After what we believe will be a hard-fought game versus the UCF Knights, the Sooners will travel to Lawrence to take on the Kansas Jayhawks in one of the most intriguing matchups on the schedule.
Kansas has a lot of production coming back from a 2022 team that took another step, second in the nation per ESPN (ESPN+). They return 91% of their offensive production from a year ago returning and 80% of their defensive production.
The Jayhawks went 6-7 on the season and made a bowl game for the first time since 2008. They started the year 5-0 before star quarterback Jalon Daniels went down with an injury. He returned, but it was a setback that upended the momentum they had early in the year.
Daniels was recently voted the preseason offensive player of the year for the Big 12 while earning first-team quarterback selection.
In Kansas’ fast start to the 2022 season, Daniels was beginning to garner some Heisman hype before being slowed by injury and losses. Still it was a strong season for the upstart Jayhawks in Lance Leipold’s second season at the helm.
Jalon Daniels completed 66.1 percent of his passes for 2,014 yards, 18 touchdowns, and only four interceptions. He also ran for 425 yards and seven scores.
So, the Sooners will face their worst nightmare two weeks in a row; a dual-threat quarterback.
The Jayhawks bring back 1,000-yard rusher Devin Neal. They also bring back their top two receivers, Lawrence Arnold and Luke Grimm. The Jayhawks spread the wealth in 2022 with four players gaining at least 400 yards receiving and five players with at least four touchdown receptions.
They were a top 35 offense a year ago, even with Jalon Daniels missing time. This offense should be very good again.
Defensively they finished 127th in the nation. But with returning 80 percent of their defense, they hope to see much improvement.
Lance Leipold is one of the best coaches in the conference. He has Kansas on a steady trajectory since taking over late in the spring of 2021.
Similar to Oklahoma, can they improve enough to be a top-80 defense? I’m not sure they can. Oklahoma has better athletes and one of the best defensive minds ever working for them.
They return eight of their 10 leading tacklers from a year ago, including safety Kenny Logan Jr. who led the team with 106 tackles a year ago. Logan is a legit playmaker in the secondary that can change a game in a hurry.
The big loss is Lonnie Phelps, who led the team with seven sacks last season. They also lost Caleb Simpson, who finished fourth in sacks.
All in all, this team will go as far as this defense can take them. If the defense is poor again, the Jayhawks will be staring at another six-win season. They also have to keep Daniels healthy. They were able to mitigate the loss with stellar play from Jason Bean, but it didn’t last, and the Jayhawks weren’t the same when Daniels came back from injury.
If Daniels plays last season, the Jayhawks have a chance to upset Oklahoma in Norman. The Sooners scored 21 unanswered points in the second quarter to go up 35-14 before a touchdown in the final seconds trimmed the score to 35-21 before halftime.
The Jayhawks rallied in the fourth quarter with a pair of touchdowns to make things interesting, ultimately falling short.
This isn’t the same old Jayhawks and this is a very dangerous game for Oklahoma. In back-to-back weeks we will find out how much improvement the defense has made.
Score Prediction: 55-41 Oklahoma
Predicted Record: 7-1
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