Kansas vs Oklahoma Football Preview: Questions Surround Saturday's Matchup

Kansas traveling to Norman to face the Oklahoma Sooners has a bit of a different feel this year given the outcome of the past few weeks. There’s another feeling heading into this game, and it is best articulated with a question mark.

Who will be the two starting quarterbacks? What happened to Oklahoma’s defense? Can Kansas’ offense overcome its injury woes? I’ll try to answer as many of these as I can as we look at what will certainly be an interesting game with no shortage of storylines.

Opponent Overview

Team: Oklahoma

Record: 3-3

Line: OU -9 (opened OU -7)

Team Form

There’s a reason this section is called Team Form and not Team Record. Oklahoma is 3-3, but the context of how it is playing lately matters. Because the Sooners’ current form is crashing and sending Norman into a panic.

After starting 3-0 against UTEP, Kent State, and Nebraska, Oklahoma has lost the last three games to conference foes by a combined score of 145-58. First-year head coach Brent Venables has an incredible resume on the defensive side of the ball, but it’s not working at the moment. OU has given up more than 500 total yards of offense in the last three games. And with quarterback Dillon Gabriel knocked out of the TCU game and in concussion protocol against Texas, the offense hasn’t been the same.

Players to Watch

Gabriel has been a full participant in practice and looks to be on his way to playing against Kansas. And that’s huge for Oklahoma because Gabriel has thrown for more than 1,200 yards so far with 11 touchdowns and zero interceptions. And with Gabriel out, OU went 16-34 for 89 yards as a team and backup Davis Beville being just 13-28 for 88 yards.

Oklahoma has been solid in the running game, led by Tennessee transfer Eric Gray. Gray is sixth in the conference in rushing attempts (77), fourth in yards (519), and third in yards per attempt (6.7). The receiving group is also pretty loaded when Gabriel is throwing them the ball. Marvin Mims is name that should be familiar to Jayhawks fans, and he’s off to a strong start (23 catches for 436 yards and three touchdowns). But another weapon to watch out for is the Sooners’ tight end Brayden Willis. Willis has already matched his reception total from last year (15) while leading the team in touchdowns (4).

Matchups to Watch

It has to be the Oklahoma defense against the Kansas offense. OU is giving up an average of 450 yards per game and 5.7 yards per play. It has also only forced one turnover in Big 12 play.

What is favorable to Kansas and potentially worrisome for Oklahoma is the Sooners’ run defense. Whereas TCU only gives up 134 rushing yards per game, Oklahoma allows 214.5. This could be big for Kansas because not only is this a strength of the team, but an exceptional performance in the run game takes some of the pressure off Jason Bean to have to make everything happen through the air.

Prediction

The fact that Kansas is ranked and yet Oklahoma is favored by more than a touchdown is likely a combination of Vegas is slow to give up on the Sooners and the lack of Daniels at quarterback – even though Bean played great against TCU save for one play – along with Gabriel likely to play for OU.

But questions linger. Can Bean build on his success against a defense with a week to prepare for him? Will Gabriel have any rust from missing the last game and a half, plus any lingering effects from the hit? Though the biggest question may be what kind of mental state the Sooners are in after that shutout loss to Texas and the last three losses.

Kansas’ defense at least showed it could slow down TCU on occasion, especially in the first half. I haven’t seen that from Oklahoma against strong competition, so if Bean can play as well as he did last week and the Jayhawks avoid any further injuries, I like KU to eke out a third road win.

Kansas 38, Oklahoma 35