Oklahoma football: Notable numbers from a pre-Halloween Sooner scare
By Chip Rouse
Thirteen times in Oklahoma football history, the Sooners have started a season 8-0. Only this one feels quite a bit different.
Oklahoma did what it needed to get by a 1-6 Kansas team that ranks 109th in the country in total offense and 123rd in total defense. The problem is, Kansas played better than the Sooners for much of the game. OU won on the scoreboard, 35-23, but the contest was surprisingly much closer than that.
Kansas played well enough to win the game and held the high-powered Oklahoma offense scoreless in the opening half. The Sooners had just three first-half possessions and had the ball for just eight minutes total over the first two quarters. The Jayhawks led 10-0 at the half and 17-7 with 90 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
Had the ball bounced a couple of different ways on a couple of pivotal plays that went in Oklahoma’s favor, we might have been looking at a much different outcome.
Here are a dozen more numbers that tell the story of the game:
0 — For just the second time this season, Gabe Brkic did not kick a field goal for the Sooners. West Virginia was the other game he did not have a field-goal attempt.
2 — Total punts in the game, one by each team.
13 — Kansas experience a campus-wide power outage that lasted 13 minutes at the beginning of the game. The scoreboard, game clock and play clock were not functional during this time, so time was kept on the field by the officiating crew.
14 — Oklahoma’s 14 points after three quarters against Kansas was not the fewest points scored by OU through three quarters this season. They had just 10 points after three quarters vs. West Virginia.
16 — The Kansas win was Oklahoma’s 16th straight win, the longest active winning streak among FBS teams.
17 — Oklahoma’s win over Kansas was the Sooners 17th consecutive win vs. the Jayhawks.
28 — The Sooners are 28-2 over their last 30 true road games.
30 — Oklahoma has scored at least 30 points in 35 consecutive road games.
66 — Third-quarter rushing play by OU sophomore Trevon West, setting up the Sooners’ second score of the game.
70 — Percentage of third-down plays successfully converted by Kansas (9 of 13).
320 — Oklahoma gained 320 of its 398 total yards on Saturday in the second half.
26,321 — Attendance a David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium for the game with Oklahoma.