Oklahoma football: Numbers to know before the kickoff with Kansas
By Chip Rouse
Saturday is Senior Day at Gaylord Family — OU Memorial Stadium and marks the final Oklahoma football home game of the season.
The Sooners have won 15 consecutive games in the month of November and are shooting for a perfect 7-0 home record for the season, tying the school record for that many home wins in a season. OU also won seven home games without a loss in 2003 and 2007.
Oklahoma’s record all-time versus the Kansas Jayhawks, the opponent on Saturday. is a commanding 75-27-6 (.722), including wins the last 13 times the two teams have met. Interestingly, the Sooner difference in the football series is strikingly similar to the Jayhawks domination over OU in the all-time basketball series (146-66, .688, in favor of KU).
The last time Kansas won a football game in Norman was in 1996, a 52-24 blowout in the inaugural season of the Big 12 Conference.
Contrary to its woeful performance in recent seasons, Kansas has not always been this bad in football. The Jayhawks actually own two of the biggest upsets ever recorded against mighty Oklahoma.
Barry Switzer was in his third season as the Sooners’ head coach when Kansas rolled into Norman, Oklahoma, for the ninth game of the 1975 season. The Sooners were 8-0 and ranked No. 2 in the country in the Associated Press poll. Oklahoma found itself down 7-3 at the half and totally imploded in the third quarter, committing eight — that’s right, eight — turnovers (four intercepted passes and four fumbles).
The Jayhawks, with Big Eight Player of the Year at quarterback, scored nine points in the third quarter and added a touchdown in the fourth to finish off Oklahoma 23-3, despite the Sooners outgaining Kansas by over 100 yards (338 to 235) on offense. That was OU’s only loss of the 1975 season and their first in 37 consecutive games. The Sooners defeated Michigan in the Orange Bowl and overcame the Kansas loss to hand Switzer his second consecutive national championship.
Oklahoma Sooners Football
Kansas was on the prowl again nine years later, in 1984, and the Sooners again were the prey. This time the Sooners were on the road at Kansas and, once again, were the second-ranked team in the country.
OU came into the 1984 game, with Switzer still at the helm, in his 12th season, and with a 5-0-1 start to the season. The Sooners only blemish to that point was a 15-15 tie against archrival Texas. This Kansas team was not as good as the 1975 Jayhawks who upset the Sooners. You wouldn’t have known it, however, watching them shutdown the Oklahoma offense.
The Sooners scored first in the 1984 game with KU on a first-quarter field goal. That would be Oklahoma’s only points until a garbage-time touchdown scored with just three seconds remaining in the game. Meanwhile, Kansas scored four touchdowns against the Sooner defense to hang a 28-11 defeat on Oklahoma and an upset that none of the experts saw coming.
The moral to this story: Don’t overlook the Kansas Jayhawks, no matter how bad their record is or how few times they have prevailed over Oklahoma.
Here are some other noteworthy numbers to get you ready for the OU-KU matchup on Saturday:
1-7 — Kansas’ record this season when allowing an opponent 300 or more yards of offense. Oklahoma is averaging 577.1 yards of total offense per game.
4 — Kansas’ 13+ turnover ratio is the fourth best in the country this season.
13 — Oklahoma’s 13-game winning streak against Kansas in football is the Sooners’ longest winning streak against any opponent.
15 — In OU’s 13 consecutive wins over Kansas, the scoring margin in each game has been at least 15 points. The Sooners have outscored the Jayhawks by a combined 548 to 146.
18 — Number of Oklahoma seniors and redshirt juniors who will play their final collegiate game on Owen Field on Saturday.
30 — The Sooners are the only team this season among the 129 FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) schools that have scored at least 30 passing touchdowns and 30 rushing touchdowns.
48 — Oklahoma is averaging 49 points a game this season and have scored at least 48 points in four consecutive games.
62 — Points recorded off turnovers by Kansas this season. By comparison, Oklahoma has scored only 31 points off turnovers in 2018.
79 — Oklahoma ranks 79th in total defense among the 129 FBS teams this season; Kansas is 79th. The Sooner defense allows an average of 416.0 yards of offense per game; the Jayhawks allow 415.9 yards.
314 – Yards by which OU outgained Kansas in last years 41-3 Sooner win in Lawrence.
Statistical information contained in this article was obtained, in part, from the Oklahoma Football Game Notes prepared by the OU athletic department.