Tag: 2021 Oklahoma Sooners Football

Oklahoma Sooners’ performance against Kansas earns D+ grade from CBS Sports

No. 4 Oklahoma didn’t impress the analysts over at CBS Sports with their 35-23 comeback victory over the Kansas Jayhawks.

The Oklahoma Sooners outscored Kansas 35-13 after halftime and improved to 8-0 (5-0 Big 12 Conference) with a 35-23 win in Lawrence, Kan.

OU sleepwalking through the first half against the Jayhawks has its consequences, though. The Sooners fell several spots to No. 4 in the USA TODAY Sports AFCA Coaches Poll as Cincinnati and Alabama jumped them.

National pundits reacting to last weekend’s action aren’t necessarily over the moon for the Sooners right now either. CBS Sports Barrett Sallee gave Oklahoma a grade of D+ for their performance against Kansas.

A win is a win, especially when you’re undefeated. But the Sooners had to rally to beat lowly Kansas to stay unblemished on the season. If style points come into play, this one could resonate in the meeting room when the CFP selection committee meets. – Sallee, CBS Sports

Sallee could be onto something with the style points argument. Oklahoma has five one-possession victories thus far this season and the win over Kansas wasn’t the romp everybody expected.

After Texas Tech this week, just winning against the schedule laid out in front of Oklahoma will greatly enhance the Sooners’ resumé. OU closes with a trip to No. 18 Baylor, home against No. 23 Iowa State and then the trip to Stillwater versus No. 15 Oklahoma State before a potential Big 12 Championship game.

That hasn’t stopped some from selling their stock in Oklahoma. CBS Sports writer Shehan Jeyarajah included the Sooners in his losers from week eight of the college football season and had some pretty scatching remarks.

Oklahoma doesn’t have ‘It’

There’s something to be said for surviving and advancing. Going down to the wire and needing some of the most uncommon rules in the book to cement a win over Kansas – Kansas! — is something else entirely. The Jayhawks have been so dreadful as of late that their win over Texas remains a meme more than five years later.

If the game was a series of unfortunate events spiraling downhill into a once-in-a-lifetime college football memory, that’s one thing. Kansas was better. It finished with more yards, was more efficient on third down and averaged more than eight plays per drive.

Oklahoma emerged victorious, but teams that can win national championships don’t go down by multiple scores against Kansas. They don’t wait nearly 48 minutes to take a lead against the Jayhawks or look so terrible that a downtrodden program decides to open the gates so anyone can see the spectacle for free. Oklahoma might still win the Big 12 and make the playoff, but if this is what the Sooners are, they have zero chance once they get there. – Jeyarajah, CBS Sports

Here’s the deal: Oklahoma is still unbeaten and all of their team goals are still in play in front of them. Making final judgments on the Sooners’ ceiling before they get some offensive and defensive personnel back from injury might be a bit too hasty. They need to improve, though, and OU is running out of time to do that.

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Oklahoma Sooners Missed Mario Williams, Michael Woods versus Kansas

Kansas kept No. 4 Oklahoma scoreless in the first half on Saturday as wide receivers Mario Williams and Michael Woods were absent.

Kansas shocked the college football world by slowing down No. 4 Oklahoma in the first half over the weekend from Lawrence, Kan.

In fact, the Jayhawks kept OU scoreless until after halftime. It was the first time that the Sooners had been shutout in the first half since Lincoln Riley became head coach and since the 2014 season.

It was also the first time in 32 consecutive games that Oklahoma didn’t score in the first quarter. That snapped the Sooners’ FBS-best streak in that department.

Oklahoma’s first-half possessions against Kansas went like this: five plays and a punt on the first series. Caleb Williams was intercepted on the third snap of the second possession. Then Oklahoma turned it over on downs at the Kansas 33-yard-line after nine plays on the third and final offensive series.

Basically, it was a mess. Williams completed just 6-of-9 passes for 71 yards and he was intercepted by Kansas’ Ricky Thomas Jr. OU running back Kennedy Brooks rushed it just six times for 28 yards before recess.

As a team, Oklahoma was outgained by Kansas in the first half 195 to 78. The Jayhawks chewed up the first-half clock and ran 39 offensive plays compared to Oklahoma’s 17.

At first glance, freshman wide receiver Mario Williams and senior wideout Michael Woods missing the Kansas game due to injury wouldn’t have seemed a big concern. After all, this was KU who ranks 123rd nationally in total defense and 127th in scoring defense.

