77 Days Until Kansas Football: Opponent Preview - Oklahoma

Two years ago, Kansas went to Norman and Pooka Williams went off for 252 yards in what turned out to be a rather exciting game, even though the outcome was never really in doubt. Then last year, Kansas forced an OU punt before driving 98 yards to take a 7-0 lead on the Sooners. And that’s about where the fun ended, as OU put up 42 unanswered points, absolutely obliterating any hopes of an upset.

Kansas hasn’t defeated Oklahoma since 1997, and has only come within two touchdowns of the Sooners four times in the last 15 matchups. Fun fact: Kansas was once 8-0 all-time vs Oklahoma. But, things have changed quite a bit since 1910.

Game Info

Kansas @ Oklahoma

Sat, Nov 21, 2020, Time TBD

Norman, OK: Memorial Stadium

About the OU Offense

Oklahoma returns just 49% of its offensive production from last season, which puts the Sooners in the bottom 25% of college football teams for that metric. Most of that is due to the departures of QB Jalen Hurts and WR CeeDee Lamb. The Sooners do have some known offensive skill talent returning with RBs Kennedy Brooks and Rhamondre Stevenson, as well as WRs Charleston Rambo and Jadon Haselwood.

Your guess is as good as mine as to who will emerge as the starting quarterback. R-SO Tanner Mordecai saw the most action in relief in 2019, throwing 26 passes, but R-FR Spencer Rattler saw action in three games last year as well. Rattler was the consensus number-1 rated QB in the class of 2019, while Mordecai was a three-slash-four-star recruit in the class of 2018 with multiple notable P5 offers himself.

About the OU Defense

Defensively, the Sooners return eight starters from last year’s week 1 depth chart, good for 70% of last year’s defensive production. Top tackler Kenneth Murray skipped his senior season for a shot at the NFL, but he’s the only one out of OU’s top six tacklers from last year who isn’t back. Additionally, DEs Ronnie Perkins and Jalen Redmond, both of whom had double-digit sacks last year, are back as well. OU’s defense looks to be both loaded and experienced coming into 2020.

Preseason Rankings

Per preseason S&P+ projections released back in February, OU is ranked #8 out of 130 teams, the highest-rated Big 12 team.

Kansas comes into the season ranked #113.

Fearless Prediction

Yikes.

As noted above, Kansas has been mostly non-competitive with Oklahoma over the past two decades, and OU is loaded once again. The Jayhawks have surprised the Sooners before, so considering how long it has been, maybe they are due? Really, though, this is an easy one. OU is in much better position than Kansas, both talent-wise and roster-wise, without even considering how one-sided the matchups have been lately.

While OU may embarrass themselves on national television in the CFP every year, at least they haven’t lost to Kansas. Maybe the Jayhawks get another impressive performance out of Pooka Williams, but even if they do, he’ll need a LOT of help. I can’t even imagine how much kool-aid you would need to pick the Jayhawks here. OU 55, Kansas 24.