Oklahoma-Kansas: Our Picks
John Hoover
Lincoln Riley has an interesting dilemma: as this thing gets out of hand, when does he put in Spencer Rattler? But what if it doesn’t get all that out of hand? The Sooners are literally limping into their open date — still down the road after next week’s game with Texas Tech — and are missing key personnel. The defense is wracked with injuries, and now they’re starting to pile up on offense. It’s so bad that Lincoln Riley canceled the usual Monday practice in favor of a light walk-through and film session. He wouldn’t do that for anybody but Kansas. The Jayhawks are clearly not a good football team. But news that OU players essentially got a day off from their normal routine will agitate and inspire them (and could send the wrong message to the Sooners). Also, all those injuries haven’t magically healed overnight (and if they did, why would guys rejoin the team for a game at Kansas?). And frankly, Oklahoma’s defense hasn’t been very good the last three weeks and is susceptible to big pass plays. OU is a 38-point favorite and wins comfortably, but it’s not the blowout many expect.
Final: Oklahoma 48, Kansas 20
Ryan Chapman
The Kansas Jayhawks are as close to Western Carolina as the Sooners will see this season. But even in year’s past, the horrid Jayhawks still had All-Big 12 caliber talent, though it was only ever one guy at one particular position. This year’s Kansas team has no such intrigue, however. Oklahoma will roll. The injuries along the defense won’t matter, though it will be a big boost if the Sooners could get any number of guys back to help out the holes that have sprung on the back end of the defense. The offense will roll, and Spencer Rattler will make his return late in the third quarter as the game is in hand. Rattler will lead a few nice drives before Lincoln Riley turns the game over to Ralph Rucker and Marcus Major. Oklahoma will move to 8-0 for the first time since 2004, and they will set their sights on the Texas Tech Red Raiders with a chance to enter “Championship November” undefeated.
Final: Oklahoma 59, Kansas 10
Josh Callaway
This one is going to be ugly. Really ugly. Caleb Williams has the Sooners offense looking like a Lincoln Riley offense again and that should emphatically continue against a Kansas team that is really bad in every facet of the game. There isn’t much reason for Williams to see the second half in this game with Spencer Rattler likely taking the bulk of the third and fourth quarter snaps. Essentially, the inverse of what he saw in Oklahoma’s drubbing of Western Carolina in Week 2. Defensively, the Sooners are really banged up and struggling but it won’t really matter here. To avoid further injury, it’s likely Lincoln Riley and Alex Grinch play a lot of young guys which allows Kansas to push across a garbage time touchdown. But other than that, Oklahoma should dominate with the pass rush seeing a significant uptick after a disappointing outing against TCU. Sooners roll in Lawrence easily to move to 8-0 and extend the winning streak to 16 straight.
Final: Oklahoma 62, Kansas 10
