Oklahoma vs. Kansas: Sooner Defense Has Chance to Redeem Itself
By Chip Rouse
It would be easy to look at the Oklahoma vs. Kansas football matchup as the next best thing to a bye week, given how historically bad the Jayhawks have been for so many years in the major fall sport .
After all, Kansas is a basketball school. That’s what they tell us, and that’s the way it has always been. You only have to look at Kansas’ historical record in basketball and football, to see why that is so.
The Jayhawks have more Big 12 championships (12 consecutive and 16 overall) than the Sooners have in football (9) and basketball combined (10).
In the last seven years, Kansas has finished at the bottom of the Big 12 football standings six times. During that time, the Jayhawks have won a grand total of four conference games to go 4-57 against other Big 12 teams. Over that same time frame. Oklahoma is 45-16 in the conference and has taken home hardware for three Big 12 championships.
Oklahoma has dominated the all-time series with the Jayhawks in football, posting a 73-27-6 record. Almost half of those wins (37) have come in Norman, where the Sooners have lost 12 times to the Jayhawks and never in five games at OU under Bob Stoops.
In fact, Stoops has never lost to Kansas in 11 games. The average margin of victory in those 11 contests between the Sooners and Jayhawks has been 29 points (41-12). Kansas is one of two Big 12 teams that has never beaten Oklahoma in the 18 seasons Stoops has been the Sooners’ head coach.
All-time, however, the Jayhawks have pulled off some monumental upsets over the Sooners – perhaps the most memorable being in 1975, when a then-No. 2 Oklahoma team coached by Barry Switzer fell at home to Kansas, and in convincing fashion, 23-3. The Sooners finished the season that year as national champions for the second year in row. They were 11-1 overall and 6-1 in the Big Eight Conference in 1975, their lone loss in three previous seasons coming against the Jayhawks.
The Sooners are coming off a 66-59 win at Texas Tech in which the OU offense played its best game of the season (nine touchdowns and 854 total yards) and the defense its worst (giving up the same number of yards and eight TDs to the Red Raiders).
With a 4-0 record in league action, Oklahoma is sitting in a nice position to up that mark to 5-0 with a win at home over a Kansas team that hasn’t won on the road in 38 games before heading out on the road for a Thursday night game at Iowa State next week.
Three Things to Know About Oklahoma
- The Oklahoma offense, behind the passing of quarterback Baker Mayfield, the electrifying running of Joe Mixon and the pass catching heroics of Dede Westbrook, is lighting it up to the tune of 572 yards per game, third best in the country. In their last three games, the Sooners have produced a combined 2,036 yards of offense.
- The Sooners have struggled on defense all season, allowing close to 500 yards per game. Five of the seven OU opponents this season, though, have offenses that rank in the top 40 in the country, including three that rank in the top 20 (1. Texas Tech, 14. Ohio State, and 16. TCU). The Kansas offense ranks 104th (365 yards per game).
- Oklahoma has not lost at home to Kansas since 1996, in the Big 12’s first season. Before that, the last time the Jayhawks beat the Sooners in Norman was 1975, the year Oklahoma won its fifth national championship.
Three Things to Know About Kansas
- Kansas throws the ball much better than runs it. The Jayhawks average 254 yards passing per game, while Oklahoma is allowing 343 yards through the air every game, last in the Big 12 and 127th in the nation out of 128 FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) teams. Last week against Oklahoma State, however, the Jayhawks rushed for over 200 yards and averaged 6.2 yards per run, the most by a Kansas offense against an FBS opponent since 2011.
- The Jayhawks lead the nation in giveaways. They’ve committed an NCAA-worst 25 turnovers through seven games.
- This year’s Kansas team is much more sound defensively than in years’ past. Defensive end Dorance Armstrong is tied for second in the Big 12 with OU’s Ogbonnia Okoronkwo, each with seven quarterback sacks. The Jayhawk defense is averaging over eight tackles for lost yardage every time out this season. That ranks second in the Big 12 and No. 8 in the country.
Three Key Factors in the Game
- Can the Kansas defense stop or slow down the potent Oklahoma offense enough to keep the Jayhawks in the game?
- Will the same Oklahoma defense that showed up against the other team from the Sunflower State the last time the Sooners played at home be on its game on Saturday? The Sooners held K-State to 17 points, 14 below the Wildcats’ season average, and under five yards per offensive play.
- Oklahoma needs to do a better job of putting pressure on and disrupting the rhythm and timing of the Jayhawk quarterback. Opposing QBs are getting too much time finding and targeting receivers against the beleagured Sooner secondary.
Game Prediction
Kansas is much improved this season, but the Jayhawks are still the weakest team in the conference. They’ve come close in a couple of games at home this season, but the three times the Jayhawks have gone on the road in 2016, they’ve lost 43-7 (at Memphis), 55-19 (at Texas Tech) and 49-7 (at Baylor). That’s an average difference of 38 points per game. They aren’t going to fare much better at OU, an even more difficult place to play, and against a Sooner team that is on fire offensively. No way Oklahoma doesn’t outscore the Jayhawks in this one, regardless of the Sooners’ defensive woes. It should be a happy homecoming in Norman. Oklahoma 55, Kansas 17