Three Quick Takeaways From Oklahoma's Win Over No. 19 Kansas

NORMAN — Oklahoma finally got back on track on Saturday.

The Sooners snapped a three-game losing streak against the No. 19-ranked Kansas Jayhawks, ushering in the bye week with a 52-42 win at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.

Quarterback Dillon Gabriel returned to the lineup and revived the Sooner offense as the Sooners (4-3) posted a new season-high in scoring.

The win was far from perfect, but both sides of the ball came up with key plays in unison to extend the lead and keep Kansas (5-2) playing from behind.

Here are three quick takeaways from the OU victory:

Return of Dime Time

Oklahoma missed Gabriel.

The offense spent the last six quarters in the wilderness without the starter, and Jeff Lebby’s unit responded with the lefty back at the helm.

OU lit up the scoreboard in the first half, scoring 35 points after mustering just 24 combined points in the previous two weeks.

Gabriel threw for 304 yards in the opening two quarters alone, helping the Sooners wrack up 487 yards of first half offense.

Eric Gray also thundered through the Jayhawk defense in the first half, rushing for 124 yards on a Kansas defense that had allowed 105.33 rushing yards per game in Big 12 play.

Halftime didn’t cool off the offensive onslaught either.

Oklahoma added another pair of touchdowns in the third quarter to put the game out of reach, and finished with 701 yards of total offense.

Gabriel was responsible for a few turnovers in his return, as he threw his first interception of the year and fumbled the ball twice.

Despite the errors, Gabriel and the offense did enough to ensure the Jayhawks never really threatened to win the game in the second half.

Back in Rhythm

During OU’s three-game skid, the Sooners have struggled to ride the wave of momentum.

The inability to play complementary football is something Venables even pointed out during his weekly press conference.

“Right now, for whatever reason, we haven't been able to get into a good rhythm here in the last several weeks as a football team and, certainly, individually on each side of the ball,” he said on Tuesday.

That all changed against Kansas.

Oklahoma scored on the opening drive of the game for the first time since the season opener against UTEP and never slowed down.

But Gabriel led touchdown drives in crucial moments to help extend the lead over the Jayhawks.

Cornerback C.J. Coldon delivered a Top 10-worthy interception in the second quarter, and the lefty signal-caller pump faked a Kansas defensive back into the sideline to free up Theo Wease for a walk-in touchdown.

The score put the Sooners up by two possessions which proved to be all the breathing room they would need.

OU capitalized off another interception to start the second half, too.

DaShaun White picked off Jason Bean to again ensure the Oklahoma advantage wouldn’t shrink below 14 points until late in the fourth quarter, and the offense went on a march.

Gabriel himself rushed for a touchdown, capping off a nine-play, 47-yard drive to put the Sooners up 42-21 with 10:16 remaining in the third quarter.

From there, Kansas had to rely on Bean’s arm to get back into the game, and the Oklahoma defense held up to help push Oklahoma across the finish line.

Even Better

Venables returned to his even defensive front on Saturday, and the push from the defensive line was much improved.

Oklahoma came up with key stops against a Kansas offense that entered the weekend as one of the most efficient units in the country.

The Jayhawks were fourth in the country, averaging 7.33 yards per play, but KU was held to 6.9 yards per play on Saturday.

David Ugwoegbu came up with OU’s second sack in Big 12 play in the second quarter, and the defense finished the day with eight tackles for loss.

Coldon and White’s interceptions helped set the offense up with good field position, and appeared to put a little pep in the step of a defense that had been demoralized across the past three weeks.

There’s still plenty of work to do as the Jayhawks moved the ball with ease at certain points during the game. But overall, the defense had a fine day against one of the better offenses in the country through the first half of the season.

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