OU-Kansas: Three Keys to the Game

Stay healthy, heal up

Injuries in football are just part of the game. They’re also wildly unpredictable. If the Sooners are able to get out of Saturday’s game with Kansas relatively intact, they’ll have an open date to heal up, polish up and show up for possibly the biggest test of the season: No. 14-ranked Oklahoma State in two weeks.

Lincoln Riley said Tuesday he’s not sure of the status of defensive tackle LaRon Stokes, who got “dinged up” last week and didn’t play against Texas Tech. The fact that Stokes traveled to Lubbock is encouraging; they thought he might be healthy enough to play. But if there’s any uncertainty this week, he could do with another two weeks to heal up.

No rush to get the COVID absences back, either. If Delarrin Turner-Yell and Charleston Rambo aren’t feeling ship-shape, they can take this week off, too. Also, no word on Brayden Willis, but he doesn’t need to play against KU if he’s not ready.

At this stage of the season, just about everybody has bumps and bruises, so with an open date coming up, it’s an ideal time to play Kansas.

Run the ball

Spencer Rattler isn’t going to New York this year. So no need to worry about building up his stats for any potential Heisman campaign.

Rather, this Oklahoma team would grow the most with an assertive run game on Saturday.

The Jayhawks are 98th in the nation in rushing defense, giving up 216 yards per game. They’ve also allowed 15 rushing touchdowns are are yielding 5.16 yards per rush. Let Rhamondre Stevenson continue to get his legs under him (15 carries), and then turn things over to T.J. Pledger and Seth McGowan. Those two are still growing into their roles and need the work.

Also, the offensive line showed a lot of growth in the last three weeks, and another step in that direction would benefit everyone.

No reason to run the score up. No reason to dangle Rattler out there for a KU defense that doesn’t mind blitzing. Dominate the line of scrimmage, run the ball and get to the open date.

Let the defense eat

KU struggles at running the ball (116 yards per game, 3.1 yards per carry). KU struggles at throwing the ball (151 yards per game, three touchdowns, seven interceptions).

Time for the Oklahoma defense to consider its ceiling. Facing a true freshman at quarterback (Jalon Daniels), Alex Grinch’s crew needs to chase a shutout.

This goes along the same lines as before: focus on incremental improvements. Kansas has been lousy all season against just about everyone. If the KU offense gets going at all this week, that’s a bad sign moving forward for this Oklahoma defense.

The addition of Ronnie Perkins last week came at the ideal time: he got some meaningful snaps in Lubbock, now he can get a few more early before taking the second half off. Then he’ll be both tested and fresh when the Cowboys come to town. Working in Perkins alongside Isaiah Thomas and Perrion Winfrey now will pay dividends later.

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