Oklahoma football: Six storylines for an OU-Kansas matchup with reversed roles

It goes without saying that the Oklahoma football matchup against 19th-ranked Kansas on Saturday is not what it once was.

The Jayhawks (5-1, 2-1) are vastly improved this season, and at the same time, this is not the same Oklahoma team we’re used to seeing. The Sooners are just three and three through six games, including three straight Big 12 losses. Oklahoma is experiencing issues on both sides of the ball, but the biggest issue is on defense.

In the past three weeks, the Oklahoma defense has gone from 35th in the nation in yards allowed per game all the way down to 117th out of 131 FBS teams. As poor as the Sooner defense has looked the past few seasons under Lincoln Riley, it’s hard to believe that the performance this season, at least the past few games, has been even worse.

What makes the defensive performance so far this season difficult to understand is how good it looked for the first three games. Since then, however, it is as if the wheels have completely off. And with Brent Venables, one of the most accomplished defensive coaches in college football, in the house.

The Sooners expect to have quarterback Dillon Gabriel back this weekend against Kansas. That should help out a great deal offensively. OU has not been the same the past couple of games with Gabriel out of action.

A major part of the reason Kansas is off to its best start since the 2007 Jayhawk team that finished 12-1 and at one point late in the year was ranked No. 2 in the nation is the play of junior quarterback Jaylon Daniels. Unfortunately, Daniels suffered a shoulder injury last week against TCU and is expected to miss the game at Oklahoma.

Having Daniels out is not necessarily a good thing, though if you’re an Oklahoma fan. Jason Beane, who will replace Daniels on Saturday, started the game with the Sooners last year in Lawrence, threw for 246 yards and a touchdown and led the Jayhawks to a 10-0 halftime lead and a 17-7 advantage late in the third quarter before OU took control of the game in the fourth quarter scoring 21 point on the way to a 35-23 come-from behind win. Bean also looked very good in a backup role against TCU last Saturday.

If Oklahoma is going to win the game against the Jayhawks, whose offense is good enough to put up plenty of points against an OU defense that hasn’t demonstrated the ability to stop anyone the past three games, the Sooners are going to have to be efficient and patient on offense and capitalize on every scoring opportunity, something that has gone horribly south for OU in their three consecutive losses.

Here are five major storylines to follow in Saturday’s game between Oklahoma and Kansas:

• In Oklahoma’s 17 consecutive wins over Kansas, each game has been a double-digit Sooner victory. The average score in those 17 games is 44-14.
• In Oklahoma’s three wins this season, the Sooners allowed an average of 10.0 points per game. In their three consecutive losses, the OU defense has allowed 48.3 points per contest. Kansas averages 39.8 points per game, 16th in the nation.
• In the three-plus games (14 quarters) that Dillon Gabriel was at quarterback for Oklahoma, the Sooners scored 137 points. In the six-plus quarters he did not play, the Sooner offense totaled 14 points.
• The Kansas offense is averaging 7.33 yards per play this season. That ranks fourth among FBS teams.
• When trailing at the half, Kansas is 1-8 under head coach Lance Leipold. When the Jayhawks have the lead entering the fourth quarter, though, they are 7-2 under Leipold and 4-1 this season.
• Kansas ranks fourth in the country in successful third-down conversion attempts. The Jayhawks have converted 55.1 percent of their third-down conversions this season. Oklahoma is on the other end of that scale defensively. The Sooners are allowing their opponents a 44.7 percent third-down success rate, 114th worst among 131 FBS teams.