Oklahoma Football Rewind: Lessons Learned From Knockout of Kansas

Saturday was one of the best days of the season for Oklahoma football, but to hear the media tell it, the weekend results sealed the Big 12 fate as the least relevant of the Power Five conferences and on the outside looking in as far as the College Football Playoff picture is concerned.

The Sooners manhandled Kansas, as expected, but the most impressive part of the 56-3 homecoming blowout was the authority and aggressiveness of the much-maligned OU defense, which allowed the Jayhawks just 40 net yards of offense in the second half and 170 total for the game.

The win gives Oklahoma a 5-0 record in Big 12 play and a full-game lead over the league’s top contenders. Going into Saturday’s action, all the talk around college football, though, was about how a two-loss Oklahoma team was sitting atop a conference that had two other teams, Baylor and West Virginia, still unbeaten overall and ranked ahead of the Sooners in the nation’s top-10.

“In our world, you live week to week,” said Sooners’ head coach Bob Stoops after watching his team dominating performance in perhaps its most complete game of the season. That was in vivid evidence earlier in the day, as both West Virginia and Baylor suffered tough road losses and fell from the unbeaten ranks.

On the late-night college football highlight segments on Saturday all I heard the studio commentators say was what a bad day it was for the Big 12, especially now that an Oklahoma team that had been written off after dropping decisions to Houston and Ohio State in two of its first three games was now in the driver’s seat to win the conference crown.

I’m sorry, but those derogatory references to what I still consider a very good Oklahoma team, were disturbing to me, like having cold water thrown in your face. Since when is winning a Big 12 championship in football not considered a big deal, regardless of the number of losses?

I readily acknowledge that the Sooners are not at the level of Alabama, Clemson and the other elite teams of this season, but they are still pretty darn good. Notwithstanding OU’s well-publicized and unexpected defensive woes, the Sooner offense, when it is in rhythm as it has been through five consecutive wins, is as good as any team in the country.

Which bring us back to Saturday night and the 99th home win in Bob Stoop’s 18 seasons and 233 games at Oklahoma.

The Sooners shook off a sluggish start, failing to gain a first down in its first two offensive possessions, but that was about the only time in the game until it was well decided midway through the third quarter that the Kansas defense was able to keep Oklahoma out of the end zone.

At one stretch in the game, the Sooners scored touchdowns on six consecutive possessions. In sharp contrast to a week ago, when the Oklahoma defense yielded 854 yards in a win over Texas Tech, OU held Kansas to 170 total yards on Saturday, 74 of which came on one 13-play drive in the first quarter, which produced the only Jayhawk points in the game and five of their 11 total first downs.

Oklahoma began pulling out its starters midway through the third quarter, up 49-3 after touchdown drives on its first two second-half possessions and adding an interception return for a touchdown by linebacker Jordan Evans.

True freshman Austin Kendall finished up at quarterback for the Sooners, along with freshman running backs Abdul Adams and Devin Montgomery. Adams, who entered the game early after Joe Mixon suffered an apparent leg injury in the opening quarter, tied his season high for rushing yards with a 91-yard performance against the Jayhawks, averaging seven yards per carry.

It was a very good win overall for the 16th-ranked Sooners, who for the first time in their six victories in 2016 allowed their opponent fewer than 17 points and under 335 total offensive yards. It also was the first Big 12 game that OU didn’t have to get into a shootout with their opponent to secure the victory.

Some other things that stand out from Oklahoma’s victory over Kansas, which is now winless in 17 consecutive conference games and 42 straight games away from home:

Bowl eligibility: Oklahoma is eligible for postseason play for the 18th consecutive year, all under Bob Stoops. If the Sooners finish atop the Big 12 standings, which would be the 10th time in the 21 seasons the conference has been in existence, they would earn a trip to the Sugar Bowl, one of the so-called New Year’s Six Bowls, and a likely matchup with the No. 2 team in the Southeastern Conference.

Joe Mixon: The versatile Sooner running back has been a workhorse and a major offensive weapon, rushing and receiving, in the absence of the injured Samaje Perine. Because of season-ending injuries, OU doesn’t have much depth behind Perine and Mixon, both of whom need to be healthy for the Sooners to have the best chance of running the table in their final four regular-season games.

Mixon wasn’t expected to have to play the entire game on Saturday, but Sooner fans got a scare early when the talented running back limped off the field in the first quarter after securing an OU first down on a third-and-long play with a 22-yard catch and run. He would return later in the half, but looked to still be suffering some of the effects of the big hit he took earlier.

In the third quarter, Mixon, broke off a long run for 52 of his 74 rushing yards in the game, which eased concerns a little over the extent of his injury, but how he will be feeling the day after and into next week is not known.

With Perine expected to still be out for the Iowa State game on Thursday, Mixon’s availability will be important, but it will be even more important that the two players are healthy and ready to go for Baylor, West Virginia and Oklahoma State to close out the regular season.

Defense shows that they have it in them: Kansas doesn’t pose near the challenge offensively that the rest of the teams in the Big 12 do. Regardless, this was a big game and a huge confidence-builder for an Oklahoma defense that had given up an average of 475 yards a game. The Sooners were aggressive all night and quick to the ball, and even when KU quarterback Montell Cozart had time to throw the ball, which wasn’t often, he had difficulty finding open receivers.

Dede Westbrook: The senior wide receiver that has put the Sooner offense on his shoulders in recent weeks was outstanding, and virtually unstoppable, for a fifth consecutive game. He only had five receptions in the game, but still produced over 105 yards receiving to go over 100 for the fifth straight week. Westbrook also had 24 yards rushing and an explosive 71-yard punt return for a touchdown to put the Sooners up 7-0.

Passing proficiency: Baker Mayfield leads the nation among starting quarterbacks in Power Five conferences with a 70 percent completion percentage and in second-best among FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) schools, averaging 15.8 yards per completion.

The Sooners caught one less pass (20) than Kansas receivers on Saturday night, but had 150 more receiving yards (271 to 121) than the Jayhawks.

Bonehead award: OU linebacker Kapri Doucet was flagged for a targeting penalty for a helmet-to-helmet hit on Kansas receiver Evan Fairs with under two minutes to go in the game. Doucet was ejected from the game and will now be forced to sit out the first half of the game with Iowa State.