It didn’t play out that way. Oklahoma looked like it missed both Williams and Woods as the Sooners’ passing game never fully got on track.

Williams did toss a couple of touchdown passes after halftime, a five-yarder to redshirt sophomore wide receiver Jadon Haselwood and an eight-yarder to redshirt senior H-back Jeremiah Hall.

Still, he only passed for 178 yards. That was Williams’ lowest passing mark since taking over the quarterbacking duties.

Junior running back Eric Gray actually finished as Oklahoma’s leading receiver with three receptions for 42 yards. A week after his three-touchdown performance against TCU, Haselwood notched just the three receptions for 38 yards.

Junior receiver Drake Stoops had three grabs for 30 yards and sophomore Marvin Mims and freshman Jalil Farooq each had one grab for a combined 19 receiving yards.

OU wide receivers caught eight passes total. According to Pro Football Focus, Sooner wide receivers were targeted just ten times in the game.

Asked about Oklahoma’s slow start against Kansas, Kennedy Brooks was transparent with his thoughts immediately after the game against the Jayhawks.

“I mean, honestly, we just played down to our opponent. We try to fight for our standard to play hard for four quarters and we didn’t do that today, so we’ve just got to go back to the grind. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday for practice and just work and just strive for that,” Brooks said.

Oklahoma head football coach Lincoln Riley was pleased with how his team responded after halftime but disappointed the 35-23 win over Kansas represented another game where OU didn’t put it together for four quarters.

“Obviously, proud of the win and our fight in the second half. Not excited about how we played in the first half. Just really poor football in the first half all the way around,” Riley said.

“So, we had to bow up obviously the second half and we did that,” Riley continued. “We played better on all three sides in the second half. I give our team credit for rising up. Again, I don’t care who you’re playing, if you don’t seize momentum early in a road football game, you’re going to be in for a dogfight and we were. I think Kansas deserves a lot of credit. They made some really nice plays. I thought they were very efficient offensively, did a few things that obviously gave us trouble, and had a good plan.”

Despite being down personnel on both sides of the football, it’s what Riley said next about this Oklahoma football team that really resonated on exactly who and what OU currently is.

“For this team, we’ve kind of figured out our personality a little bit. Our personality is we can finish with the best of them, but it’s frustrating for us of how much we put ourselves I think in position, especially not playing our best early in games, where we have to finish,” Riley said.

Riley added, “We have to finish all the time, but where we need to finish well to win games. We’re going to keep battling with it. We had a good visit in there right after the game. I think our guys know what we need to do, but it’s time for us to start, you know, closing the gaps and playing a little bit better here and more consistently. That is what it is. We’re still a very capable football team. There’s no question and we’ll be excited to have a chance to get some guys back.

“That’s got to be our spark right here is a combination of getting some of these guys back. We’re obviously pretty thin in a lot of areas today. We’ve got to get guys back. The guys that are playing have got to play at a high level. We’ve got to coach at a high level. Our time’s when we’re not playing well, it’s close, but we’re tired of being close. We’ve got to push it over the edge. We’re getting here back half of the season. This is the time where we’ve got to do it. Again, proud of the win, don’t take them for granted, know we have to be a lot better.”

Riley summed up the play of his quarterback Caleb Williams against Kansas and it mirrored the team’s day overall.

“He didn’t play very good in the first half. I thought more than anything there was probably a little bit of frustration when we didn’t… you know, had low possessions, weren’t playing well. Especially the interception, I mean we’ve got a back just standing wide open in the flat,” Riley said.

“He’s got to be a little bit more composed there, but he did, he handled the second half well. I think he understood what we were doing, obviously made some important plays, I thought was pretty calm the second half and certainly more settled in.”

There wasn’t an injury update on Williams and Woods’ statuses after the win over Kansas. Hopefully, Oklahoma gets good news on both quickly, because their absences corresponded with the worst offensive first half in the Lincoln Riley era.

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Oklahoma Sooners’ Caleb Williams made ‘outstanding instinct play’

On ESPN’s Debatable, Mike Golic Jr. said Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Caleb Williams made an “outstanding instinct play” versus Kansas.

On ESPN’s Debatable, Mike Golic Jr. discussed Oklahoma quarterback Caleb Williams’ incredible fourth and 1 play where he snatched the football from OU running back Kennedy Brooks and picked up the first down.

