Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium, those plays went to the
Oklahoma Sooners, who gathered a 35-13 victory over the Kansas Jayhawks.
The Sooners had their first big play on the first play from scrimmage.
Looking to start off with a big gain, Kansas quarterback Todd Reesing
lobbed the ball toward receiver Dezmon Briscoe down the sideline. But
instead, he found safety Quinton Carter, who intercepted the ball at
the Kansas 46. Ten plays later, facing a fourth-and-goal from the one,
Sooner running back Chris Brown dove in for a 7-0 lead.
Kansas then drove the ball down to the Sooner 25 yard line, where
Reesing was picked again, this time on a pass tipped by defensive
tackle Adrian Taylor and intercepted by defensive end Jeremy Beal.
Reesing’s third interception led to the Sooners’ second score. Kansas
again drove the ball well, taking it to the Sooner 10. But after a
four-yard loss, cornerback Dominique Franks jumped on a lazy pass out
to the flat and returned it 85 yards to paydirt.
“Certainly the turnovers set the tempo of the game … we had to play
catch up football,” said Kansas Coach Mark Mangino. “We’ve done that a
couple weeks in a row. We just put ourselves behind early. You just
can’t do that with Oklahoma, or any good team for that matter.”
The Jayhawks finally received a break of their own when punter Tress Way dropped the snap and was tackled at the Sooner 28. But the Jayhawks
failed to generate a first down, and settled for a 39-yard Jacob Branstetter field goal. Branstetter set the Jayhawks into halftime down
just one score when he connected on a 57-yarder with no time remaining.
That field goal seemingly gave the Jayhawks the momentum, though they
trailed 14-6, but the Jayhawks could have had more … just three plays
earlier, Reesing and Briscoe failed to connect on an apparent wide-open
touchdown pass.
All of that momentum quickly swung back the other way at the start of
the second half. Twice Sooner quarterback Landry Jones kept the drive
going on third and six plays, once with a 13-yard pass to Brandon Caleb
and again with an 18-yard pass to Adron Tennell. He hit Tennell again
to end the drive for a nine-yard touchdown and a 21-6 lead. That lead
grew again on the Sooners’ next drive when Jones found Jones from eight
yards out.
The Sooners added the cherry on top with a Chris Brown 26-yard scamper
in the fourth, before Kansas finally scored a touchdown on a five-yard
Todd Reesing run with 4:27 left.
The Jayhawks did have some positives, based largely around the defense,
which held the Sooners to just 110 first-half yards and only 85 rushing
yards on the day. Mangino called the defense “not bad at all,” before
suggesting “we still have areas that need work.”
But as good as the Kansas defense was at times, the Oklahoma defense
was even better, holding one of the nation’s most potent attacks at bay
for the entire day. The Jayhawks managed just 304 yards, with much of
that coming in the fourth quarter after the game was decided.
Jones led the Oklahoma attack with 252 yards passing and two
touchdowns. Ryan Broyles was his leading target with 121 yards on 11
catches.
The schedule doesn’t get much better for the Jayhawks (5-2, 1-2), who
now face a Halloween road trip to Lubbock to take on the Texas Tech Red
Raiders. Game time is set for 2:30 p.m.
“We have to come out and start better on offense and not turn the ball
over,” Mangino said. “Good teams will make you pay for it, and Oklahoma
today made us pay for it.”
Scoring Summary:
Oklahoma — Chris Brown 1 run (Tress Way kick), 11:06 1Q
OU—Dominique Franks 85 interception return (Way kick), 13:41 2Q
Kansas—Jacob Branstetter 39 FG, 2:03 2Q
KU—Branstetter 57 FG, 0:00 2Q
OU — Adron Tennell 9 pass from Landry Jones (Way kick), 11:29 3Q
OU — Chris Brown 8 pass from Jones (Way kick), 6:18 3Q
OU — Chris Brown 26 run (Way kick), 11:10 4Q
KU — Todd Reesing 5 run (Branstetter kick), 4:27 4Q
Notes:
- Just one game after gifting Colorado 14 points and an early
lead, two of Kansas quarterback Todd Reesing’s interceptions helped the
Sooners to 14 first-half points. For the game, Reesing was just 22 of
42 for 224 yards with three interceptions. Much of that yardage came
courtesy of two plays, a 56-yard shovel pass to Jake Sharp and a
31-yard strike to John Wilson. Reesing did score a rushing touchdown.
- The Jayhawks experimented with a Wildcat formation
utilizing redshirt freshman Kale Pick as the quarterback for two plays,
while flanking Reesing out as a wide receiver. But Pick’s carries went
for negative four and negative one yards, respectively, setting the
Jayhawks up with a third-and-15. Pick then substituted out of the game
and Reesing completed a short pass to Meier before Kansas punted.
- D.J. Beshears looked strong at times in his first start,
but had some freshman moments at others. He was twice flagged for pass
interference, and was then replaced by Daymond Patterson. Beshears tied
for second on the team with seven tackles, many on receiver screen
passes.
- Kansas substituted both running backs liberally through the
game. Toben Opurum served largely as the pass-protection and
short-yardage back, while Jake Sharp was in on most downs. Opurum did
get 13 carries to Sharp’s seven, and led the Jayhawks with 59 yards on
the ground. Sharp, whose seven carries went for just 14 yards, had a
bigger impact through the air, snagging three passes for 62 yards.
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