Game Grades: Oklahoma Sooners 44, Kansas Jayhawks 7

THE DEFENSE & SPECIAL TEAMS

Defensive Line: A

Not only did we see a dominant rushing performance in Norman on Saturday, but we also saw the defense dominate about as much as a team possibly can against the run. Kansas was only able to rush for 19 yards against Mike Stoops’ defense. It wasn’t for a lack of trying by Kansas. The Jayhawks ran the ball 36 times and only tossed 23 passes.

Jordon Phillips definitely looked like an NFL prospect. Phillips’ four tackles, two of them for a loss and was in the Kansas backfield all day. Chuke Ndulue had three tackles and assisted on a sack.

Linebackers: A

While the defensive was dominant, it was the linebackers that stole the show. Dominique Alexander was great against the Jayhawks and led the Sooners in tackles with 7, despite wearing a cast on one arm. Alexander continues to become a leader for Oklahoma on the defensive side of the ball.

Devonte Bond took advantage of getting the start by finishing with six tackles and Eric Striker was his usual self assisting in a sack and finishing with another tackle for loss. Charles Tapper also had a tackle for loss.

Secondary: A

Anytime you keep your opponent to just 84 yards passing with an interception and no touchdowns, your secondary had a really good day. Ahmad Thomas came up with that interception and the Sooners had their best performance of the year defending the pass.

Stanvon Taylor even got onto the stat sheet with a tackle for loss while getting some playing time with Julian Wilson battling injury. Zack Sanchez was solid again in coverage, but wasn’t targeted very often. Steven Parker also had a good day.

On a down note: Quinten Hayes suffered an injury and had to be taken out of the game. A good sign was that Hatari Byrd took his place and played very well and finished with three tackles. The sophomore had seen his playing time minimized this year, but showed some promise when given the opportunity against Kansas.

After having issues this year giving up the deep ball and making mistakes in the secondary, the Sooners gave up nothing deep. The Jayhawks longest pass play of the day was for 18 yards.

Special Teams: A

Kicker Michael Hunnicutt has had a rough time kicking at home lately, but on Saturday in horrible conditions he was back to his solid self making field goals of 38, 37 and 36 yards. He also made all of his extra point attempts and has moved into sixth place on the all time NCAA scoring list.

After jumping out to the lead nationally in kick return yards, Alex Ross has not been give many opportunities to return kicks of late as teams have done their best to kick away from him. The fact that he only got one opportunity to return a kick on Saturday is a testimony to how good the Sooners defense was. His one return was a good one for 36 yards.

Punter Jed Barnett also did a good job. He landed two punts inside the Kansas 20-yard line.