Golic Jr. had this to say about Williams’ heroics:

Offensively and in this situation, hell no I’ve never seen this. And the reason I’m saying, ‘made a smart play’ is because I don’t believe Caleb Williams knew that in this instance on fourth down it could be a legal handoff behind the line of scrimmage that wasn’t somehow a penalty in this play versus if it had happened downfield. Caleb made an outstanding instinct play right here. He knew it was fourth down and he knew, hey, we had to get one yard come hell or high water and so he grabbed that thing and went for it there. – Golic, ESPN’s Debatable

Without hearing from Williams himself, it’s impossible to say exactly what he was thinking in the moment. Brooks did have this to say about their memorable connection late against Kansas.

“I felt somebody tugging at it and then I saw it was Caleb, so I knew that I couldn’t get tackled with the ball so I gave it to Caleb. Only thing I wasn’t sure about was if I was behind the line of scrimmage or in front of it, but I felt like I was behind it and I knew it was fourth down so I was like, ‘I can’t get tackled with the ball’ so I just gave the ball to Caleb and hopefully he can get the first down,” Brooks said.

Whether instinct or awareness, the pair combined to author up one of the highlight-reel plays of this season for the Sooners.

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Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Caleb Williams still atop college PFF rankings

Oklahoma Sooners’ quarterback Caleb Williams remains PFF’s highest-graded quarterback with an offensive grade of 93.9 after OU’s 35-23 win over Kansas.

It wasn’t the first half anybody wanted for No. 4 Oklahoma against Kansas. OU was shut out in the first half by the Jayhawks for the first time in the Lincoln Riley era and since the 2014 season.

The Sooners’ freshman star quarterback Caleb Williams shook off his first-half interception and found another gear after halftime. His play spearheaded Oklahoma erasing a 10-0 halftime deficit and outscoring Kansas in the second half, 35-13.

As a result, Williams remains the highest-graded college quarterback per Pro Football Focus, with an offensive grade of 93.9 and the second-highest graded player nationally. He sits just behind only Coastal Carolina tight end Isaiah Likely.

Williams is just ahead of Pittsburgh quarterback Kenny Pickett, Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud and Liberty quarterback Malik Willis and their identical offensive grades of 92.6.

Here’s what PFF analyst Seth Galina had to say about Williams’ play for the Sooners.

The comeback king Williams continues to lead the way for Power Five quarterbacks after another thrilling win as the Sooners’ starting quarterback. Williams converted two fourth-down tries in the fourth quarter on the ground, with the latter being a wild “double handoff” play where he instinctively took the ball from running back Kennedy Brooks, who was in the midst of being stopped short of the sticks. – Galina, Pro Football Focus

Williams once again dazzled on a pair of fourth-down snaps. First, with just north of eight minutes remaining, Williams took a fourth and 3 snap and evaded three Jayhawks defenders behind the line of scrimmage before racing 40 yards into the end zone to put the Sooners in front 28-17.

Kansas safety Kenny Logan Jr. had the first crack at bringing down Williams before the Sooner signal-caller split would-be Jayhawks tacklers in cornerback Duece Mayberry and linebacker Rich Miller.

Then, on the Sooners’ final drive, OU running back Kennedy Brooks looked as if he was about to be stopped short and driven back on a fourth and 1 snap with OU clinging to a 28-23 lead over Kansas. Williams had other ideas.

He took the football away from Brooks, ran five yards to pick up the first down and ensured Oklahoma would walk out of Lawrence, Kan., a winner and 8-0.

Williams finished his day against Kansas 15-of-20 passing for 178 yards with two touchdowns against the one interception. His two touchdown passes went to redshirt sophomore wide receiver Jadon Haselwood and redshirt senior H-back Jeremiah Hall.

Williams also carried it eight times for 70 rushing yards. His next chance to impress will come on Saturday when Oklahoma hosts Texas Tech at 2:30 p.m. from Norman on ABC.

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What’s wrong with the Oklahoma Sooners’ defense?

Kansas found success against No. 4 Oklahoma’s defense on Saturday and it continues a troubling trend for the Sooners.

The now No. 4 Oklahoma Sooners rallied back, stayed perfect and beat Kansas 35-23 on Saturday. The poor start and uneven performance defensively against a previously anemic Jayhawks offense left Sooner fans scratching their heads as to just how good OU’s defense can be, though.

Kansas took the opening drive of the game right down the field and scored the game’s first points when KU freshman running back Devin Neal plunged into the end zone from a yard out.

