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The Sooners didn't set any NCAA records today, and I guess that could technically be considered progress considering what happened the last time these two squads faced off. Samaje Perine was "held" to 90 yards rushing (on 11 carries) and 2 TDs while Baker Mayfield went off with 27/32 for 383 yards and 4 TDs. 11 of those completions went to Sterling Shepard, who hauled in 10 of those in the first half alone as Oklahoma built a 38-7 halftime lead.
The Jayhawks never threatened to make this a game.
Once again, Ryan Willis looked like the best player on a really bad team. When not attempting to avoid defensive lineman, he was plagued by dropped passes by his receivers, including hitting players on the numbers without the ball hitting their hands on more than one occasion. I couldn't find a statistic for drops, but it was bad, people. Just by going through the gamethread I counted five drops - in the first half. I don't want to overstate Willis, but I really hope he's able to develop in to a Big 12 quarterback without getting rattled this freshman season. I'd really like to see him behind even an average offensive line with average receivers.
It doesn't help that this KU defense is absolutely amazing. OU had 2nd-and-32 at one point in the second half, and converted the first down with ease. (Ok, on a fourth-and-four, but still, it was an easy conversion.) That's really all you need to know, but here's a few more fun stats for you. After the first quarter (aka when they were still trying really hard), OU was on pace for 992 yards of offense. At halftime they were still on pace for 932 yards. (Oklahoma finished with 710 yards.)
This Oklahoma team might be really good, but this is also the same team who lost to a not-very-good Texas team. I'll be extremely interested to see the upcoming OU-TCU and OU-Baylor games.
We knew going into this season that it was going to be a long year short on wins, and that's exactly what we're seeing. The last two games, Kansas hasn't even been competitive, and that needs to change.
Kansas has Texas, TCU, West Virginia, and Kansas State left, in that order. Texas just lost 24-0 to Iowa State. No, that's not a misprint. I know the game is in Austin, but if the Jayhawks are gonna show us anything this year, it needs to be against the three teams not named TCU that are left on their schedule.
And for heaven's sake, STOP PUNTING ON FOURTH DOWN. Criminy. It doesn't matter if you pin them on the three yard line, they're not really pinned, because they're going up against the KU defense. Just go for it. It's not going to change the end result, and you may even convert and extend the drives. / End Rant