspended indefinitely and facing charges for an altercation at a downtown club following the Maryland game, WVU is thin enough at the position without Bell skipping a game.

Ishmael “Icky” Banks, coming off a three-game suspension from the NCAA, started and played a solid game against the Sooners.

• • •

Perhaps the most impressive thing about Oklahoma’s football team and its 45-33 victory over West Virginia on Saturday was not freshman sensation Samaje Perine, who rushed for 242 yards on 34 carries but, instead, the five offensive linemen who opened holes for him.

“They did a phenomenal job of coming off the ball,” West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen said. “They were getting on the linebackers and knocking them 5 yards back. I’m not saying I could have gotten a couple of hundred yards, but there were some running lanes there we’ve got to close up.“

But here’s the thing that makes this hurt even more —the Sooners’ offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh was Holgorsen’s line coach during his first season at West Virginia, a year that produced a 10-3 record and a 70-33 victory over Clemson in the Orange Bowl.

During his press conference today, Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops cited the job Bedenbaugh has done as a teacher, changing both techniques and attitude among his players.

• • •

The eyes do not lie.

West Virginia’s offense is good. It is ranked 10th in total offense in the NCAA.

The defense is not good.

It is ranked 81st in total defense, 88th in scoring defense, 98th in rushing defense, and that includes holding Towson to 42 rushing yards; and it is 108th in red zone defense.

And special teams?

Well, the Mountaineers are 116th in defending kick returns and 123rd out of 125 teams in punt return defense.

Much of this can be attributed to playing the Nos. 3 and 4 teams in the nation among its four games, but if you want to hunt with the wolves, every so often you are going to have bite someone.

• • •

Stoops paid tribute to the sold out WVU crowd on Saturday night.

“I thought the atmosphere was great,” Stoops said. “it was stripe the stadium night. They were loud. It was really good and exciting.”

Prior to the game, Stoops had mentioned that he had found it pretty much like anywhere else when he had visited previously.

• • •

Nice to hear someone like Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy talking some sense when asked about preparing for Thursday night games, something WVU is going to have to do later this season when it faces Kansas State in Morgantown.

“I’m all for Saturdays. I’m not big on open dates and I’m not big on Thursday and Friday night games,” Gundy said.

He said he tries to approach those games like Saturdays, but that it isn’t easy as some of his players have Thursday or Friday classes they have to attend.

• • •

Kansas State coach Bill Snyder, a wily veteran himself, felt that Auburn had some of his team’s signals and had to change the way he called plays into the game at halftime of last Thursday’s contest.

He refused to say that Auburn had stolen the signs, but he was pretty sure they knew what was coming on occasion. Florida State accused the Tigers of the same thing in the national championship game.

“They had a couple of our signals a couple times and were getting to them,” FSU coach Jimbo Fisher said at the time. “That happens, people do it, and that’s our fault. You’ve got to change them, constantly rotate them, being able to get them in different ways. That’s part of the game. I don’t have a problem with that.”

Follow Bob Hertzel on Twitter @bhertzel