That Kansas scoring drive was a 14-play, 80-yard one that drained the first 9:15 of the game clock. The Jayhawks converted three different third-down conversion tries on it, too.

Meanwhile, a trio of Sooners — defensive linemen Josh Ellison and Isaiah Thomas and linebacker Brian Asamoah — each picked up offsides penalties on Kansas’ first scoring drive.

The Jayhawks followed that first drive up with a 12-play, 69-yard drive that soaked up another 6:36 of the first-half clock. Jacob Borcila booted through a 28-yard field goal and that 10-0 Kansas lead was the margin at halftime.

All told, Kansas won the first-half time of possession battle in lopsided fashion. It finished with KU possessing the football for 22:00. The Jayhawks also ran 39 offensive plays against the Sooners’ 17 before intermission.

“It kind of became the theme, specifically in that first half, you know, the inability to get stops in the run game. That just eats away at some yardage and creates some situations in second and medium, second and short. And then add penalties to that, undisciplined football in the front. Then, all of a sudden, whether you’re handing the first down away or again shortening the distance with multiple downs still yet to go to convert,” Oklahoma defensive coordinator Alex Grinch said.

“Really disappointed in not stopping the run there, specifically early, although I don’t know that we got a whole lot better as the day went. Obviously, you’ve got to give the opponent credit. There’s a theme there. There’s a theme there forming over the last few weeks. The opponent makes plays, we make plays and then at some point there’s a jockeying back and forth who makes the most on a given day and we’re just not making enough plays defensively and specifically on third down. You’re just asking for long drives and you’re just asking for momentum. It was very difficult for us to turn the tide momentum-wise.”

Kansas was supposed to be the get-right week for a defense that had allowed a banged-up Kansas State quarterback Skylar Thompson to return and throw for 320 yards and three touchdowns against them, Texas’ Casey Thompson for 388 and five passing touchdowns and TCU’s Max Duggan for 346 and four scores in its last three games. It wound up far from that get-right week.

Instead, a Kansas offense that’s struggled against everybody seemed right at home against Oklahoma. The Jayhawks converted on each of their first five third-down conversion tries and finished 9-of-13.

Perhaps most distressing? It was across the board offensively where Kansas improved upon its season averages as it attacked Oklahoma’s defense.

The Jayhawks entered averaging 6.6 yards per pass attempt and KU quarterback Jason Bean hadn’t thrown for more than 189 yards against anybody but Duke.

Bean ended his day 17-of-23 through the air for 246 passing yards and 10.7 yards per attempt. After playing OU, Kansas’ season-long passing numbers jumped from that aforementioned 6.6 yards per pass attempt to 7.16 after the Jayhawks bested their per-game passing numbers by more than 70 yards.

Kansas’ Neal also tallied his second-best rushing mark of the season with 100 rushing yards on 23 carries. Senior KU wide receiver Kwamie Lassiter II matched his season-high in receptions with seven and recorded his best receiving-yardage day with 101 yards.

“As I said, there’s a theme forming over the last few weeks is an inconsistent unit. Whose fault’s that? It’s all of ours. Obviously, specifically me. It does come down to practice. That’s where you attack those issues,” Grinch said.

“In the end, what we need to do is we’ve got to find ways to make more plays. Maybe guilty a little bit as a play-caller in trying to call some things to initiate that play. Maybe that is the inappropriate thing to do, but trying somehow, some way to get that TFL that we’ve been so known for as one of the better defenses against the run really over the last year or so. To see where we find ourselves today is extremely disappointing and we all got to take responsibility for it.”

OU has been operating minus starters in its secondary as cornerbacks D.J. Graham and Woodi Washington as well as starting safety Delarrin Turner-Yell all missed Saturday’s game against the Jayhawks.

Asked if he was worried about the secondary, Oklahoma head football coach Lincoln Riley wasn’t ready to say yes.

“I just think we’ve got to play better. Kind of like we said last week, that secondary gets better when you start pressuring the quarterback. That secondary gets better when you handle the zone-run game and an athletic quarterback better than what we did. The secondary gets better when you’re not constantly having penalties that put them in plus-situations,” Riley said.

“We know we’ve got to continue to get better there. We’re looking for that right lineup that we feel like is going to give us a spark, especially with so many guys out. I think it’s going to be a combination of the guys that have been getting all these reps need to take some jumps and need to improve. And then, obviously, hope to be able to get a number of these guys back here pretty quickly and the combination of that needs to be better for us, yes.”

