Oklahoma Sooners fall to Kansas Jayhawks 38-33 in final Big 12 meeting

Sooners lose for the first time in 2023, fall 38-33 to the Kansas Jayhawks.

The Oklahoma Sooners couldn’t take advantage of an Ethan Downs interception on their final drive of the game, and Jason Bean led a stellar two-minute drill to lift the Kansas Jayhawks over the Oklahoma Sooners 38-33 on Saturday.

The first quarter was not a good start for the Sooners. After they got a 4th down stop, Dillon Gabriel threw a pick-six that set the tone for the Oklahoma Sooners passing attack all day.

In the second was another quarter of poor tackling for the Sooners. The Jayhawks took a 14-0 lead before the Sooners responded with a nice drive running the football, led by Tawee Walker, resulting in a seven-yard touchdown run by Gabriel.

After nearly an hour of weather delay, Oklahoma’s offense picked up where it left off and was able to run it down the field for a touchdown to tie it up. A big play in the half was the Jayhawks’ muffed kickoff. That led to Oklahoma taking the lead before the Jayhawks cut it to four just before the half.

The Sooners outgained the Jayhawks in the first half, 211 to 193.

The 3rd Quarter was an ugly performance. The Sooners allowed nine points, seven of which happened after Jalil Farooq fumbled. The Sooners offensively struggled but ended the quarter with a solid drive to retake the lead 27-26.

The fourth quarter was chaotic as Kansas scored early to make it 32-27 after a failed 2-point attempt. Kendel Dolby and Billy Bowman combined to intercept Jason Bean and Dillon Gabriel punched it in from one-yard out to put the Sooners up by one after their own failed 2-point conversion attempt.

The Oklahoma Sooners had a chance to put the game away after Ethan Downs came down with another interception from Bean, but conservative playcalling from Jeff Lebby and the Sooners offense led to a three and out that took little time off the clock.

After Luke Elzinga’s punt sailed into the end zone for a touchback, the Jayhawks took over with 1:56 remaining in the game. Jason Bean converted a key 4th and 6th for 37 yards to the Oklahoma Sooners nine-yard line. Devin Neal put the exclamation point on the game with a nine-yard touchdown run.

The Sooners had a chance to win the game with two timeouts and 47 seconds on the clock. A holding penalty set the Sooners back but Drake Stoops came up with a big 19-yard reception on second down to put the Sooners at 3rd and 1. On the next play, Brenen Thompson went 39 yards to the Kansas 27-yard line.

After a swing pass to Jalil Farooq went for four yards, Gabriel was unable to connect with his receivers in the back of the endzone to complete a miracle last-second drive.

The defense wasn’t consistent enough in the game to get stops as Kansas took advantage of open areas in the Sooners’ zone defense. The offensive playcalling was conservative and after Tawee Walker went down with an injury.

Walker was the bright spot in the game, running for 146 yards and a touchdown. Dillon Gabriel didn’t get many opportunities to throw the ball, but completed 14 of 19 passes for 171 yards. The pick-six will come back to haunt the Sooners in their five-point loss.

Sooners now go back to the drawing board after falling to 7-1 on the season and 4-1 in Big 12 play with a big road trip to Stillwater coming next week.

 

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