As Riley mentioned, Oklahoma would desperately like to see its production in its opponents’ backfields improve. Against Kansas, OU was only able to muster up one sack and three quarterback hurries.

Improvement will need to come along quickly as the Sooners’ closing stretch looks to be its most challenging of the season. After Texas Tech this week and then a bye week to follow, OU closes its regular season with three straight games against ranked opponents when they’ll play Baylor, Iowa State and Oklahoma State in successive weeks.

Oklahoma falls in latest USA TODAY Sports AFCA Coaches Poll

Oklahoma dropped two spots to No. 4 in the latest USA Today Sports AFCA Coaches Poll after rallying to beat Kansas, 35-23.

The Oklahoma Sooners are still perfect and sit at 8-0 (5-0 Big 12 Conference) after rallying to top Kansas, 35-23.

However, suffice it to say that performance by OU in Lawrence, Kan., left the pollsters less than impressed. Oklahoma dropped two spots to No. 4 in the latest USA TODAY Sports AFCA Coaches Poll.

Kansas led 10-0 at halftime over Oklahoma which was the Jayhawks’ largest lead over an FBS team this season. Yesterday was KU’s first double-digit lead over OU since 2013.

The Sooners were shutout in the first half for the first time in the Lincoln Riley era and for the first time since the 2014 season. Oklahoma’s FBS-long first-quarter scoring streak was also snapped after 32 consecutive games.

Freshman quarterback Caleb Williams helped engineer the second-half comeback for OU. He threw for 178 yards on 15-of-20 passing attempts with two touchdowns against one interception.

Williams also dazzled with his 40-yard touchdown run where he split would-be Jayhawks tacklers on a 4th-and-3 snap to put OU in front 28-17 at that stage of the fourth quarter.

Oklahoma outscored Kansas 35-13 after halftime.

Still, Oklahoma floundering around for a half opened the door for Cincinnati and Alabama to leapfrog them into the No. 2 and No. 3 slots, respectively. Georgia remains No. 1 in the USA Today Sports AFCA Coaches Poll, while Ohio State rounds out the top five.

OU is joined in the poll by fellow Big 12 Conference members Oklahoma State, Baylor and Iowa State. The Cowboys are next-highest out of the Big 12 at No. 15, the Bears No. 18 and the Cyclones back into the poll at No. 23.

Here is a look at the full coaches poll after this week’s slate of games.

Full USA TODAY Sports AFCA Coaches Poll:

Rank Team Record Points Change
1 Georgia 7-0 1,600 (64) –
2 Cincinnati 7-0 1,469 +1
3 Alabama 7-1 1,439 +1
4 Oklahoma 8-0 1,430 -2
5 Ohio State 6-1 1,338 –
6 Michigan 7-0 1,313 –
7 Michigan State 7-0 1,208 –
8 Oregon 6-1 1,139 +2
9 Ole Miss 6-1 1,019 +3
10 Iowa 6-1 1,008 +1
11 Notre Dame 6-1 950 +2
12 Kentucky 6-1 857 +1
13 Wake Forest 7-0 838 +2
14 Texas A&M 6-2 736 +3
15 Oklahoma State 6-1 684 -6
16 SMU 7-0 535 +3
17 Penn State 5-2 517 -9
18 Baylor 6-1 509 +2
19 Pittsburgh 6-1 487 +4
20 San Diego State 7-0 431 +1
21 Auburn 5-2 418 +1
22 UT-San Antonio 8-0 219 +3
23 Iowa State 5-2 190 +3
24 Coastal Carolina 6-1 134 -8
25 North Carolina State 5-2 73 -7

Dropped from the rankings:

No. 24 Clemson

Others receiving votes:

UL Lafayette 42; Brigham Young 42; Arkansas 41; Houston 27; Arizona State 27; Virginia 23; Oregon State 13; Florida 13; Fresno State 10; Air Force 9; Appalachian State 5; Texas 3; Liberty 3; Utah 1

Oklahoma Still asleep, Kansas Jayhawks lead Sooners 10-0 at halftime

The Jayhawks owned the time of possession battle and shocked the No. 2 Oklahoma Sooners in the first half in Lawrence.

Kansas punched No. 2 Oklahoma in the mouth from the word go in a shocking first half from Lawrence, Kan, that ended with KU leading the Sooners, 10-0.

The Jayhawks (1-5, 0-3 Big 12) got the football first and proceeded to put together a time-consuming, 14-play, 80-yard scoring drive. It was capped by KU running back Devin Neal’s 1-yard touchdown run.

Along the way, Kansas converted three 3rd-down conversion tries. The Jayhawks also chewed up the first 9:15 of the game clock.

KU later added a 28-yard Jacob Borcila field goal try. That ended a 12-play, 69-yard drive that ate up nearly seven more minutes of the first-half game clock.

Meanwhile, Oklahoma’s offense never got on track. Freshman quarterback Caleb Williams was sacked on the Sooners’ first third-down conversion try and was later picked off by Kansas’ Ricky Thomas Jr. as he tried to connect with Jadon Haselwood.

KU outgained OU in total offensive yards 195 to 78. The Jayhawks also had 12 first downs compared to Oklahoma’s four. Kansas quarterback Jason Bean completed 6-of-9 passes for 63 passing yards and ran 10 times for 53 rushing yards. Neal added 75 rushing yards for KU on 14 carries.

Williams finished his first half 6-of-9 passing for just 71 yards with the one interception. Sooners’ running back Kennedy Brooks rushed it six times 28 rushing yards with a long of 11 yards. Haselwood was OU’s leading receiver with two grabs for 33 receiving yards.

Kansas ran 39 offensive plays, while Oklahoma had just 17. The Jayhawks won the time of possession battle convincingly, possessing the football for 22:00 against the Sooners’ 8:00.

Defensive Personnel Update: Jalen Redmond Might Finally Be Back

It appears No. 2 Oklahoma will have redshirt-sophomore defensive lineman Jalen Redmond back for their showdown against the Kansas Jayhawks.

Fans were no doubt disappointed to see OU radio analyst Gabe Ikard report that freshman wide receiver Mario Williams was out and perhaps senior wide receiver Mike Woods as well versus the Kansas Jayhawks.

Ikard said Oklahoma also looks to be without the services of sophomore cornerback D.J. Graham and senior safety Delarrin Turner-Yell. However, he delivered some news that will be a long-awaited, welcome sight for Sooners fans.

 

This would be fantastic news if in fact redshirt-sophomore Jalen Redmond is back for Oklahoma. The Midwest City product hasn’t played since recording five tackles and 1.5 sacks against the Nebraska Cornhuskers back on Sept. 18th in Norman.

Redmond has been working his way back from a knee injury. He would replenish some much-needed depth up front along the Sooners’ defensive line.

Oklahoma Football: Sooners might be missing several key offensive pieces versus Kansas Jayhawks

No. 2 Oklahoma might be down two of its top pass-catchers against the Kansas Jayhawks according to OU radio sideline analyst Gabe Ikard.

From the looks of things, No. 2 Oklahoma will be without the services of two of its top pass-catchers against the Kansas Jayhawks.

OU radio sideline analyst Gabe Ikard reported that freshman wide receiver Mario Williams is out versus KU.

 

Ikard also said he would be surprised if senior wide receiver Mike Woods plays for the Sooners.

 

If that’s the case, it means Oklahoma is without two of its top four receiving yardage leaders. Woods is second on the team with 294 receiving yards on 25 grabs, while Williams has hauled in 24 passes for 219 receiving yards.

Maybe that just means a monster day for the Sooners’ leading pass-catcher. Sophomore Marvin Mims enters the Kansas game with 456 receiving yards on 21 receptions.

Oklahoma fans would be happy to see redshirt-sophomore Jadon Haselwood follow up his three-touchdown performance against TCU with another big showing against the Jayhawks. Haselwood finished last week with six receptions for 56 yards.

However it plays out, there’s no question it opens the door for other guys to shine as playmakers for OU.

5 Areas of Concern for the Oklahoma Sooners vs. the Kansas Jayhawks

Five areas of concern for No. 2 Oklahoma when the Sooners travel to take on the Kansas Jayhawks.

If history is any indication, there’s just not much to be concerned about when it comes to playing the Kansas Jayhawks in football for the Oklahoma Sooners.

OU has won its past 16 against Kansas — the Sooners’ longest active winning streak against an opponent — and the four matchups with Lincoln Riley as head coach by an average margin 33 points, 51-18.

So, admittedly, it’s a stretch to be worried about much of anything Kansas presents. But, bear with me for this exercise as we look at five areas of concern for the Oklahoma Sooners vs. the Kansas Jayhawks.